Sooners to Take Revenge in Red River Rivalry? – NCAA Football Lines

NCAA football odds have now been out for a few weeks, but before we take a look at the most important games on the regular slate for next week, we are analyzing the biggest clashes in the country in ’10. It won’t get much bigger than the Red River Rivalry, as the Oklahoma Sooners are looking to exact some revenge for last year’s defeat at the hands of the Texas Longhorns.

Texas Longhorns vs. Oklahoma Sooners

Game Date/Time: Saturday, October 2nd, TBA
Game Location: Cotton Bowl Stadium
TV/Radio Broadcast: TBA

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The nation got its first look at Garrett Gilbert last year in the National Championship Game, but that wasn’t how Mack Brown wanted his debut to go. Gilbert had to replace the injured Colt McCoy, who was the man responsible for bringing the Longhorns to the BCS finale.

Gilbert performed relatively admirably in a pinch, going 15-of-40 for 186 yards with two scores and four picks. Though those numbers are fairly miserable, one must remember that this was one of the best defenses ever that he was going up against. Needless to say, the NCAA football Lines were stacked against him.

The Horns still have a number of returning starters on both sides of the ball, including one of the best sack masters in the nation, Sam Acho. Acho and his defensive mates averaged allowing just 251.9 yards and 16.7 points per game last year. OU should have a hard time running on this squad, as it only allowed 72.5 yards per game on the ground, easily the best in the nation.

However, with this now being the second year of the Landry Jones era in Norman, the Sooners probably have a bit of an upper hand in that department. Just like with Gilbert, Jones was thrown into the fire via injury, but he ended up having to work almost immediately when Sam Bradford went down with his shoulder injury the first game of the year against BYU.

Jones threw for 3,198 yards last year, and he is going to have a ton of chances to improve upon those numbers in a big way. Leading receiver Ryan Broyles has had a good history playing against these Longhorns, and this year should be no exception.

We tend to forget just how good Oklahoma’s defense is as well. The Sooners ranked in the Top 20 of every major defensive category last year, and the bulk of the starters from that stop unit return. Head coach Bob Stoops isn’t going to take this year lightly, as failure once again isn’t an option.

Thanks to the experience the Sooners possess with Jones, they were originally lined as 2.5 point favorites in this rivalry game. OU was knocked off 16-13 at the Cotton Bowl in the 2009 Red River Rivalry, but we don’t expect a repeat performance. The Sooners will get their revenge by beating the NCAA football lines in a big way come October 2nd.

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