West Virginia vs. Oklahoma Spread Pick
The Oklahoma Sooners can punch their ticket into the Big 12 championship game on Friday night but they need to get past the West Virginia Mountaineers first. Will the Sooners cover the spread as a small road favorite tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET?
Game Snapshot
141 Oklahoma Sooners at 142 West Virginia Mountaineers
8:00 p.m. ET, Friday, November 23, 2018
Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, West Virginia
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Sooners are 3-point favorites to beat the Mountaineers. The total, meanwhile, sits at 85 points. As of this writing, 51% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Sooners.
Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma redshirt junior QB Kyler Murray threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns with an interception on 21-of-32 passing, and ran for 99 yards and three scores in a 55-40 victory over Kansas on Saturday. Whew. Murray was ridiculous on Saturday — again — and might have had his Heisman moment in the close victory. After the Jayhawks pulled to within 11 at 35-24, Murray dashed for 75 yards, and he showed off his quickness and speed on the run, making a couple attempted tacklers look foolish. This is a two-man Heisman race — with apologies to Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor — and Murray is right there in large part to efforts like this. A marquee showdown with West Virginia comes on Friday. We can’t wait.
West Virginia Mountaineers
West Virginia senior QB Will Grier completed 27-of-48 passes for 364 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for an additional score in Saturday’s 45-41 loss to Oklahoma State. Grier did finish with a strong statistical output in this one — no surprise there — but he came up just short of leading what would have been a thrilling game-winning drive at the end of the game. On the drive in question, Grier made several beautiful throws to get the Mountaineers in position for a potential score, but was unable to connect with a target in the end zone on the last play of the game (WVU had the ball down to about the 25-yard line for that last heave). West Virginia was a long-shot for the Playoff coming into the weekend. They’ve got no shot, now. It’s fair to wonder just how much oomph they will have against Oklahoma next weekend with their dreams of postseason glory scuttled.
Betting Trends
Oklahoma
The Sooners are 2-8 against the spread in their last 10 games coming off a win.
West Virginia
The Mountaineers are 4-1 against the spread in their last five home games.
Prediction
Oklahoma has covered four straight series meetings with West Virginia and I like the Sooners to cover again on Friday night in Morgantown. Oklahoma will need to outscore its own defense but what else is new? West Virginia is coming off a devastating loss at Oklahoma State a week ago and while the Mountaineers still have aspirations to play in the Big 12 title game, their college football playoff hopes were crushed with that loss. I’m rolling with Kyler Murray and OU seeing as how the Sooners are only laying a small number.
College Football Prediction: Oklahoma Sooners -3