2005 Oklahoma Sooners Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

The Oklahoma Sooners have returned to glory under head coach Bob Stoops as a perennial National Championship contender. With such status they have also returned to being one of the most notorious “name brand” teams in college football and frequently top the lists of the general public’s college football picks each week.

Oklahoma’s status as a name brand team was fully illustrated halfway through the 2003 season when they were being touted by both the media and many sports betting bloggers as being the greatest team in college football history. After three straight wins and covers in devastating fashion Oklahoma stood at 6-0 straight up and 4-2 against the odds and appeared to be unstoppable. Few sports bettors would have an Oklahoma opponent on their list of football picks, and this caused the Sooners’ value to plummet as the sports handicapping price of taking Oklahoma skyrocketed. Still, with those prohibitive prices, Oklahoma was able to beat the sports betting line in three of their next six games as they prepared for the Big 12 Championship Game against Kansas State as 14-point chalks. The game was written off as a mere formality and the online sports betting boards predicting domination. The bloggers were half correct as Kansas State shocked the nation with a stunning 35-7 win. Oklahoma still played for the National Championship in the Sugar Bowl against LSU and was installed as a 6.5-point chalk by the sports betting odds makers, demonstrating their “name brand” appeal, as many sports betting bloggers called the K State game an “aberration.” LSU won 21-14 to give Oklahoma 5 failures against the odds in their final 8 games of 2003.

The sports handicapping market correction of 2003 continued into 2004 as Oklahoma again got off to a fast and dominating undefeated straight up start, but was so completely overpriced that they couldn’t keep pace against the odds. As a popular “name brand” team however, it seemed as if much of the sports handicapping community was asleep and numbed as Oklahoma’s lines were never adjusted or brought back down. The Sooners ended up with a 12-0 straight up record but were just 4-8 against the odds heading into the national championship game against USC. Oklahoma never covered consecutive games against the line all season. Against USC, another name brand team, they were installed as 2-point dogs and lost 19-55, demonstrating their true sports handicapping value.