West Virginia Mountaineers vs. Oklahoma Sooners: Betting Odds, Football Pick

Since West Virginia joined the Big 12 three seasons ago, it's lost all three meetings with new rival Oklahoma. However, playing as underdogs each time out, the Mountaineers covered the spread twice.

West Virginia and the Sooners open Big 12 play when they meet on Saturday afternoon in Norman.

Point Spread: The Sooners opened as 7.5-point favorites.

Odds Shark Computer Pick: Sooners 33.9, Mountaineers 23.8

Why the West Virginia Mountaineers Can Cover the Spread

West Virginia is off to a 3-0 start to this season, 2-1 against the spread, after a 45-6 dismantling of Maryland last week.

As 17-point favorites, the Mountaineers had the spread covered 10 minutes into the game, led 38-0 at the half, eventually racked up 601 yards of offense (304 on the ground), all while the defense forced six Terrapins turnovers.

WVU opened this season with victories over Georgia Southern and Liberty by a combined score of 85-17. So the Mountaineers have allowed a total of 23 points through three games.

After going 1-4 straight up and 2-3 ATS in its last five games in 2014, West Virginia hoped to get off to a quick start this season, and so far, so good. If they can get the running game going this week, play good defense and avoid turning the ball over, the Mountaineers could pull off an upset here.

Why the Oklahoma Sooners Can Cover the Spread

Oklahoma is also 3-0 SU and 2-1 ATS after topping Tulsa 52-38 two weeks ago. The Sooners built a 31-10 first-half lead and held on from there, although in retrospect, they were probably favored by too much (31 points).

Quarterback Baker Mayfield went off for a school-record 572 yards of total offense and six touchdowns, running back Samaje Perine ran for 152 yards and wide receiver Sterling Shepard caught eight balls for 144 yards.

The OU defense gave up 427 yards through the air, but most of that came in modified prevent mode, as the Golden Hurricane threw the ball 51 times while playing catch-up.

The Sooners then had last week off.

Oklahoma opened this season with a 41-3 victory over Akron (covering the 31-point spread), then rallied to beat an improved Tennessee team in Nashville 31-24 in overtime (covering as a field-goal favorite).

The Sooners think they can win the Big 12 this season, but they know they can't do it by losing one of their four conference home games.

Smart Pick

Oklahoma has beaten West Virginia in each of the past three seasons, but all three were good games. The Mountaineers defense, of all things, may have the biggest impact on this game. The smart choice here is with West Virginia, plus the points.

Betting Trends

• The total has gone under in 11 of West Virginia's last 12 games.
• West Virginia is 2-7 ATS in its last nine games in October.
• Oklahoma is 1-7 ATS in its last eight games in October.

All point spread and lines data courtesy of Odds Shark, all quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line movement updates and get the free odds tracker app.