OU’s DeMarco Murray broke loose with 218 yards rushing in Week 1.
Oklahoma was picked by some to be the national college football champion this year.
The Sooners, though, are going to have to play a whole lot better this week if that has any chance of happening. It’s the same with Florida.
The Sooners, Gators, Ohio State and Alabama – all top seven teams – face much more difficult matchups this week.
Oklahoma went off as 34 ½-point home favorites against Utah State and barely hung on, winning 31-24. DeMarco Murray had a monster game for the Sooners rushing for 218 yards and scoring two touchdowns.
The Sooners host Florida State, a 59-6 winner against Samford in the first game of the post Bobby Bowden era. The Seminoles scored 35 points in the second quarter.
Oklahoma is an 8 ½-point favorite. The Sooners have covered 19 of their last 26 games as home ‘chalk.’
Florida was bet up from 36 to 39 against Miami of Ohio and looked terrible in a 34-12 win, fumbling eight times and losing three of them. John Brantley, the replacement for Tim Tebow, passed for just 113 yards.
The Gators are 17-point home favorites versus South Florida, now coached by the highly-respected Skip Holtz, who led East Carolina to Conference USA titles the past two years.
Florida coach Urban Meyer is 17-4 ATS when his teams have hosted non-conference foes.
Ohio State drubbed Marshall, 45-7, covering as 28-point home favorites, but now draws Miami of Florida at home. The Buckeyes are 9 ½-point favorites.
Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor put in an excellent Week 1 in his quest to win the Heisman Trophy, completing 17-of-25 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
Miami quarterback Jacory Harris had a fine day, too, hitting on 12-of-15 passes for 210 yards and three scores in a 45-0 home victory against Florida A&M, a non-board school.
Alabama caught a bad break when Heisman Trophy running back Mark Ingram suffered a knee injury during practice and missed Alabama’s game against San Jose State. The Crimson Tide still rolled, winning 48-3 as 38 ½-point home favorites.
Ingram, who rushed for 1,658 yards and scored 17 touchdowns last year, is a long shot to play Saturday when Alabama hosts Penn State. The Crimson Tide are 11 ½-point favorites.
Trent Richardson is one of the top backup running backs in the country. He scored two touchdowns against San Jose State and redshirt freshman Eddie Lacey rushed for 111 yards and also scored twice. Even without Ingram, the Crimson Tide still rushed for 257 yards.
Penn State started off sluggish against Youngstown State before winning 44-14. The Nittany Lions, however, failed to cover as 38 ½-point home favorites.
Texas was lackluster in its opener, beating Rice 34-17. The Longhorns had been bet up from 29 to 31 ½-points for the matchup, which was played at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
Garrett Gilbert didn’t exactly shine in the first game of the post Colt McCoy era passing for 172 yards and no scores.
The Longhorns are 28-point home favorites versus Wyoming, a team they just missed covering against last year as 31 ½-point road favorites. Texas defeated the Cowboys, 41-10.
Ninth-ranked Iowa has an in-state rivalry matchup Saturday afternoon versus Iowa State. The Hawkeyes have won and covered in each of the last two years, including 35-3 as 6 ½-point road favorites last year.
However, Iowa State had covered during each of the previous four seasons, including winning straight-up in 2005 and 2007 as underdogs.
Iowa currently is minus 14 for this year’s matchup.
In other top 10 this week: Nebraska is 28 ½-point home favorites versus Idaho, Boise State is idle and TCU hosts Tennessee Tech, a non-board team so there is no line.