UGA is +3 against Okie State,and that is one of those lines that will probably not change. That is a game that will see a lot of action, and the rule of thumb is that the more action a game gets,the less likely that a major move will be seen as far as the line is concerned. You will get a lot of "hook" players on that game, on both sides of the wager.
Disagree with anyone who thinks that this Auburn team should in any way be compared to last years team. Tubberville screwed himself by hiring an offensive coordinator that was basically a high school coach, Franklin. Franklin wrote a book and basically sells his offense to high school coaches. Not hard to figure out, especially when you move up a level. Not only that, they played a QB that should have never seen the field. After they fired him they basically just hunkered down the gear so no one would steal it.
Look for Auburn to score points, I don't know anything about their defense, but the offense will spread people out and the QB that should have played this year is mobile.
I love Okie State in this game. Obviously the big question remains, how will OSU's D play this year. However, I think OSU should pick up where they left off, but the loss of Pettigrew is really going to hurt. UGA could win this game if it were a lower scoring affair, but I don't think they keep them under 31 in Stillwater.
tennessee -3 vs. ucla i'm sure will move also. vols should be focused here even with florida on deck. their defense only allowed like 265 yds and had 4 1st half ints but they still found a way to lose. although ucla returns alot of starters they could be starting a rfr qb here. tennessee front wall is BIG and imo will dominate line of scrimmage on both sides. ucla might be an improving team this year but it won't show here imo.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't OSU get blown out of the water in their last 2 (if not 3) games last year? I know Oregon embarassed them in the Holiday Bowl, and I know OU embarassed them before that. I personally love getting a tough SEC team getting any amount of points against a still unproven coach in Gundy. My bet is this game sets the tone for OSU football this season. This is an absolutely huge game for Okie State. What is Georgia's new QB for this season supposed to be like?
OU -21 is about right. BYU has lost 4 starters on the OL, and that will really hurt them in game 1. Their defense plays a 3-4, and their DL is solid, but other than LB Bauman, the rest of the defense is not real strong. BYU gave up 31 or more points 5 times last season against teams that pale to OU by comparison. That is why the line is at -21.
jb...I think the line is about right for this game. Before this preseason line came out I thought it could have been as high as OU -24. One thing that maybe not too many people think about that you have to absolutely use in handicapping this game is the level of competetion that these two teams were facing at the end of last season. BYU was facing teams like SDSU, Air Force, Colorado St., UNLV before they ended the season with a blowout loss to Utah, and another loss to a middle of the pack Pac-10 team Zona in their bowl game... OU's last 4 games consisted of Texas Tech, OSU, Missouri and Florida. The Sooners are adapted to a much higher level of BCS competetion than BYU. With the starters back (especially on defense) OU will be playing at a much higher level to begin the season. With just 4 starters back on offense, I don't see BYU having much luck against us. OU may get off to a little bit of a slow start in this game with trying to break in a new O-LIne and going up against a veteran BYU D-Line. But I don't think they'll be able to contain OU for a full game. There's simply too much of a depth advantage for OU, and the Bradford/DeMarco Murray factor will probably eventually break the game open. So even though we have a big line, I kind of favor OU in this situation. With just Idaho St. on board the next week, BYU will have the Sooners full attention. Plus the state of Texas is always a great recruiting stop for Bob Stoops. He'll want to make the most of it with a big win.
Oklahoma -21 is the play or nothing if that is what the line turns out to be. If you want to back BYU, ask yourself one question: Do you think BYU, with their overmatched defensive personnel, will be able to slow down OU at all? OU is going to have a big time D that will be able to stop BYU many times. It could get real ugly.
OU will have problems when they collide with a team like Texas who has the defensive front seven to combat OU's less experienced O-Line. But BYU simply doesn't have the manpower to dominate the OU O-Line, which is what they would have to do because OU's offensive skill players are a huge mismatch against BYU's defensive skill players.
OU will have problems when they collide with a team like Texas who has the defensive front seven to combat OU's less experienced O-Line. But BYU simply doesn't have the manpower to dominate the OU O-Line, which is what they would have to do because OU's offensive skill players are a huge mismatch against BYU's defensive skill players.
The more I'm reading and preparing for this season, the more I'm buying into OU.
I'm a huge believer in teams who are being overlooked as being dangerous as all hell. And even though OU is being ranked in the top 5, they're being slighted due to UT's supposed great team this year, along with Florida.
I listened to an OU "insider" on the radio today (Josh Mcutchen or something like that, Soonerscoop guy), and listening to him began to make me feel a lot less unsettled than I was. He seems to think the O-Line will be fine, but that the WR's will be the main issue. He also seems to think that the defense will be nasty as hell. To me, O-line is everything in football...E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. You show me a Super Bowl winner or MNC winner in D-1 football without a great O-Line and I'll be amazed.
I now am not thinking -20 is too high of a spread on that game.....at all.
Especially as GS said; Stoops will pull out all the stops in the Dallas area, and in that great Cowboy stadium.
