On a day when they debut their new quarterback, Jalen Hurts, the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners will also unveil a new-look defense on Sunday night against the Houston Cougars in Norman. The Sooners' defense, which ranked 114th in the country out of 129 teams in total defense and 101st in scoring defense last season, has new leadership in coordinator Alex Grinch. Formerly the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Ohio State, Grinch has 10 starters returning. Oklahoma takes on a Cougars team that will be playing its first game under coach Dana Holgorsen, and kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. The Sooners are 23.5-point favorites in the latest Oklahoma vs. Houston odds, down a field goal from the opener, while the over-under for total points scored is 79.5 after moving as high as 82.5. Before making any Oklahoma vs. Houston picks of your own, you need to see the college football predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times, and those who have followed it have seen massive returns. Over the past four years, this proprietary computer model has generated a jaw-dropping $4,530 profit for $100 bettors on its top-rated spread picks.
The model enters the first full weekend of the 2019 college football season on a blistering 49-29 run on all top-rated picks. It also called Miami (+7) covering against No. 8 Florida in the season opener and hit the under. Anybody who has been following it is way up.
Now the model has dialed in on Oklahoma vs. Houston. We can tell you it's leaning under, and it also says one side of the spread cashes in over 50 percent of simulations. That pick is available only at SportsLine.
The model knows the Sooners have been an offensive juggernaut no matter who is behind center. Since 2015, the first season that Lincoln Riley, now Oklahoma's coach, called plays, the Sooners have averaged 45.3 points and 559.3 yards per game and scored 308 touchdowns from scrimmage. They led the country in all three categories. This year, Oklahoma has high-caliber play-makers back at the skill positions, including receiver CeeDee Lamb, running back Kennedy Brooks and tight end Grant Calcaterra.
The model also has taken into consideration that the Sooners will arguably have the best defensive player on the field in junior linebacker Kenneth Murray. The preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Murray is a tackling machine who ranked second in the Big 12 and 13th in the country last season with 155 stops. In last year's game against Army, he had a mind-boggling 28 tackles, the most by an FBS player since at least 2000.
But just because the Sooners have the talent edge does not guarantee they will cover the Houston vs. Oklahoma spread on Sunday.
That's because the Cougars have one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the country in senior D'Eriq King. Despite missing the final two games of the 2018 season, the dual-threat signal caller was responsible for 50 touchdowns, setting an American Athletic Conference record. Among returning quarterbacks, only Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa passed for more touchdowns than King's 36 last year.
King has many of his offensive playmakers back from last season. Houston returns 91.2 percent of its 2018 rushing yards, 99.8 percent of its passing yards, 82.3 percent of its receiving yards and 85.3 percent of its scoring. Junior receiver Marquez Stevenson (1,019 receiving yards, nine TDs) and senior running back Patrick Carr (873 rushing yards, five TDs) are King's leading playmakers.
Who wins Houston vs. Oklahoma? And which side of the spread hits in over 50 percent of simulations? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Oklahoma vs. Houston spread to jump on Sunday, all from the advanced computer model on a 49-29 run on top-rated college football picks.
