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Oklahoma Football: TCU presents tough road challenge in Week 8

By Quinn Douglas

DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 06: Kyler Murray #1 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks for an open receiver against the Texas Longhorns in the first half of the 2018 AT&T Red River Showdown at Cotton Bowl on October 6, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 06: Kyler Murray #1 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks for an open receiver against the Texas Longhorns in the first half of the 2018 AT&T Red River Showdown at Cotton Bowl on October 6, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma football will look to get back on track Saturday with a big game against TCU. Will the Sooners be able to bounce back?

It’s been a long two weeks for the Oklahoma Sooners. They were on a bye last weekend following their shocking, last-second loss to Texas the previous Saturday in the Red River Rivalry game. The Sooners were down 21 points coming into the fourth quarter when Kyler Murray took his game to the next level, leading the Sooners to 21 unanswered to points to tie the game, only to have Cameron Dicker kick their hopes away with a 40-yard field goal to win it for Texas.

Kyler Murray has been the most electrifying player in college football this season, as his ability to create plays out of seemingly nothing is something that is not duplicated by just any player. Murray has thrown for 1,764 yards, 21 touchdowns and only three interceptions while rushing for 377 yards and another five touchdowns. It seemed impossible to have a more explosive offense after the graduation of Baker Mayfield, but Lincoln Riley has done just that.

There seemed to be a lot of promise for TCU coming into this season, but things just haven’t worked out the way Gary Patterson wanted them to. Quarterback Shawn Robinson has been Jekyl and Hide so far this year, throwing for 1,305 yards and nine touchdowns, but eight interceptions. However, the TCU defense has proven to be as good as it is normally, allowing just over 300 yards per game in the offensive-minded Big 12 is nothing to snuff at.

Here’s where to watch this high-noon showdown on Saturday:

Date: Saturday, Oct. 17
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Venue: Amon G. Carter Stadium
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

Oklahoma needs to do what they’ve been successful in doing all year, having Kyler Murray get in a rhythm and the unleash him on deep balls. The Sooners like to run a lot of run-pass options early on to keep the defense honest and to help put Kyler Murray in a rhythm early in the game. If they can accomplish that, Murray has a host of speed-demon receivers such as Hollywood Brown and CeeDee Lamb to throw deep to.

TCU has to be able to limit what Kyler Murray can do in the air. For three quarters, Texas did an outstanding job of not stopping Murray, but slowing him down to the point where Oklahoma couldn’t match the Longhorns blow for blow. That being said, Shawn Robinson will have to play a flawless football game if TCU wants to get a hold of Oklahoma, because almost no one in the country can keep the Oklahoma offense down for four quarters.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark

Line: Oklahoma -8
Over/under: 61.5

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Prediction

Oklahoma will come out for this game angry and they will want to punish whoever lines up against them. For TCU, they just have to make sure they don’t end up like a fly being smashed by the fly-swatter that is the Sooners. TCU needs Shawn Robinson to play out of his mind, unfortunately, I just do not see that happening, especially with new blood calling the defense following the firing of Mike Stoops. Oklahoma bounces back to go to 6-1.

Prediction: Oklahoma 52, TCU 30

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