College Football Betting: Texas Tech Red Raiders at Oklahoma Sooners

By BetOnline September 25, 2019

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The Texas Tech Red Raiders were going to have a tough time against the Oklahoma Sooners no matter which quarterback they brought into the game. Now that they’re dealing with a key injury, they’ll have to face the Sooners at an even more decided disadvantage. Can they at least cover?

TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS AT OKLAHOMA SOONERS
CFB ODDS: OKLAHOMA -27
CFB TOTAL: 72

WHY THE RED RAIDERS WILL COVER THE SPREAD

The Red Raiders are no longer coached by Kliff Kingsbury as Matt Wells is the new coach of the program. That means this team is transitioning from being all-offense to being more balanced. This should mean an improved defensive performance by the Red Raiders against Oklahoma. Texas Tech-Oklahoma games have featured very high scores in recent years with the last three matchups producing a combined total of 298 points, an average of 99.3 points per game. Oklahoma scored 66 points in 2016, 49 points in 2017, and 51 points in 2018, for a total of 166 points, an average of 55.3 points per game.

Kingsbury simply did not coach defense. He focused on offense and hoped his teams at Texas Tech could outscore opponents. Under Wells, the Red Raiders have a better expectation of limiting Oklahoma’s offensive production. Texas Tech will not shut down OU – the Sooners will score 31 to 38 points even on a bad day – but if Texas Tech can hold Oklahoma under 40 points, it will have a very realistic chance of covering what is a very large spread.

WHY THE SOONERS WILL COVER THE SPREAD

The Red Raiders will not have regular starting quarterback Alan Bowman in this game. Bowman played the Sooners last year and he was supposed to be the bridge between coaching staffs, given that Texas Tech hired a new coach this past offseason. He got hurt, however, and now Texas Tech needs to consider how it will approach this game. There are rumors that Wells will use two quarterbacks in a rotation system. No one really knows, but it has to be said that if an untested, unproven quarterback is going to make a first career start, doing so against Oklahoma is not the ideal situation. It would be so much better for Texas Tech if this start can occur against an easy opponent, providing time and film study to build a young quarterback’s confidence and create a stepping stone for OU. The Red Raiders don’t have that, and that is a key reason why they are in such noticeable trouble.

Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts has been playing like a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Sooners’ offense is rolling, and there is no good reason to think it will slow down against Texas Tech. They’re fresh off a bye week and should steamroll this struggling team.

TAKING A LOOK AT THE TOTAL

The Oklahoma offense should score big. The real question relative to the total is the Texas Tech offense with Alan Bowman out. Texas Tech needs to score 20, so that if Oklahoma scores 56, the game can go over. If Texas Tech scores just 10 points, the game will probably go under. The feeling here is that Tech will score a few touchdowns late in the game, in garbage time, to push the game over the total.