BYU vs Oklahoma College Football Picks & Predictions

Written September 5, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz

byu-oklahoma-predictions-090509 The Brigham Young Cougars enter the 2009 season with a spotlight game against an offense led by an assassin quarterback, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford. BYU returns only four starters on offense, luckily two of them consist of their starting quarterback and running back. Max Hall leads the Cougars and is preparing for a very promising senior season. Last year he threw for an amazing 3,957 yards and 35 touchdowns. Harvey Unga is the starting RB and is primed for a big junior campaign. In his sophomore season Unga rushed for 1,132 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Cougars have however lost star WR Austin Collie who put up unheard of numbers in 2008 catching 106 passes, totaled 1,538 receiving yards and caught 15 touchdowns. Those all led his team and were amongst the top of the Mountain West Conference. Now senior Dennis Pitta will be counted on to perform at a high level. On the defensive side of the ball BYU returns seven starters, one of them being defensive lineman Brett Denney who will be the main man stuffing the middle. What does need to be noted here is how inept Brigham Young has been against the pass in recent years. The secondary will not be able to stop Oklahoma, not one single bit. I predict a big game from running back Harvey Unga against an overrated Sooners defense. If Unga is able to average 4-5 yards per carry it will set up the play action for Hall and that might just make this game more interesting than you would think. Saturday’s NCAA football lines show Oklahoma -22 against BYU with the total set for 60.5 points.

The Oklahoma Sooners return, well, just about everybody. First note, they will be without the nation’s top Tight End in Jermaine Gresham who is suffering from a Knee injury. On the field though will be Sam Bradford who is a future top five draft pick and in my mind the best quarterback in the nation. Last season, his Heisman Trophy winning year, he threw for a ridiculous 4,720 yards and a beyond remarkable 50 passing touchdowns. He will no doubt be in the running for another Heisman Trophy and will also have every chance to help his team return to the National Championship game. The Sooners return BOTH running backs Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray who rushed for over 1,000 yards each. Brown had 1,220 yards rushing and 20 TDs on the ground while Murray rushed for 1,002 yards and 14 TDs. This is the best one-two punch of any backfield in the BIG 12 and perhaps the nation. With Juaquin Iglesias now playing on Sunday’s, senior wideout Adron Tennell will be counted on to step into the #1 receivers roll, that is something I feel he’ll do quite well. Now, Oklahoma has heard all season long how their offense will need to score 30+ points a game to win due to a lack of defensive talent. Senior defensive end Auston English will look to prove the critics wrong. Oklahoma is a hefty 22 point favorite for a reason. They have a well balanced offensive attack and a solid defensive front (although their secondary is weak). If they are able to contain Harvey Unga then they’ll cover this spread with extreme ease, if not, then it will be closer then the experts think.

BYU is 1-7 in their last eight games ATS

OVER is 12-1 in Oklahoma last 13 games as the favorite

OVER is 10-3 in Oklahoma during the last 13 Non-Conference games

Jordan’s Picks: BYU +22 & Over 60.5 Points

(Final Score Prediction: Oklahoma 41 BYU 30)

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