Week 1: Oklahoma vs UTEP 9/3/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Oklahoma Sooners and UTEP Miners clash Saturday in week 1 college football action from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

The UTEP Miners will be out to rebound after starting the year with a 31-13 loss to North Texas last time out. Gavin Hardison threw for 293 yards and a TD on 21 of 48 passing while also rushing for 29 yards on 10 carries. Ronald Awatt added 36 rushing yards on 10 carries and Deion Hankins had 27 rushing yards while Tyrin Smith had a team-high 127 receiving yards and a TD on 7 grabs while Reynaldo Flores added a team-high 8 grabs for 122 yards. On defense, Tyrice Knight led the Miners with 11 total tackles including 7 solo tackles while Kobe Hylton added 9 total tackles and 7 solo tackles of his own.

The Oklahoma Sooners will hope to start the Brent Venables era in Norman on a high note after finishing 2021 with a record of 11-2 overall including 7-2 in Big 12 conference play. The Sooners ended up with an invite to the Alamo Bowl, a game in which the Sooners took down Oregon by a final score of 47-32. The Sooners parted with their two QBs from last season, with Caleb Williams going to USC and Spencer Rattler to South Carolina, but in comes former UCF stud Dillon Gabriel to lead the offense. Marvin Mims is back in the fold as Gabriel’s expected top target while Theo Wease will be back from injury to be the #2 in the Sooners’ receiving corps. Kennedy Brooks is gone after leading the Sooners in rushing, but Eric Gray transferred in from Tennessee to take over the job and should be a great fit alongside Gabriel to run up the offensive numbers. On defense, Jalen Redmond and Reggie Grimes lead the front line with Jeffery Johnson transferring in from Tulane to help the charge and add some weight to the D-Line. The Sooners lost two of their top linebackers in Nik Bonitto and top tackler Brian Asamoah, but DaShaun White is back as is top talent Danny Statesman as well as do-it-all linebacker Marcus Stripling.

UTEP is 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games against the Big 12 and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall. Oklahoma is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 home games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games in September while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 non-conference games.

I get that this is a boatload of points to be giving up with an Oklahoma team that is going to be learning some things at game speed like a new coaching staff while also getting acclimated with life with Dillon Gabriel under center. However, we mentioned before that Gabriel can lead this offense as he led a juggernaut offense at UCF a ways back and he is a perfect fit for this Sooner offense. UTEP had a hard time stopping North Texas in their opener and I just shudder to think what a dynamic Oklahoma offense will do here. Give me the Sooners and lay the points in a rout.