Upcoming Match-ups

Sugar Bowl Preview: (14) Auburn vs. (7) Oklahoma

Dave Friedman

by Dave Friedman in College Football

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

The college bowl season offers more opportunities for betting than your fickle heart may know what to do with. But just because you’ve never heard of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, it doesn’t mean you should stay away from it. Let SportsBettingDime be your guide through all of bowl season, especially the really obscure ones! Today, we look at…

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The Bowl

Sugar Bowl (Jan. 2, 2017)

Auburn (+4.5) vs Oklahoma

If you plan to (or did) spend New Year’s Eve watching the College Football Playoff, New Year’s Day enjoying a full slate of NFL games, and Jan. 2nd viewing the Outback Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and Rose Bowl, why not continue what has been an epic football week with the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans?

Don’t be afraid to run a marathon or learn a language during the extended halftime show. With an 8:30pm ET kickoff, there is little chance this one will finish before January 3.

The Teams

Auburn Tigers (8-4, 5-3 SEC)

After starting the year 1-2, Gus Malzahn’s job was in danger. After leading the Tigers to the National Title Game in 2013, the Tigers slumped to 8-5 in 2014, and 7-6 last year. However, Auburn got things back on track with a six-game winning streak that included victories over LSU and Arkansas. They lost two of three to end the year, falling to Georgia 13-7, and Alabama 30-12.

Success found the Tigers this season largely because of their effective ground game. Kamryn Pettway averaged over six yards per rush, totaled 1,123 yards, and scored seven times. Kerryon Johnson managed five yards a touch and got in the endzone 11 times. The next three leading rushers averaged 10, seven, and six yards a carry. Overall, Auburn managed just shy of 280 rushing yards a game, sixth in the country. Their defense limited opponents to 15.6 points a contest.

The Tigers were 9-3 against the spread on the year and are 29-23 overall under Malzah. The coach is just 1-2 in bowl games but blew out Memphis last year in the Birmingham Bowl. Their last Sugar Bowl appearance was a narrow victory over Virginia Tech in 2005. The Tigers are 2-2-1 all time in the event.

Oklahoma Sooners (10-2, 9-0 Big 12)

Like Auburn, the Sooners struggled out of the gate. They lost their season-opener against Houston and, after blowing out Louisiana-Monroe, got throttled at home by Ohio State. However, Oklahoma hasn’t lost since that September setback. Thanks in large part to quarterback Baker Mayfield, the Sooners ran the table in the Big 12, getting by TCU and Texas in close games, and blowing out Baylor, West Virginia, and Oklahoma State to wrap up the unbeaten year.

Mayfield helped guide the third-ranked offense in the nation (44.7 PPG). They pass for nearly 320 yards a contest and rush for over 235. Mayfield accounted for 44 scores and over 3,800 yards. Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine combined to rush for 2,000 yards and 19 touchdowns while tallying over six yards per carry.

And we haven’t even touched on (arguably) the Sooners’ top weapon. Wideout Dede Westbrook caught 74 passes for 1,465 yards, and made 16 trips to the endzone, earning himself a Heisman nomination in the process.

All the offensive firepower is basically a necessity. The suspect Sooner D yielded nearly 30 points a game.

When coach Bob Stoops won the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and Rose Bowl in consecutive seasons early in his tenure, he was nicknamed Big Game Bob. However, his overall postseason mark is just 8-9 and OU has lost three of its last four postseason games. They beat Alabama in this game in 2014 and are 5-2 all-time in the Sugar Bowl.

This season the Sooners were 6-6 ATS and are 71-58-2 against the number during the last decade.

The Play

Auburn (+4.5)

Oklahoma is the better team. However, it is unclear whether the Big 12 was any good this year, and the Sooners got blown out in their home game against the Big Ten’s Buckeyes. That said, the Sooners certainly played their best games down the stretch, and they have a good history in the Sugar Bowl.

The SEC may have been down this year, but the Western Division did feature the best team in the country and several other tough customers. The Tigers’ win over LSU was a huge momentum changer, and their setbacks at the end of the season are not outrageous.

Auburn struggled to score against good competition in the final month of the year, but Oklahoma’s defense is not that. Both teams are going to put up points. Getting more than a field goal seems like reasonable value in a toss up contest.


Photo Credit: Fds527 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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