ESPN’s SP+ has predicted the final score of Saturday afternoon’s crucial SEC showdown in Norman between Mizzou and Oklahoma.
The Sooners come into the Week 13 matchup on a major high, having just taken down Alabama in Tuscaloosa last Saturday. That victory kept Oklahoma’s College Football Playoff chances alive, improving the Sooners to 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC. But Brent Venables‘ team still has no margin for error going forward, and a solid Mizzou team would just love to ruin those CFP dreams that Oklahoma has.
The Tigers are coming off their own highlight-reel victory over Mississippi State, with Ahmad Hardy rushing for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. Oklahoma will have to deal with Hardy on Saturday, and that will likely be a huge key in whether the Sooners can survive and keep those Playoff chances intact. The Sooners and Tigers will kick things off at noon ET on ABC.
ESPN’s SP+ is available for all of the Week 13 matchups, and the model is projecting the favored Sooners to hold serve at home in the all-important matchup. It is predicting a tight game, with Oklahoma outlasting Mizzou, 27-22.
Here’s that prediction along with the rest of the Week 13 slate:
Oklahoma is a 7.5-point favorite over Missouri, according to the latest college football betting lines. Fans looking to sign up with a new sports book in Missouri can go here to view the best Missouri sports betting promos.
The old rivals have already met 97 times, with Oklahoma holding a healthy 67-25-5 lead in the all-time series that began way back in 1902. Mizzou won that first meeting, 22-5, and the Tigers also took the most recent meeting last season in Columbia, winning 30-23.
Oklahoma will need to get some payback on Saturday in Norman. If the Sooners don’t, then the fruits of that Alabama upset won’t mean much and those CFP hopes will be gone.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
