The Complete College Football Futures Picture : Week 3

OKLAHOMA FUTURE ODDS WEEK 3 : (NOW +800     OPENED +750)

It’s strange to say that a team on a ten game winning streak is struggling but Oklahoma has not looked good so far this season. The Sooner barely got past Tulsa in Week One before dismantling Western Carolina 73-0 last week. 

Should the Sooners be nervous about Nebraska coming to town this week?  This will be the first matchup between the two teams since 2010, when the Cornhuskers won 23-20 at home. This will be the 87th matchup all-time between the teams, with the Sooners leading the series 45-38-3. 

Nebraska opened up the season with a seemingly catastrophic loss to Illinois but have rebounded with convincing wins over Fordham and Buffalo. This will be the final non-conference game of the season for Nebraska, with the Big Ten playing a nine conference game schedule.

Spencer Rattler revived his Heisman campaign last week with five touchdown passes in the first half against the Catamounts. Rattler is now 50 for 65 this season, with 547 passing yards, 6 TD and 2 INT. 

The Oklahoma schedule is the reason they are 8-1 and now 15-1 to win the national title. The only currently ranked team on the Sooners schedule is Iowa State, who the Sooners will host  in November. That lack of elite opponents means an 11-1 record could have Oklahoma behind every other major conference 1 loss team.  

Ohio State Future Odds Week 3 : (Now +800     Opened +650)

The Buckeyes struggled to beat Minnesota in their opener, ultimately prevailing 45-31 and then were outplayed by Oregon at home in a 35-28 loss, which saw the Buckeyes fall from third to ninth in the AP rankings as their national title hopes took a severe hit. 

This week, OSU will take on Tulsa, who  is off to a rough 0-2 start, having lost a pair of close games, falling 19-17 at home to UC Davis and then giving Oklahoma State all it could handle in a 28-23 defeat. 

C.J. Stroud has thrown for 778 yards in 2 games for the Buckeyes, with 7 TD and 2 INT. Star receiving duo Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson have combined for 440 yards and 4 TD so far. Miyan Williams has chipped in with 202 rushing yards. 

These teams last played in 2016 with OSU winning 48-3. 

The Buckeyes now need to run the table in their next 11 games just to make the playoff. Ohio State still has conference games with Penn State, Michigan and Indiana, and would need to win the Big Ten championship game as well. The good news is the Buckeyes are likely to be favored in every remaining game on their schedule and the young team should reasonably improve from week to week. 

Cincinnati Future Odds Week 3 : (Now +8000     Opened +6600)

The Bearcats most interesting number is -167 to win the American conference. Cincinnati is the class of the league and that number should move to -200 quickly. 

Cincy is 12-1 in its last 13 games heading into a tough but winnable game at Indiana this week. The number 8 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats would be in the thick of the playoff picture if they can knock off Indiana and Notre Dame in consecutive weeks.   

The Bearcats have opened their season with blowout wins against Miami (OH) and Murray State. Cincinnati’s star has been QB Desmond Ridder, who has thrown for 538 yards and 6 TD already this season. Jerome Ford already has 234 yards and 4 scores on the ground, while receiver Tyler Scott has added 155 receiving yards and a pair of TDs already. 

An undefeated Cincinnati team would reasonably have a chance at the playoff but the real message here is to grab the -167 conference number before it’s gone.