West Virginia at Oklahoma

It's hard to overlook the fact that West Virginia was an upset loss away from playing in the BCS title game. Now suddenly they are better than a TD underdog to Oklahoma. Sure, their coach is gone and they looked horrible vs. Pittsburgh. But, is this team all of a sudden that much worse than the Sooners? The Mountaineers offense has two game breakers in White and Slayton who can score from anywhere on the field. The biggest secret however may be Noel Devine who rushed just 60 times for 519 yards, and may be better than both Slayton and White. It would not be shocking if West Virginia, with the extra practice time, did some things in this game to get devine more touches. Oklahoma is led by QB Sam Bradford who has exceeded expectations, but he is only a freshman and this will be his first Bowl game. Neutral-field favorites with a new QB at the helm in non-conference games are just 28-66 (30%) ATS over the past ten seasons. That includes a 12-42 ATS record if the two teams are from major conferences, as we have here. Bradford will be facing a W. Virginia defense that has thrived on turning the opponent over, which they have done 33 times this season. These teams are pretty even on both sides of the ball and special teams. So, getting 7.5 points, we will ride the West Virginia veteran players that have more explosiveness vs. the inexperienced QB in Bradford.