sooners

  • Saturday, September 6, 2025

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Las Vegas - Why lay 4.5 points with a team that was 6-7 last season? We have reasons. Brent Venables came to Norman from a super run as the defensive coordinator at Clemson from 2012 to 2021. The Tigers posted a ridiculous 111-14 record during Venables tenure as the coordinator, picking up two national championships (2016 and 2018) along the way. And despite the 6-7 record, his Sooners were ranked as the 19th best D last season. Sadly, they didn't have much on the offensive side of the ball, but that has changed. Dramatically! Last season, Oklahoma didn't have a game, any game, in which they passed for over 300 yards. Last week, against Illinois State, a cupcake for sure, Washington State transfer John Mateer passed for 392 yards. Will the offense hold up? Sure will. Why? Along with Mateer at QB, Venables brought in the Cougars offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle from Pullman. Smart move for sure. In the 2024 season, Mateer/Arbuckle killed it, hitting on 224 of 347 passes (64.6%) for 3,139 yards with 29 TDs and just 7 INTs. Last week, Mateer was 30 of 37 (81.1%) for 392 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT. Looks like this pair know what they're doing on the offensive side. However, Michigan is no lightweight, and they snagged the consensus #1 ranked high school player, QB Bryce Underwood. He had a solid start last week against New Mexico (21 of 31 for 251 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs), but gotta tell you that the Lobos defense was ranked #130 last season, allowing 38 points per game and almost 500 yards. Ouch. That was also a home game but this will be his first test on the road in front of 83,000+ crazed Sooner fans at the Palace on the Prairie. Note that the Wolverines lost three of their four leading pass rushers to the NFL (Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and Josaiah Stewart), which should make life easier for Mateer. Still not absolutely wild about laying the points, so we'll grab the Okies on the money line.

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