West Virginia
vs.
Oklahoma
College Football Pick
10/3/15
With a few blowout wins, West Virginia is now ranked making this Big 12 opener a matchup of Top 25 teams. There are still plenty of questions for both teams; Oklahoma needed a late comeback against Tennessee, while the Mountaineers have yet to face tough competition. The Sooners are a -6 point home favorite as seen at mybookie.ag.
The Sooners took last weekend off so they have another advantage in addition to being at home. Still, this team has had its problems, although that doesn’t matter with an undefeated record. They got a tad lucky at Tennessee to win in overtime and then gave up 38 points to Tulsa in a non-covering win. There isn’t much more to be said about the Mountaineers’ Schedule as their toughest Game was last weekend against Maryland and they won 45-6. Both teams are 3-0 and are 2-1 against the spread.
Much like last year’s 45-33 win for OU, there should be plenty of points here. Semaje Perine ran free in that Game for 242 yards and 4 TDs, but may find more resistance in this one, especially with how the Sooners running Game has looked so far. Through the first three Games, Perine has just 263 yards (4.7 ypc) and two touchdowns, which is disappointing against the competition they have faced. Perine was in Heisman consideration after how he closed 2014, but those talks ended after he ran for just 33 yards against Akron.
Surprisingly, a lot of Oklahoma’s success has come from quarterback Baker Mayfield, a transfer from Texas Tech. Mayfield is completing 67.3% of his passes for 10 touchdowns and two interceptions, while adding 139 yards and Four TDs on the ground. His favorite receiver Sterling Shepard (286 yards, 2 TDs) has been close to unstoppable. But after struggling early against the Volunteers, it will be interesting to see how this offense plays in this Game.
It’s still a question of how good this West Virginia defense is, but at the least it looks better than last season. And the Sooners haven’t looked the greatest on defense either, which is why a decent amount of points should be expected.
To have a chance on the road, quarterback Skyler Howard will need to limit turnovers. Clint Trickett tossed a couple interceptions in last year’s matchup and that was the eventual dagger as the Mountaineers actually outgained OU by three yards.
again, WVU’s stats are a bit iNFLated against weaker competition, but Howard is completing 69% of his passes for 9 TDs and just one interception. The running Game was expected to be better before the year, and the combination of Wendell Smallwood (331 yards, 4 TDs) and Rushel Shell (146 yards, 2 TDs) hasn’t disappointed.
The Big 12 kind of looks like a toss up right now with TCU and Baylor the favorites, but both of these teams could easily cause some havoc in the Conference standings. WVU has an incredibly difficult Schedule with road Games at Baylor, TCU and Kansas State remaining. They should be able to keep this one close, though, as Oklahoma has looked far from dominant in the early going.
The Sooners have not covered in Four straight Games at home against a team with a winning road record, while the Mountaineers are 4-0 ATS in their last Four Games on grass.
Our Pick – The last 3 years this Game has been competitive. That simply tells us West Virginia can recruit the talent to compete with the Sooners. With so many players having returned for WVA this year we see no reason why this Game won’t also be competitive. That being said, we’re going to grab the TD here in what figures to be a good close Game. West Virginia +7