College Football Betting: South Dakota at Oklahoma

Jalen Hurts had some shoes to fill after the departure of Kyler Murray and, at least for one week, he managed to fill them. Hurts put up 508 yards from scrimmage and scored six touchdowns in Oklahoma’s season-opening 49-31 win over Houston.

This week’s opponent, the South Dakota Coyotes of the FCS, have not faced a ranked team since 2014. They opened that season with a 62-13 loss to #3 Oregon. Heisman hopeful (and eventual winner) Marcus Mariota totaled 310 yards and four touchdowns that day — all of which Hurts would be happy with, both this weekend and beyond.  

SOUTH DAKOTA AT OKLAHOMA
LINE: OKLAHOMA -41.5

In defense of the Coyotes, they do play in arguably the toughest conference in the FCS: the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Since 2011, at least one MVFC team has made it to the FCS title game each season. Over that time, the conference took home seven national championships (all thanks to North Dakota State) and two second-place finishes (Youngstown State, Western Illinois). To South Dakota’s credit, they’re consistently facing the toughest competition their level has to offer.

But no FCS team is a match for Oklahoma and the Coyotes just lost by 14 at home to Montana, a former FCS powerhouse that hasn’t seen the playoffs since 2015. Montana quarterback Dalton Sneed threw for 430 yards and three touchdowns.

As such, Hurts and the rest of the Sooners should have a field day. Houston may not be the cream of the FBS crop, but they did go 8-5 and defeat a ranked opponent en route to a bowl appearance in 2018. They’re a quality opponent and Oklahoma beat them by 18 in a game that was basically out of reach by the end of the third quarter. Could the Sooners double that margin of victory and cover the 36.5 spread against South Dakota?

Well, yes. The Sooners rarely play FCS teams, but the last time went pretty well. That was in 2012, when Landry Jones, Damien Williams and Kenny Stills led the Sooners to 69-13 win over Florida A&M. 

It’s highly likely Oklahoma’s starters build up an insurmountable lead, perhaps covering the spread by halftime. At that point, the coaching staff may turn things over to the backups, where things get a little less predictable. Yes, Oklahoma’s backups are still probably more talented than South Dakota’s starters, but who knows how everyone will play in a game that’s already decided.

We’ll bank on Oklahoma’s backups holding the cover. True freshman and five-star recruit Spencer Rattler ought to make his collegiate debut in this one and he’ll want to show what he’s capable of.

Further, the Sooners’ sparse history against FCS opponents contains some lopsided scores. Florida A&M was their third such opponent since 2000. The first two: a 57-2 win over Chattanooga in 2008 and a 64-0 win over Idaho State in 2009. Since 2001, the Sooners are 4-3 ATS as favorites of 41.5 or more (1-0 against FCS competition).

Hurts also faced a trio of SoCon teams at Alabama (Chattanooga, Mercer, The Citadel) and beat them 31-3, 56-0, and 50-17, respectively. He barely played against The Citadel but scored three touchdowns apiece on Chattanooga and Mercer.

In other words, expect Oklahoma to add South Dakota to their one-sided FCS list with another cover this weekend.

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