{"id":16842,"date":"2011-08-05T12:30:06","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T17:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=16842"},"modified":"2011-08-05T12:37:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T17:37:17","slug":"2011-oklahoma-sooners-college-football-betting-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2011-oklahoma-sooners-college-football-betting-preview-16842\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Oklahoma Sooners College Football Betting Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma Sooners<\/strong>
\n2010 record:\u00a0 12-2 overall, 6-2 conference<\/strong>
\n2010 Bowl Game:\u00a0 48-20 win over Connecticut in Fiesta Bowl<\/strong>
\n2010 ATS:\u00a0 8-6<\/strong>
\n2010 O\/U:\u00a0 7-7<\/strong>
\nReturning starters: \u00a014 total (8 on offense, 6 on defense)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Oklahoma QB Landry Jones is a Heisman Trophy candidate in 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are also preparing and have season-long packages readily available for clients.\u00a0 Let\u2019s head to Norman and take a look at the team that was recently named the No. 1 team in the USA Preseason Coaches\u2019 Poll.<\/p>\n

Offense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Oklahoma brings back plenty of firepower from a unit that ranked second in conference and 14th nationally in averaging 37.2 points per game.\u00a0 One improvement is necessary heading into a possible BCS championship game is gaining more explosive plays on the ground, as the team came away with just nine runs of 20 yards or more in 2010.<\/p>\n

NFL draftee DeMarco Murray is gone and who fills his shoes is anyone\u2019s guess, as he left the program as the record holder for career touchdowns and all-purpose yards.\u00a0 The leading candidate is sophomore Brennan Clay, but he gained just 127 yards last season.<\/p>\n

The lack of game-time experience in the backfield may not even matter due to the explosive nature of the passing game that features quarterback Landry Jones and wide receiver Ryan Broyles.\u00a0 The passing attack finished third nationally with 343.4 yards a game through the air.<\/p>\n

Jones is a Heisman Trophy candidate and Broyles has his eyes set on the Biletnikoff Award after missing out on the prize last year despite catching 131 balls.<\/p>\n

Six players with starting experience are set to return on the offensive line, giving the unit an ability to call any play in the playbook.<\/p>\n

Defense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Multiple starters return from a unit that was among the top 10 nationally last season in both passing efficiency defense and tackles for loss.\u00a0 The unit prides itself on being physical and playing at a high speed.<\/p>\n

The front seven is certainly talented and will need to address the unfortunate loss of linebacker Austin Box, who died on May 19.\u00a0 He started five games last year and was penciled in to man the middle of the defense.<\/p>\n

Cornerbacks Demontre Hurst and Jamell Fleming return to Norman, but the secondary will have two new starters at the safety position.\u00a0 Size is the biggest concern in camp for likely candidates Aaron Colvin and Javon Harris, especially Colvin at just 175 pounds.<\/p>\n

Special Teams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Senior Jimmy Stevens gives the coaching staff comfort during field goal situations and hit 19-of-23 attempts last year.<\/p>\n

Punter Tress Way has established himself as one of the top players at his position nationally, which has led the team to rank among the nation\u2019s leaders in punt coverage defense.<\/p>\n

Broyles is an exciting return man that opposing teams must game plan against each and every week.<\/p>\n

Against the Spread<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Oklahoma Sooners have won 36-straight home games and won bettors money in 2010 by posting a 4-2 ATS mark in Norman.<\/p>\n

Bet On<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bedlam has been lopsided in terms of the spread, as Oklahoma is 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings with Oklahoma State.<\/p>\n

Fade Away<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A potential letdown awaits the team after an early season road contest in Tallahassee and that could spell trouble in Week 3.\u00a0 The school is 1-3 ATS in its last four meetings with Missouri at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma Sooners 2010 record:\u00a0 12-2 overall, 6-2 conference 2010 Bowl Game:\u00a0 48-20 win over Connecticut in Fiesta Bowl 2010 ATS:\u00a0 8-6 2010 O\/U:\u00a0 7-7 Returning starters: \u00a014 total (8 on offense, 6 on defense) Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[5120,5121,3235,5119,408,3709],"class_list":["post-16842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-austin-box","tag-jimmy-stevens","tag-landry-jones","tag-oklahoma-memorial-stadium","tag-oklahoma-sooners","tag-ryan-broyles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16844,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16842\/revisions\/16844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}