The UTEP Miners and Oklahoma Sooners face off on Saturday in a Week 1 college football showdown at OU Memorial Stadium.
There were a lot of changes for the Oklahoma Sooners this offseason and it’ all starts with the coaching staff. Lincoln Riley has moved onto USC, and the Sooners hired Brent Venables to be in charge. Under center for Oklahoma will be UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel who has found a ton of success in college, but this is a whole different level playing for the Sooners. The offensive line should again be a strength, and I would expect plenty of running in this game. On defense, there are a ton of new faces in the secondary and they are going to be tested in this game. This is a good early season test for that squad.
On the other side of this matchup is the UTEP Miners who are one of the few teams to already have one game under their belt. In the first game of the season against North Texas, UTEP really struggled to score putting up only 13 points and that led to the defeat. Quarterback Gavin Hardison actually didn’t look that bad completing 21 of his 48 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown. The running game for UTEP was strong too. Tyrin Smith rushed 7 times for 127 yards and a touchdown. Reynaldo Flores also rushed eight times for 122 yards.
The home team is 4-0 against the spread in the last four meetings between UTEP and Oklahoma. UTEP is 0-6 against the spread in their last six games against the Big 12. The Sooners are 6-2 against the spread in their last eight games against Conference USA.
UTEP’s offense had issues getting in the end zone in the first game, and it’s going to be a problem again in this game. Even if they move the ball between the 20s they aren’t going to be finding the end zone, and they don’t have the defense to stay in this game. The Sooners are going to run up the score and Oklahoma will cover the spread.
AUTHOR: Shane Mickle
