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2009 Sun Bowl Betting Lines: Oklahoma vs. Stanford

Written December 23, 2009 by Kyle Hunter

The Brut Sun Bowl is generally one of the better pre-New Year’s Day bowl games and once again this year it offers a nice match up of Stanford vs. Oklahoma. Before the year if you would have said Oklahoma and Stanford would be in the Brut Sun Bowl no one would have believed you. Oklahoma seemed destined for much bigger things, but Sam Bradford was injured and the season spiraled downhill. Stanford was expected to be better, but not as good as they have been this year. This is definitely an interesting match up and one that should be entertaining for college football fans. Get an extra $500 to bet on football when you sign up at BetUS and deposit $500 or more.

The Stanford Cardinal had a great 8-4 season this year, and were led by Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart. Gerhart was the definition of a workhorse this season. He rushed 311 times for 1,722 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Gerhart got into the end zone 26 times this year and his tough running style won over a whole lot of fans in the last few games of the year. Unfortunately for Stanford they will be without their star freshman quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck had to have finger surgery and Jim Harbaugh announced last night he will not be playing in the Sun Bowl. Tavita Pritchard, starter in the last two seasons, will start in the Sun Bowl. Luck is a huge loss, but Pritchard does have experience and gives them a chance to win. The Cardinal defense has been average this year, allowing 26 points per game.

The Oklahoma Sooners hoped to be playing for the BCS Championship again, but instead their plans were derailed at the very beginning of the season. Sam Bradford’s injured shoulder and injuries to Jermaine Gresham and others were all very tough for the Sooners to deal with. Landry Jones stepped in and did a nice job as a freshman starting quarterback for the Sooners. Jones threw for almost 2,800 yards and 23 touchdowns. He did have problems with turnovers at times, which cost the Sooners a couple of games. Probably the most disappointing part of the Sooners team was the running game, which has two stars in DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown. Murray averaged 4.5 yards per carry and Brown 4.1 and neither could really get things going for Oklahoma this year, which was very surprising. The Sooners defense did their job extremely well. The defense ranks 7th best in all of college football in total yards allowed (273.5 per game) and points per game (13.5 points).

The college football odds page show Oklahoma as a strong 8 point favorite in this game. One has to think if Luck wasn’t injured the Sooners wouldn’t be favored by this much. The posted total for this game is set at 55.5 points. If you are making football picks you probably know that Oklahoma has had trouble in recent bowl games, going 1-5 against the spread in their last 6 games. The under is 11-2 in Oklahoma’s last 13 games and the over is 4-0 in Stanford’s last 4 games.

Expect the Sooners to load up the box with at least 8 men most of the game and force Pritchard to air it out on them. If Gerhart and the rushing attack can’t get anything going it will probably be a long game for Stanford. Oklahoma needs to try to establish the running game and stay balanced on offense.

My college bowl picks are set and I am going to try and improve on my great 25-9 year to date record on college football plays. I have premium packages available that are backed with a guarantee, so check them out today!