As I've said somewhere else though; I think all these "big" games can go either way. I'm sensing some really topsy turvy happenings this football season. It could be that I can't see straight I'm so excited.....but I have to admit I've guessed right a lot of years in college football.....we shall see....
This game might also be a great tease; OU down to -14 seems great. Now who do we tease 'em with?
JB....Here's the deal with OU: I think they have by far the best overall skill position players in the Big 12. And with the exception of maybe Florida, I would take OU's starting 22 over any team in the country, including Texas. If you want to know why the linesmakers have made OU a 9-2 favorite to win the NC and Texas 11-2 it's because of the personnel. But here's the problem I have with OU this year. Although they have a great starting 22, the Sooners have very little overall depth. Remember when those defensive players went out before and during the Texas game last season and McCoy was able to exploit our weaknesses with our replacements? We still have that problem this year. We've got some All-Big 12 players all over this team. But many of these players have been hurt in the past and cost us games like Austin English, DeMarco Murray (didn't play vs Florida), Ryan Reynolds.
Our offensive line will be better than people think. But the problem there is we have a good starting 5, but very little quality depth behind it. If one of these big uglies goes down it's going to hurt. If 2 go down it's going to be disastorous. And there are very few years where a team can get through the entire season without O-Line & D-Line injuries. As for our defense, Austin English and Reynolds are seniors, but there hasn't been a year go by that these two haven't gotten hurt. So I'm not holding my breath on them staying healthy. Reynolds getting hurt last season for the Texas game especially hurt us. McCoy was able to exploit the middle of the OU defense all day. Your not going to beat a team when their QB completes 80% of his passes like McCoy did. Now I'm not going to sit here and try to predict the Red River Shootout, because there are simply too many variables. But the biggest questions coming into the game is will OU's new offensive line hold up against a very good Texas defense? Will OU be able to stay healthy through a very rough schedule before they even get to Texas? And can Colt McCoy repeat the 80% passing performance of last season? We might have a few of these questions answered for us when we get to the game. But with the Sooners schedule, I hate to even predict what's going to happen between now and then. I'm just crossing my fingers and holding my breath that we don't get any devastating injuries.
I've watched that game 3 times (my son thought he was doing a good thing whenever he recorded it at his grandparents that day) and our defense was really not that bad. McCoy was just that good. A bunch of his passes narrowly missed the fingertips of defenders by inches only to sail right into the hands of his own players. That is what I have been getting at about his performance -- he was just flawless. I think the only place we may not have a lot of experienced depth at is in the secondary on defense.
I think Oklahoma's offensive line will be decent as well. Trent Williams has been whispered to be the best offensive linemen Oklahoma has had in 10 years. If this is true, I don't know why he didn't turn professional. Still, it's good to have him on the line. The other guys will do well because there is already talk about them working harder in response to Stoops' calling them out all Spring and Summer. I've said for a long time that I think this has been more of a psychological ploy than anything. BUT, I agree with the fact that we are not deep in experience at this position. Injuries can devastate us this season on the line.
I have said it before and I will say it again. OU is going to win the National title this year. There D is going to be outstanding.
Programs like OU, USC, Florida, OSU, Texas reload on the line and generally do very well.
OU has the best QB, TE and one of the best RBs in America. These 3 will help get the team going early and as long as the Oline is standing still, OU should be just fine. They probably won't score anything close to last year, but I don't see too many teams scoring more than 24 vs OU this year. So, unless you are planning on keeping OU under 23 points, I don't see them losing.
Don't forget DeMarco Murray didn't play vs Florida and Reynolds injury was very apparent vs UT.
Programs like OU, USC, Florida, OSU, Texas reload on the line and generally do very well.
OU has the best QB, TE and one of the best RBs in America. These 3 will help get the team going early and as long as the Oline is standing still, OU should be just fine. They probably won't score anything close to last year, but I don't see too many teams scoring more than 24 vs OU this year. So, unless you are planning on keeping OU under 23 points, I don't see them losing.
Don't forget DeMarco Murray didn't play vs Florida and Reynolds injury was very apparent vs UT.
I still think we missed Reynolds in last year's game. The middle linebacker is the one player the coaches hate to lose on defense. They are the QB of the defense and many times call the plays. The talented ones have that sixth sense that can give the QB fits. And Reynolds is that type of player. McCoy did have an extra special game. But games between major BCS powers are almost all a game of inches with the timing of the QB and his receivers. I can name quite a few plays in the Texas/Texas Tech game too that could have gone either way and changed the whole complexion of that game. If the game winning pass to Crabtree had been a split second too late it would have been game set match for Texas. The teams are very close when you get to this level. If we lined up Texas and OU right now before the season starts, i would probably have to take OU. I don't really see one position on the field where Texas has a clearcut advantage over OU. Maybe the experience on the offenseive line. But that's offset by OU having the better D-Line. The problem is we don't know where these two teams are going to stand physically and mentally when they meet in October.
