With college football season on the horizon, ESPN Chalk's college football experts -- Phil Steele, "Stanford Steve" Coughlin and Chris Fallica -- give you betting previews of the top 25 teams in the ESPN College Football Rankings. They break down each team's strengths and weaknesses, along with season win total bets and national title odds.
Odds from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook as of Sept. 1.
Oklahoma Sooners
National title odds: 30-1
Season win total: 8.5
Phil Steele
Strengths: The Sooners are right where they want to be. Believe it or not, this is only the third time since 2000 that Oklahoma hasn't been ranked in the AP preseason top 10. What's more, on the two previous occasions, the Sooners won the national title and finished No. 6 in the country. New offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley inherits two capable QBs and talented RB Samaje Perine. WR Sterling Shepard basically missed the second half of the past season with injury, but now he is healthy and one of the best in the country. The Sooners also have a top-15 defense.
If Oklahoma gets past Tennessee in Week 2, I fully expect the Sooners to be 9-0 when they play at Baylor, TCU and at Oklahoma State in the final three weeks. Oklahoma had five net upsets and two net close losses (both good signs) last year and only has four true Big 12 road games this year.
Weaknesses: The offensive line lost 144 career starts, returns just 28 and must learn a new offense, given the transition from last year's run-based attack to the Texas Tech-style spread offense. Although the defense has talent throughout, the squad underperformed last year, with 383 YPG allowed, and needs to play up to its talent level.
Over/under: I like the Sooners' chances of topping this number. Last year, they were the consensus pick to win the Big 12 and were three plays away from tying for the title. They missed a field goal at the end of the Kansas State game that would have given them the win, they opted to punt a second time to Tyreek Hill in the final minute against Oklahoma State, and they led TCU 31-24 but lost by four. They are flying under the radar, and I will take the over.
National title: The Big 12 will be decided in November, and this could be a confident Oklahoma team heading into the month 9-0. I would put their odds more in the 15-1 range, so there is good value here. Back in 2000, Oklahoma was the team that got my surprise team article rolling, as no one expected them to be in the mix coming off a 7-5 year that included an Independence bowl loss to Mississippi. That year, they swept the table and won the national title.
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin
Let's get it going, Norman! Give me Baker Mayfield under center, and Bob Stoops will figure out the rest. I always thought Mayfield was the best of the Texas Tech QBs a couple years back, when Kliff Kingsbury was shuffling three signal-callers. Honestly, I see Mayfield as a better option than Trevor Knight to run the Sooners offense. I'll admit, two things are factoring into my selection of the Sooners for the Big 12 title in 2015.
The first is it just seems too easy to say Baylor and TCU will battle for the conference title Nov. 27. Secondly, I flat-out like to be a contrarian. If you remember last year, after a couple games, some people believed the Sooners had the best defensive talent in the country ... and then injuries and a trip to TCU turned the season for the worse. I also remember saying Oklahoma over Clemson was the lock of the bowl season. That was probably my worst call of the year, as Dabo and the boys took the Sooners out to the wood shed in winning 40-6.
Once again, I am not judging the Sooners by the most recent time we saw them on the field. I think they have a big year and have a great shot to make the College Football Playoff. Fortunately, we will find out a lot about them when they travel to Tennessee on Sept. 12.
Odds to win the title: With no conference title game, an undefeated Sooners team is a sure thing to make the playoff. What's more, a one-loss Big 12 champion Oklahoma team might get sympathy from the committee, considering what happened to the one-loss Big 12 teams last year.
Chris Fallica
Oklahoma stock doesn't come any lower. The Sooners lost to every ranked team they played last year, and this will be the second time in the past three years that OU is ranked outside the AP preseason top 10. Prior to 2013, the Sooners were ranked in the preseason top 10 in 12 straight years. The shine is off, that's for sure. But it would be dangerous to completely overlook a seemingly desperate Stoops squad after numerous changes on the staff.
O/U: I think over 8.5 is the right side here. The Sooners could open 9-0 (or 8-1 at the worst), and as long as they don't lose each of their final three games, you're looking at a 9-3 worst-case, in my opinion. I'd definitely side with the over. It should be noted that gone are the days of OU being a lock at home. The Sooners have lost five games in Norman the past three years, including a 34-point loss to Baylor and a loss as 21-point favorites in the Bedlam game.
Title odds: At 30-1, OU is getting a good amount of respect from Las Vegas. There's a good chance the Sooners will be 9-0 going to Baylor on Nov. 14. Keep in mind, though, OU lost at home to Baylor and OSU last year (as well as TCU in Fort Worth), and both the Bears and Cowboys could be more talented this year. If OU were to lose one of those final three games, the Sooners almost certainly wouldn't win the Big 12 and would fall out of the playoff. I'd pass at 30-1.