Tulane vs Oklahoma 9/4/21 College Football Picks, Odds, Predictions

The Tulane Green Wave meet the Oklahoma Sooners in week 1 college football action from Yulman Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Oklahoma Sooners will look to get back into the national playoff picture after ending up on the outside looking in for the first time since 2016. Oklahoma finished with a 9-2 record including a 7-2 mark in Big 12 conference play, claiming another Big 12 conference title as well as a win over Florida in the Cotton Bowl Classic by a dominant 55-20 margin. Spencer Rattler is back under center for the Sooners after a solid freshman season, finishing with over 3,000 yards, 28 touchdowns and earning the Big 12 newcomer of the year award in the process. Kennedy Brooks is back with the Sooners after opting out in 2020 and teasing a move to the pros, but he returns having logged over 2,000 rushing yards and 18 TDs in his college career with an average of 7.5 yards per carry. Marvin Mims and Theo Wease will be tasked to lead OU’s receiving group while Drake Stoops and Arkansas transfer Mike Woods will be asked to provide a spark as well. Jadon Haselwood will also be featured as a prominent option in the offense after missing a lot of 2020 due to injury. On defense, the Sooners are making progress, but there’s still work to do and it could be another step forward for Oklahoma this season, as seven starters are back including LaRon Stoked, Isaiah Thomas and Perrion Winfrey up front while Nik Bonitto comes in off of the edge after logging 10.5 TFLs and 8 sacks last season. Delarrin Turner-Yell and Pat Fields are back in the OU secondary after finishing as two of the team’s top three tacklers last season while D.J. Graham and Woodi Washington are the two likely starters at corner for the Sooners this year. As a team, Oklahoma averaged 43 PPG while allowing 21.7 PPG last season.

The Tulane Green Wave will look to keep the program trending in the right direction after going 6-6 in 2020, including a 3-5 mark in AAC conference play, culminating in a third straight bowl appearance, a 38-27 loss to Nevada in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Michael Pratt is back under center for Tulane after leading all true freshmen QBs with 20 TD passes last season and Pratt will thankfully have his top four targets back, including Jha’Quan Jackson and Duece Watts who each had 31 receptions and a combined 14 touchdown grabs last season. Tyjae Spears returns to Tulane’s backfield after recovering from a torn ACL, and the Green Wave are hoping for a clean bill of health to pair him with Cameron Carroll, who had 741 rushing yards and 12 TDs last season, as one of the best tandems in any backfield in the country. Defensively, Tulane has rebuilding to do after an abysmal 2020 and now have to do it without the program’s all-time sack leader in Patrick Johnson and Cameron Sample. Joseph Dorceus transfers in from Memphis while Nick Anderson, Kevin Henry and Dorian Williams bring the boom for the Green Wave at linebacker, arguably the strongest level of defense for Tulane. Jaylon Monroe returns in the Tulane secondary, but the Green Wave get a couple of massive transfers to help the cause including Derrion Rakestraw from Colorado-past, and Lance Robinson from Kansas State to bolster a secondary that needs a lot of improvement from last season. As a team, Tulane averaged 34.7 PPG while allowing 28.1 PPG last season.

Oklahoma is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 Saturday games while the over is 9-1 in their last 10 games against the AAC. Tulane is 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 9-1 ATS in their last 10 home games while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 week 1 games.

The points with Tulane are worth a look as Michael Pratt looked really good in stretches last year for Tulane and the Green Wave can run the ball really well, while Oklahoma doesn’t necessarily have a strong reputation for being stout defensively. However, the Sooners do have a reputation for having an electric offense year in and year out, and with Spencer Rattler having time to get comfortable, the sky is the limit for OU this season. Do the Sooners have bigger fish to fry this season? Absolutely, but when have the Sooners not relished a chance to beat up on lesser opponents? Give me Oklahoma in a game I can see the Sooners winning by four or five touchdowns at the very least.