Oklahoma vs. BYU 2023 College Football Week 12 Odds, Preview & Pick

By Hank Blaine • November 14, 2023

It has been a rough first season in the Big 12 for struggling BYU, but the Cougars can play spoilers on Saturday by upsetting No. 14 Oklahoma and keeping the Sooners from the Big 12 title game. However, OU is a huge road favorite as it looks for its first-ever win in the series.

Oklahoma Sooners vs. BYU Cougars Game Information

Saturday nights in the Palace ‍#OUDNA pic.twitter.com/WXOfGIjJft
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) November 14, 2023

When: Saturday, November 18, 2023, 12:00 PM ET
Where: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, UT
TV: ABC
Radio: The Franchise 107.7 FM (Oklahoma) // KSL 1160 AM (BYU)
Live Stream: WatchESPN
College Football Odds: Oklahoma (-8) // BYU (+8)

Why Bet on the Oklahoma Sooners?

Oklahoma lost its chance at getting to the College Football Playoff after losing consecutive road games to Kansas and Oklahoma State in recent weeks, but rebounding with the home win over West Virginia in Week 11 kept Big 12 title hopes alive for the Sooners. They have to win out and then a best-case scenario would be Iowa State defeating Kansas State two weeks from now and Oklahoma State suffering another upset loss to BYU or Houston in its final two games. Oklahoma, Okie State, Iowa State and Kansas State are all tied at 5-2 in the league, second behind Texas (6-1). The Sooners win a head-to-head with K-State.

That Sooners offense was rolling Saturday in a 59-20 rout of West Virginia. QB Dillon Gabriel passed for 423 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 50 yards and three scores. He broke the previous Oklahoma single-game touchdown record of seven set by Baker Mayfield in 2016 and matched by Kyler Murray in 2018. Gabriel also cracked the top 10 in NCAA Division I history for career yards passing. He now sits in 10th place with 14,274 yards.

It was Gabriel’s third career game with multiple rushing touchdowns (all this season) and his second with three rushing TDs. He is only the second quarterback in Oklahoma history to pass for at least 45 touchdowns and rush for at least 15 touchdowns in his OU career (has 50 passing TDs and 17 rushing TDs). The other is Baker Mayfield (119 passing TDs and 18 rushing TDs). Gabriel has accounted for 67 touchdowns in 22 games at OU. He now ranks fifth in school history in total touchdowns accounted for (67). He trails only Mayfield (138 touchdowns in 40 games), Landry Jones (126 touchdowns in 53 games), Sam Bradford (93 touchdowns in 31 games) and Jason White (83 touchdowns in 40 games).

Drake Stoops had career highs of 164 yards and three touchdowns receiving, Gavin Sawchuk had a career-best 135 yards rushing and Nic Anderson added four catches for 119 yards for OU, which had a season-high 644 yards of total offense (423 passing, 221 rushing) and averaged 8.3 yards per play. This was the 12th game over the last two seasons in which OU has rushed for at least 200 yards. OU registered 14 total scrimmage plays of 20 or more yards, by far the most in any game this season. Its nine passing plays of 20+ yards and five rushing plays of 20+ yards marked season bests in both categories.

The Sooners registered two takeaways (two interceptions) and now have 21 takeaways this season (17 interceptions, four fumble recoveries). The Sooners, who had one turnover (a fumble on a punt return), hold a plus-9 turnover margin this season.

Why Bet on the Kansas Jayhawks?

BYU needs one more victory in its final two games to get bowl eligible at 5-5 overall but is just 2-5 in the league as injuries have been a problem this season. The Cougars were blown out at home by Iowa State last week 45-13. The Cyclones dominated the game with 443 yards of total offense. After surrendering 10 points off of turnovers, BYU answered with a touchdown drive but it was all Cyclones after that. For the Cougars, Jake Retzlaff completed 10-of-17 passes throwing for 104 yards and two interceptions in his second career start. The signal caller also ran the ball 17 times for a team-high 64 yards.

“We have got to find a way to win one more game so we can have an extension on the season,” said Kalani Sitake, BYU head coach. “I was hoping that we would have a better chance to do it tonight. We will have to be ready for the game next week, our last game at home, against Oklahoma who is a ranked team.”

Sitake indicated Monday that usual starting QB Kedon Slovis is not yet fully recovered and questionable for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma. Slovis has missed back-to-back games while nursing an arm injury. The senior quarterback is slated to be the starter if fully healthy for this week’s game against the Sooners. Starting WR Darius Lassiter missed the ISU game but may return for this one. He has 28 catches for 347 yards and four scores.

BYU is 2-0 against Oklahoma, with both wins coming at neutral sites. Most recently, BYU defeated Oklahoma in 2009’s season opener at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. BYU and Oklahoma are playing a 10 a.m. MT kickoff, just the first 10 a.m. MT start at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 20 years with the last time coming Nov. 13, 2004, against New Mexico (21-14 loss).

The Cougars are 32-66-1 vs. ranked opponents. BYU is 7-10 against ranked teams under Sitake. BYU’s last win against a ranked team was last season’s 26-20 double-overtime win vs. No. 9 Baylor in Provo.

Oklahoma vs. BYU Betting Trends

Oklahoma is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games.
Sooners are 8-2 SU in their last 10 games.
The total went over in 8 of Oklahoma’s last 12 games.
BYU is 1-4 ATS in the last 5 games.
Cougars are 1-4 SU in its last 5 games.
The total went over in 6 of BYU’s last 9 games.

Oklahoma vs. BYU Expert Betting Predictions

Oklahoma 40, BYU 27.

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