Texas football vs. Oklahoma: Prediction and odds
The game that Texas football fans wait all year for has almost arrived. Texas will face the Oklahoma Sooners and new head coach Brent Venables in the annual Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas this coming weekend.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns look to be in a good spot heading into Red River this season. Texas has some momentum this week coming off a convincing 38-20 win at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Oct. 1 over the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The win over West Virginia gives the Longhorns a record of 3-2 (1-1 Big 12) heading into Red River.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma is riding a two-game losing streak to start out conference play. Oklahoma was blown out on the road in Fort Worth last weekend by the TCU Horned Frogs by the final score of 55-24. The Sooners have also lost by double-digits this season to the Kansas State Wildcats, giving them a record of 3-2 (1-1 Big 12) in Week 6.
Here’s a look at the betting odds and game prediction as Texas faces Oklahoma in Red River at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Oct. 8, with the kickoff time set for 11 a.m. CT. This game will be televised live on ABC.
Texas football vs. Oklahoma: Odds for Week 6
Texas is now a 7.5-point favorite over Oklahoma and the over/under is set at 65.5 points (per FanDuel).
The moneyline is currently set in Texas’ favor (-275) over Oklahoma (+220).
This is a big shift in the betting line in the last few days as Texas originally opened up as barely more than a field-goal favorite over the Sooners.
According to the ESPN Football Power Index, Texas has a 68.2 percent chance to beat Oklahoma.
Texas football vs. Oklahoma prediction
One of the driving factors as to why Texas is an increasingly heavy favorite over Oklahoma in this game is the injury bug that bit the Sooners last weekend. Oklahoma seemingly got banged up at almost every key position last weekend in the loss to TCU.
There’s a chance that the Sooners could be without redshirt junior quarterback Dillon Gabriel, senior running back Eric Gray, senior offensive tackle Wanya Morris, and sophomore safety Billy Bowman, among other key starters in Red River.
If that is the case where Oklahoma is without some of those key starters, especially Gabriel, it’s hard to see them competing after what happened in the 31-point loss to TCU on Oct. 1.
Yet, we don’t have a definitive word yet from the OU staff regarding the status of Gabriel for this weekend’s game. He suffered what looked to be an apparent concussion against TCU and his status for Red River is uncertain at the moment.
Meanwhile, Texas is getting healthier in the quarterback room. Junior quarterback Hudson Card is improving each week after playing the best game of his career in Texas’ win over West Virginia last weekend. There is also a decent chance it seems that redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers could return to action if he’s at or near full health after suffering a clavicle sprain nearly four weeks ago.
Next. 4 reasons why Texas can dominate OU in Red River. dark
There are just too many advantages that Texas seems to have at the moment over Oklahoma. The way the Sooners looked last weekend didn’t inspire much of any confidence that they can do enough to beat a Texas team that looks to be improving after the performance against West Virginia.