And just one SEC Availability Report later, Vegas is full of fans of the Oklahoma Sooners.
Injured OU quarterback John Mateer was upgraded from questionable to probable on Thursday’s availability report ahead of the Red River Rivalry, meaning the No. 6 Sooners will likely have their starting quarterback against unranked Texas at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday in Dallas. Nearly instantly after the report was released, despite being the undefeated top-10 squad, the Sooners were favored over Texas for the first time by nearly every oddsmaker, proving Vegas didn’t trust OU without Mateer.
Sooners favored over Texas in Red River Rivalry
Within an hour of the update, BetMGM, FanDuel and DraftKings all swung OU as a 1.5-point favorite over Texas.
The Longhorns opened as 11.5-point favorites back in August when they still had extremely high expectations as the preseason No. 1 team in the country. Entering Week 7, though, OU and Texas have both went opposite directions so far. The Sooners rose as a top-10 team at 5-0, while Texas just dropped from the rankings at 3-2. But with Mateer's status in doubt, the hot start still wasn't enough for Vegas to believe in the Sooners.
The Sooners started the week as much as 3-point underdogs by DraftKings on Monday. FanDuel and BetMGM had OU as a 2.5-point dog then.
But on Tuesday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that “there’s a belief that (Mateer’s) return is possible,” and even though it wasn’t much information, it was enough to instill some belief in oddsmakers. Shortly after the news, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM all had the Sooners down to 1.5-point underdogs.
Mateer officially being listed as probable, though, was then enough for Vegas to fully believe.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.