Todd Fuhrman 'Bet the Board' Looks At the State of Oklahoma

PublishedAugust 19, 2021 2:29 AM EDT|UpdatedAugust 19, 2021 2:29 AM EDT

College football continues to be a landmine for the pseudo-elite programs. Texas and Auburn stumbled last week with ugly losses in very different fashions, so their stock took a major hit. We anxiously await the beginning of Big 10 football so 3 schools currently residing in our ratings will have a chance to prove their mettle on the field rather than just on spreadsheets. (We're looking at you Wisconsin. See how life looks without Jack Coan).

This week, we head to the Big 12 for both our overrated and underrated programs, and we don’t even need to leave the damn state. Best bets haven’t been great to start the year, and we own our shortcomings. However, a few stumbles never deterred us before and won’t in 2020. This week, our travels take us to the Red River Rivalry to see if there has been an over-adjustment on a side. The total also has our attention. Read below to see where we stand in the college ranks and see a surprise debut from an independent inside our top 10.

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Bet the Board Top 10 Championship Week:

1.) Ohio State
2.) Clemson
3.) Alabama
4.) Georgia
5.) Florida
6.) Penn State
7.) Notre Dame
8.) Wisconsin
9.) Miami
10.) BYU

Overrated: Oklahoma State

Currently slotted in at the #10 spot in both the AP and USA Today Coaches Poll, the Cowboys have reached and exceeded the peak of perception in the CFB world. Despite dealing with an injury to QB Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State remains undefeated after taking down powerhouse programs such as Tulsa, West Virginia, and Kansas (Hint: Sarcasm). The truth is we don’t actually have the Pokes in our Top 20, as they’ve only averaged 5.2 yards per play on offense. That's good for just 47th out of 74 schools that have played a game. They barely squeaked by Tulsa as a 24-point favorite in their opener, a game in which they were down for significant portions of the second half and needed a missed FG and a turnover to come away with the win. They were actually out-gained by West Virginia but benefited from a defensive touchdown early and a Chubba Hubbard TD run late to make the final score suggest a much more dominant performance than it really was. As long as this offense continues to struggle, we’ll be selling the Cowboys stock, even in the much maligned BigXII

Underrated: Oklahoma

Despite being 1-2 and plummeting in the polls (yes, Sooner fans, you are no longer nationally ranked), we still think there is hope for Oklahoma. Losing in Ames is nothing to be embarrassed about although we must say the defensive effort this season is downright abysmal. While fully cognizant that the defense needs an overhaul we cannot in good faith turn a blind eye to this offense which is still explosive and can put points on anyone in the country (even down a starting running back for this week’s game). Spencer Rattler, while prone to forcing the ball into tight windows, has been accurate enough for a true freshman to say his future looks extremely bright. In their opening Big 12 contest this Oklahoma offense gained 517 yards and had 18 more first downs than Kansas State but turned the ball over 4 times and were outscored in the by 17 points in the final stanza. Last Saturday at Jack Trice they were outscored by 11 in the second half. If the Sooners can figure out how to maintain their early leads, this team has the potential to be a Top 15 club. Despite the fall in the polls, we still have OU well inside our Top 25.

Best Bet: 323 Oklahoma & Texas O72

In the game of the year lines, the Red River Rivalry was priced anywhere from -6.5 to -3.5 and while much has changed since then we haven’t made that drastic an adjustment down to beneath the key of “3”. However…this game is all about offense and shoddy tackling. Oklahoma has the talent on the offensive end to put up a number here, seeing as both Texas Tech and TCU put up almost 1,000 yards of offense combined in their two games against the Longhorns without a QB that offers a skillset like Rattler. The Sooners have placed an emphasis this week on tackling and wrapping up on the defensive side of the ball as that has been the main cause of headaches in the second half of games for Sooner backers but until we see it our thought is that Texas can move the ball at will. In this situation, it seems books are writing Texas tickets hand over fist as bettors jump off of the OU bandwagon after back to back losses. We can’t fault anyone for buying low on the Sooners but our angle is hoping both offenses stay one step ahead of their defensive counterparts and in the sweltering Dallas heat defenders are gassed by the 4th quarter. OVER the total we go in a classic BigXii shootout.

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