Oklahoma vs. FAU Spread Prediction
Lane Kiffin and his Florida Atlantic Owls are heavy road dogs Saturday at Oklahoma. Will they hang within three touchdowns of the Sooners or will OU blow FAU out of the water in its home opener?
Game Snapshot
151 Florida Atlantic Owls at 152 Oklahoma Sooners
12:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, September 1, 2018
Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, OK
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Sooners are 20.5-point favorites to beat the Owls. The total, meanwhile, sits at 71 points. As of this writing, 65% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Sooners.
Florida Atlantic Owls
FAU HC Lane Kiffin left open the possibility that the Owls could play two quarterbacks in their season-opener versus Oklahoma. “We’d like to already have had it done. It’s not done. Could it be two (quarterbacks)? I don’t know that. We’ve got to always do what’s best for the team,” Kiffin said. The two main combatants, here, are De’Andre Johnson and former OU QB Chris Robison, with Rafe Peavey (just transferred over from SMU) also in the mix. Just about everything about Kiffin’s start to life in Boca Raton has gone off swimmingly, but the team’s not yet found its golden-armed gunslinger. A year ago, Kiffin trotted out Daniel Parr as his starter to open the campaign, but he shifted over to Jason Driskel after three games. Driskal proved uninspiring. We’re probably most intrigued by Robison in the current competition.
Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma named redshirt junior QB Kyler Murray their starting quarterback for the upcoming campaign. Murray (5’10/195) will make his starting debut with the Sooners in an endlessly intriguing season-opening showdown against FAU a week from Saturday. He beat out Austin Kendall to win the job. It’s been a long, winding road for the former four-star recruit, who initially signed with Texas A&M as part of the 2015 class before opting to transfer out at the end of his true freshman season. He then landed in Oklahoma, where he played backup to Heisman winner Baker Mayfield during the most recent campaign. He’s an absolutely electric athlete, one whom Mayfield has called the fastest on the team. Murray will play one season of football in Norman before embarking on a professional baseball career with the Oakland A’s, who drafted him ninth overall earlier this summer.
Betting Trends
Florida Atlantic
Florida Atlantic is winless against the spread in its last eight games versus Big 12 opponents.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma has covered the spread in five of its last seven games against Conference USA opponents.
Prediction
As we saw a year ago, Kiffin’s brash Owls aren’t going to be afraid of any opponent, which includes Oklahoma. Eventually athleticism will take over and the Sooners will likely pull away so while I do like Florida Atlantic to cover, I’m going to minizine the risk by taking them in the first half today. If we get the Owls’ best effort, I’m betting it’ll come in the first half before Oklahoma settles in with new quarterback Kyler Murray.
College Football Week 1 Prediction: Florida Atlantic Owls +11.5 (FIRST HALF)