EDITORIAL BY GRAYDON FOX

Overview:

On Saturday, October 6^th, the (4-1) Texas Longhorns will be on the road to take on the (5-0) Oklahoma Sooners.

The Crowd:

The Crowd projects a final score of Oklahoma 32.4 – Texas 29.4 with an over/under of 61.8.

Lou Holtz and Mark May:

Lou is predicting a final score of Oklahoma 33 – Texas 31.

Mark is predicting a final score of Oklahoma 45 – Texas 24.

2018-19 Statistics (130 total teams):

Passing offense: Oklahoma 317.0 YPG > Texas 243.4 YPG

Rushing offense: Oklahoma 206.2 YPG > Texas 153.2 YPG

Scoring offense: Oklahoma 48.6 PPG > Texas 28.8 PPG

Scoring defense: Texas 19.8 PPG > Oklahoma 23.2 PPG

Passing defense: Texas 218.2 PPG > Oklahoma 252.4 YPG

Rushing defense: Texas 115.0 PPG > Oklahoma 152.8 YPG

Turnover Margin Per Game: Oklahoma +0.4 = Texas +0.4

Summary:

Texas is (4-1) to start the season with wins over Tulsa, #22 USC, #17 TCU, and Kansas State.  Head coach Tom Herman has his team rolling after a surprising week one loss to Maryland at home.  The Longhorns rank 73^rd in points per game (28.8) and 31^st in scoring defense (19.8 PPG).  Quarterback Sam Ehlinger has completed 64% of his passes for 1,185 yards with 9 touchdowns to 2 interceptions.  Texas has struggled to run the football and ranks 92^nd in yards per carry (3.8).  Lil’Jordan Humphrey (402 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Collin Johnson (350 yards, 3 touchdowns) are a dangerous receiving duo.  The Longhorns defense was dominant in their 19-14 victory over Kansas State last week and are allowing just 14.7 in their last three games.

Oklahoma is a perfect (5-0) with wins over Iowa State, Florida Atlantic, UCLA, Army, and Baylor.  The Sooners rank 8^th in points per game (48.6) and 51^st in scoring defense (23.2 PPG).  There were certainly big expectations for quarterback Kyler Murray filling in for the departed Heisman winner Baker Mayfield.  Murray has lived up to the hype completing 70% of his passes for 1,460 yards with 17 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Murray is a dual threat who also has accumulated 285 rushing yards and 4 scores on the ground.  Trey Sermon, filling in for the injured Rodney Anderson, is the team’s leading rusher with 294 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The explosive Marquise “Hollywood” Brown has the 8^th most receiving yards in the country (544) to go along with his 5 touchdowns.  Opposite of Brown is Ceedee Lamb who has 348 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns.  The Sooners are coming off a 66-33 win over Baylor in which Oklahoma put up 607 yards of total offense.

Bottom Line:

Oklahoma is an offensive juggernaut and Kyler Murray thrust his name into the Heisman race after a huge performance against Baylor.  Army gave Oklahoma fits when they rushed for 339 yards in an overtime loss but Texas has not had much success with their ground game.  I expect this to be relatively close being that it is a rivalry game, but Oklahoma has too many weapons on offense, and will win by double digits at home.

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