Oklahoma Sooners vs. BYU Cougars – Parlay Pick and Analysis

Last year’s Oklahoma Sooners were one of the most lethal offensive machines in the history of college football, and this year is expected to be more of the same with Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford back at the helm.

But the Sooners are missing a bunch of the key cogs that helped them to such a dominating offensive performance in 2008 that not many people are talking about. The offensive line will miss four of its starters going into the year and 2 of its top 3 receiving targets.

The offense took another big hit for Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against BYU as starting tight end and one of those top three targets, Jermaine Gresham, was forced to be declared unavailable due to an injured knee.

BYU fans should find some comfort in knowing that they won’t face quite the same juggernaut right off the bat that the Sooners put on the field in 2008.

The Sooners are still impressive 22-point favorites going into this game in the BetOnline Sportsbook, with the over/under listed at a whopping 66 points.

BYU has a ton of talent, especially at quarterback with Max Hall leading the way as one of the most underrated passers in the country. Hall had an excellent 35 to 14 TD to INT ratio last year. Harvey Unga is a powerful running back who will give a lot of defenses trouble in 2009 as well.

The underdog Cougars of BYU are only 1-8 against the spread in their last 9 games going into the season, however.

Further complicating matters, the Cougars only have one starter back on the offensive line and that could spell big trouble against a historically aggressive, fast Oklahoma defense that returns some solid talent and likes to rush the passer.

The Oklahoma front seven is back intact for the year and ready to get aggressive, and they should be able to smother BYU on offense making the favorite Sooners a solid bet here at -22.

The Sooners have also been over on the points total in betting action 9 of their past 10 games, but considering their young offensive line and Bradford missing his safety valve in Gresham, the under might be a better bet this time around, especially considering the possibility that OU shuts down the Cougars’ offense as well.

NFL Game Pick: Oklahoma (-22) and the under (+/-66).