2011 Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma Has Everything To Lose Against Connecticut
The Oklahoma Sooners are in a tough position as they square off against the Connecticut Huskies in the Fiesta Bowl. The latest college football odds as posted by BetPhoenix for this bowl game have the Sooners listed as a huge 17-point favorite with the total set at 55. Everyone is expecting an easy win for the Sooners.
The Sooners enter this game under head coach Bob Stoops with a miserable 0-5 record in their last five BCS games. This becomes a tough situation for the Sooners because if they win, it’s because they are playing a supposedly weaker BCS team, and if they lose it will be a monumental upset in college football.
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Even the players have acknowledged the “Bowl Curse” and will attempt to use it as motivation when they face the Huskies.
The Huskies are not getting the respect they deserve, although they finished the season with eight wins and the Big East Championship. When they make their first BCS bowl appearance in the school’s history they will be expected to lose, and lose badly. The Huskies like the underdog angle, and are using it as motivation to win this game.
Coach Randy Edsall will use that common attitude as a way to motivate his players coming into this game. Junior running back Jordan Todman averages 143.1 rushing yards per game (second in the country), making him a deadly option out of the backfield. Latest reports out of Connecticut are that Todman is seriously entertaining the idea of entering the NFL draft after this game.
The Huskies also have some bite on defense, where senior linebacker Lawrence Wilson led the Big East with 115 tackles and can alter the play of the opposing team.
The Sooners managed to get 11 wins on the season and had a successful campaign in the Big 12, but need a BCS win to get the stigma of losing the big game out of the way. The Sooners will hope their high powered offense can put this game away early. Landry Jones threw for 4,289 yards and 35 touchdowns on the season. His main target is receiver Ryan Broyles, who went over 1,000 yards receiving for the second year in a row.
The trends for this game favor the Huskies. The Huskies are 36-16-1 against the spread (ATS) in their last 53 non-conference games, 4-0 ATS in their last four games as an underdog, and 20-6 ATS in their last 26 games overall.
The Sooners are 2-5 ATS in their last seven neutral site games as a favorite, 1-5 ATS in their last six non-conference games, and 0-4 ATS in their last four bowl games as a favorite.
All the experts have counted out the Huskies, and if the Sooners do the same thing, they could be in big trouble against a frisky Connecticut team looking for respect.
Matt Regaw is a B/R Featured Columnist and the founder of BookieBlitz.com, your one-stop shop for sports articles, previews and predictions. Feel free to contact Matt at mregaw@gmail.com.
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