Florida Atlantic vs. Oklahoma Total Pick
In one of the more underrated matchups for Saturday’s college football slate, Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic Owls will travel to Norman to take on the Oklahoma Sooners at 12:00 p.m. ET. Will the game live up to its shootout hype?
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 21-point favorites to beat the Owls. The total, meanwhile, sits at 72 points. As of this writing, 70% 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
The Owns have covered the spread in eight of their last 10 games overall.
Oklahoma
The Sooners are 11-2 at the betting window in their last 13 home games.
Prediction
The Owls boast one of the best running backs in the nation in Devin Singletary and while the passing game has some new faces, Kiffin’s squad figures to be extremely talented from that regard as well. FAU does return 10 starters on defense but Tony Pecoraro’s unit will be more aggressive this year, which could lead to some big plays allowed early in the season. On the other side, the Sooners begin life without Baker Mayfield and there could be some early-season bumps. That said, Rodney Anderson and Kyler Murray should put up plenty of points on Saturday to help push this one over the total.
College Football Prediction: Florida Atlantic/Oklahoma over 72