The No. 16 Oklahoma Sooners open the 2024 season — its first as a member of the Southeastern Conference — when it hosts the Temple Owls for the first-ever Friday night home game in Sooners’ history.
Ahead of the game, we’ve got the latest college football betting odds, DFS picks, and an Oklahoma vs. Temple prediction.
Oklahoma vs. Temple Betting Preview
All Oklahoma vs. Temple odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook and are correct as of Friday, Aug. 30, 2024.
- Spread
Oklahoma -42.5 (-108) - Moneyline
N/A - Over/Under
57.5 points (-110) - Game time
7 p.m. ET - Location
Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma - Predicted Weather at Kick
82 degrees, 7-8 mph winds, considerable cloudiness, humid, with a possible passing thunderstorm - How to Watch
ESPN, ESPN+
Life in the SEC for the Sooners will begin with Oklahoma celebrating the 100th home opener at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman. The Sooners have won 17 straight home openers since losing 17-10 against TCU to start the 2005 season.
Temple, meanwhile, will enter Year 3 under head coach Stan Drayton with each of the previous two coming to an end with identical 3-9 records. After five straight winning seasons (43-22 in 2015-19), the Owls have now posted four straight losing campaigns (10-33 in 2020-23).
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The Sooners went unbeaten (6-0) on their home turf last season, including a 5-1 mark against the spread. That was a big improvement from Brent Venables’ first season at the helm when Oklahoma went 2-4 ATS at home.
The Owls will be in familiar territory, considering they were underdogs in 10 of their 12 games last season, going 3-9 against the number in those contests. They only covered the spread once in their five road contests in 2023.
Prediction for Oklahoma vs. Temple
Last season, then-true freshman Jackson Arnold saw action in five games behind Dillon Gabriel. The highly touted recruit with a cannon for a right arm will have an opportunity to showcase his talented skill set against an overmatched Temple defense.
Temple allowed 35.7 points per game last season, which ranked 129th in FBS. And their work in the transfer portal this offseason didn’t quite warrant any hope for much improvement.
Temple’s running back room, however, did receive a makeover this offseason and it should be led by sophomore Joquez Smith. Though against inferior competition, Smith flashed at times last season, including a 142-yard performance against Norfolk State.
The Sooners opened last season with a 73-0 drubbing of Arkansas State. It will be difficult to see a repeat of that, but Oklahoma’s offense will certainly be the best unit on the field for this contest.
The extra oomph in the crowd — being that it is Oklahoma’s first SEC game — the 100th anniversary of the stadium, and the first-ever Friday night home game in Norman, should propel the Sooners to an early lead to where they will be in cruise control by the second half.
The only hope for Temple would be a back-door, garbage-time cover, but defense is Venables’ speciality, after all.
Prediction: Oklahoma 59, Temple 10
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