The Oklahoma Sooners are 26-point home favorites over the Houston Cougars, at the top offshore betting sites spread goes for the NCAA Football game at 6:30 pm CT on September 1st at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, OK.
Oklahoma Sooners vs. Houston Cougars MyBookie Sportsbook Betting Lines
| Team | SP/RL | TOTAL | ML | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston U | +24½ (-110) | 83 (-110) | +1400 |  |
| Oklahoma | -24½ (-110) | 83 (-110) | -2500 | |
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Betting Houston Cougars
The Cougars finished last season 8-5 (5-3 in AAC play), and 6-7 ATS according to the best online sportsbooks. UH was one third of a three-way tie for the West Division championship. However, tiebreakers left them out of the AAC Championship Game. The Cougars played the Armed Forces Bowl but lost to Army 14-70, matching records for the most points surrendered and the largest loss margin in NCAA bowl game history. Needless to say the Cougars failed to cover the 6.5-point offshore betting site spread. Houston fired head coach Major Applewhite in late December after two seasons. As well as defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio. Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles at least had the decency to tender his resignation following the Army debacle.
Thus it’s a clean slate for UH with head coach Dana Holgorsen. And co-OCs Marquel Blackwell and Brandon Jones, and co-DCs Joe Cauthen and Doug Belk. The more the merrier. They say that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Can I just go ahead and start calling them the Houston Camels? You may remember Holgorsen from his eight-year stint as West Virginia head coach. During which he led the ‘Neers to one conference championship in his first year, and seven bowl games (2-5).
Betting Oklahoma Sooners
The Sooners went 12-1 (8-1 in Big 12 play) in 2018, and 6-7-1 ATS per offshore betting sites trends. The best record in their conference earned OU a berth in the championship game. Therein they beat Texas 39-27 for their 12th Big 12 Championship. The Sooners were selected as the fourth seed in the 2018 College Football Playoff. They faced first seed the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2018 Orange Bowl. Oklahoma lost 34–45. Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray led the Big 12 in completion percentage (69%), passing yards (4361), and passing TDs (42). Accordingly, Oklahoma led the NCAA in points per game (48.4). The Arizona Cardinals selected Murray as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. Which leads us to Jalen Hurts.
Hurts transferred from Alabama, where he withered under the cyclopean shadow of Tua Tagovailoa. The only way Hurts’d be a starter in Alabama, had he stayed, is if Tagovailoa’d declared for the 2019 draft. And coincidentally that’s the only reason he presumably will be a starter in Oklahoma. Hurts is just not in the same league as either of those two. Then again, few other than Trevor Lawrence or Dwayne Haskins are. That’s not the point. The point is one can’t help but feel that Oklahoma is settling. That Hurts is less-than.
Oklahoma vs. Cougars Betting Prediction
The Oklahoma game is the beginning of an early schedule “nightmare” for Houston. “It’s not ideal, but it’s the cards that were dealt and you better learn to deal with it,” Holgorsen said. It could be worse, though. A lot worse. It’s all but a foregone conclusion that the Sooners’ offense will regress in 2019. Murray was arguably better than Baker Mayfield, who is inarguably better than Hurts. No one cared about OU’s defensive issues with Mayfield and Murray effortlessly throwing touchdown passes. There is a very good chance, however, that those issues will become more and more apparent in 2019. Either those issues are fixed in time for the season opener or Hurts proves everybody wrong. Since neither of those things is even close to being death-and-taxes certain, I’m going to have to fade Oklahoma.
