Colorado at Oklahoma
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
This Saturday the No.9 Oklahoma Sooners will look to bounce back from a tough loss on the road to Missouri when they host the Colorado Buffaloes. The Sooners had the chance to really make a statement with a big road win over the Tigers, but wound up losing 36-27 for third first loss of the season. The Buffaloes fell 27-24 to Texas Tech, and are still searching for their first conference win of the season. Oklahoma has struggled when hosting Colorado, going just 2-5 in their last seven, including a 27-24 loss back in 2007. The oddsmakers don’t seem to think the Sooners will have any trouble this weekend, as the current odds have the Sooners favored by 24-points over the Buffaloes at home.
Colorado (3-4, 0-3 Big 12): The Buffaloes led for nearly the entire game against the Red Raiders last week, as they were up 24-14 going into the fourth quarter of play, but the offense stalled and the defense gave up 13 points in the final period. It was the second game in a row Colorado let slip away in the fourth quarter, and now they have to go on the road where they not looked good at all this season.
The Buffaloes got nearly all their offense by throwing the football, as Cody Hawkins and Tyler Hansen combined to go 31 of 53 for 336 yards and two touchdowns, while the running game provided just 28 yards on the day. Hawkins replaced Hansen after he went down with an injury in the first half, and played pretty well, completing 22 of 43 attempts for 274 yards and two scores. With Hansen unable to go this weekend, Hawkins will have to lead the Buffaloes against a tough Oklahoma defense.
Oklahoma (6-1, 2-1 Big 12): The Sooners didn’t help themselves against the Tigers last week, as they committed three turnovers that prevented them from putting points on the board and two of them led to 10 points for the Tigers. Oklahoma had just five turnovers coming into the game all season, so there is no question that the mistakes really hurt them in this one.
Star running back DeMarco Murray had just 49 yards on 12 carries, but was able to find the endzone on a 4 yard pass from Landry Jones. With the running game not working Jones attempted 50 passes, completing 32, for 303 yards and three touchdowns, but also had two key interceptions.
Defensively the Sooners had no answer for the Tigers offense, as Missouri racked up 486 yards of total offense. The Sooners gave up a ton of big plays in this game, including a 86 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the game.
Looking at the Odds: While I am not a huge fan of betting the 24 point spread in this game, I think your money would have to be on Oklahoma to cover. The Buffaloes are 0-2 on the road this season, losing by an average of 35.5 points a game. Oklahoma is going to come in looking to avenge their first loss, and Colorado is just the team to do it against. My final score prediction is Oklahoma 38, Colorado 10.
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