Oklahoma vs. Kansas point spread: Picking Sooners vs. Jayhawks

Oklahoma and Kansas will face off this weekend in Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff Game this weekend in Lawrence, Kan. The Sooners are coming off a close-call 31-29 victory over UCF this past week while the Jayhawks were on a bye.

Clark Brooks, aka Stat Cat, joined On3’s Andy Staples on his Monday podcast to pick games against the point spread, including the Big 12 matchup between Kansas and Oklahoma. Despite being the road team, the Sooners are double-digit favorites on the Jayhawks with the spread currently set at 10.5 points.

“I’m looking at this 10.5, Clark, and I’m like, ‘you know, I feel pretty good about it,'” Staples said. “Because we saw UCF, with an offense that is not — the Gus offense and what Kansas does are not completely similar — but you do have running quarterbacks, some single wingy-type principals, that sort of thing. Is Oklahoma discipline enough defensively to hold the score down? I think Oklahoma can definitely outscore them. The question is can they hold the score down?”

Brooks agreed that the game is going to be a high-scoring affair, even going as far to make a prediction on the over/under line of 66 points.

“This is gonna be a game where you’re gonna want to take the over because, right now, Oklahoma, Dillon Gabriel, Heisman hopeful, they are going to be led by their passing game,” Brooks said. “Only 66th in the country in EPA per run. Of course, obviously top 10 in passing. When you’re looking at Kansas defensively, in the triple digits defending the pass.”

Brooks explained that the offensive firepower of the Sooners offense against a weak pass defense of the Jayhawks seems destined to put up a lot of points.

But he also didn’t discredit the Kansas offense either, whether Jalon Daniels or backup Jason Bean ends up starting the game at quarterback.

“There’s gonna be too much firepower ultimately from Oklahoma for them to pull up the upset,” Brooks said. “But in terms of covering, I do like the Jayhawks there at home.”

Staples, before giving his prediction, doubled back with Brooks to make sure that is the line he wanted.

“This is a good test for Oklahoma’s defense because they didn’t have their best game against UCF,” Staples said. “Now 66.5 is your total. That’s a big number. That’s a big number. You feel good about it?

“I feel good about it,” Brooks said. “Classic Big 12 matchup. We’re gonna get like 44-49 type of game here.”

While the two agreed that the over was going to hit, they disagreed on the point spread. Staples predicted Oklahoma to not only beat Kansas but also cover the point spread of 10.5.

The Sooners are 6-1-0 against the spread all season.

“I’m going to take Oklahoma to cover here though,” Staples said. “I think given what we’ve seen with the defense, it had its sleepy game. It had its down game but it has been significantly better this season than last. The long touchdown, I think it was an 86-yard touchdown pass that UCF threw, was the first really nasty coverage bust we’ve seen from this Oklahoma defense all season. They were doing like three of those a game last year. I’m confident they get it back. I’m gonna take Oklahoma to cover.”