Oklahoma vs. Iowa State Total Prediction
Will Big 12 foes Oklahoma and Iowa State fail to produce enough points on Saturday afternoon to push the score over the betting total? The Sooners and Cyclones will meet at Jack Trice Stadium at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Game Snapshot
127 Oklahoma Sooners at 128 Iowa State Cyclones
12:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, September 15, 2018
Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Sooners are 17-point favorites to beat the Bulldogs. The total, meanwhile, sits at 55 points. As of this writing, 71% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Sooners.
Oklahoma Sooners
The Athletic’s Jason Kersey writes that Oklahoma sophomore RB Trey Sermon is “seemingly is the favorite to take over as Oklahoma’s primary back” in the wake of Rodney Anderson’s season-ending injury. That comes with some caveats. Sermon started three games early last year as a true freshman and ended with 744 yards and five touchdowns. But after Anderson burst onto the scene, Sermon disappeared. In the opener against FAU, Sermon had 16 carries for 82 yards and one touchdown. Last week against UCLA, he had seven attempts for 13 yards, including just one carry after halftime. But in terms of size, talent and style, Sermon (6’0/224) may be the closest on the roster to Anderson. “He’s dropped his body fat, his weight has increased,” RB coach Jay Boulware said of Sermon before the season. “His speed is decreased, meaning his 40 time has gone down. He’s a better player than he was a year before.” OU takes on Iowa State this weekend. We expect Sermon to start, but for Marcelias Sutton, T.J. Pledger and Kennedy Brooks to get plenty of looks as well.
Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said on Monday’s Big 12 teleconference that the injury to redshirt senior QB Kyle Kempt is not as severe as first thought; Kempt remains listed as the starter for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma. “It looks more day-to-day than it does long term,” Campbell said. “We’re all breathing a deep sigh of relief here.” Campbell did say that he wasn’t sure if Kempt would play against Oklahoma on Saturday, but it’s a decent sign that Kempt remains QB1 on the depth chart. “His availability this week is still up in question, but it’s a little better than what we thought the outcome was going to be on Saturday,” Campbell said. “The reality of it is that we certainly dodged a big bullet.” Campbell said Kempt may have suffered MCL damage on a hit in the fourth quarter of the loss to Iowa over the weekend. It seems doctors have since given him good news. If Kempt can’t play in a rematch against the team he famously led an upset over last year, Zeb Noland will draw the start.
Betting Trends
Oklahoma
The over is 4-1 in the Sooners’ last five games overall and 22-9 in their last 31 games coming off an ATS loss.
Iowa State
The under is 4-0 in the Cyclones’ last four games overall and 6-1 in their last seven conference games.
Prediction
Iowa State has an underrated defense and a banged-up quarterback while Oklahoma will be without one of their top performers on offense. If the Cyclones have any shot to pull off a massive upset they’ll need to play mistake-free ball on offense and stingy defense. That’s a recipe for under bettors.
College Football Prediction: Oklahoma/Iowa State under 55