Sam Bradford is still out for Oklahoma, meaning that freshman quarterback Landry Jones is making his first career road start vs. a tough Miami team coming off a loss. Take Go Canes.
Now that we've got it in concrete that Sam Bradford is out for the Oklahoma Sooners, it's time to hop the Miami Hurricanes.
If Bradford was 100 percent healthy and was suiting up then Oklahoma wins this and covers. Now you have redshirt Fr. Landry Jones making his first road start of his career. His 60 percent completion percentage, 9/3 TD/Int ratio, and 673 yards is very overrated and we actually don't know the true value of Jones. Those numbers were put up against Idaho State and Tulsa.
His offensive line has yet to be tested by a front seven this fast, strong, and athletic. The Sooners offensive line has been a major concern of ours from the spring. They only opened up holes to average 3.8 yard per carry against BYU. We think Florida State exploited the Cougars defense and proved they don't have the speed to compete defensively against an upper tier BCS opponent.
If Oklahoma couldn't run all over BYU how are they going to run all over this Miami defense? If they can't run the ball it's going to be hard to get the passing game going and all of this reverts back to the offensive line. This Miami secondary is very talented and will take advantage of any bad throws that Jones makes. The Sooners also took a huge blow losing Jermaine Gresham for the season which will be a proven flaw in these big games. He was the best tight end in the country and is a void that you can't fill.
Everybody is talking about Oklahoma coming in here with a chip on their shoulder but after the loss in Virginia Tech we can expect this Hurricanes team to come in here with an attitude as well. Jacory Harris struggled throwing the ball in the rain in Blacksburg but he gets a chance to redeem himself on Saturday in what looks like will be nice weather in Miami.
We saw a relatively healthy Oklahoma team against BYU at a neutral site and they didn't look the least bit impressive. Now they face a talented Miami team in their first true road game and are without their leader behind center. On top of that they are facing a Miami team who was embarrassed last week. We see it as a tough scheduling spot and tough luck that Bradford is out.
We'll watch Mark Whipple work his magic with his great play calling and try to keep his offense on the field as much as possible. He'll have his hands full against this Oklahoma front seven which is one of the best in the country and it will be an interesting match up. His job is to keep the Sooner running backs DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown off the field and keep Jacory Harris and the offense on the field to sustain drives. Seeing the job Whipple has done so far we have our faith in him.
This is too many points for the Sooners to lay in this spot. The Hurricanes will keep this tight down to the wire and if they pull off an upset with a straight up win it wouldn't shock us.
Free Pick: Miami Hurricanes +7½ (-110)