Place Your Bets: Michigan vs. Oklahoma — Battle Of The Bluebloods

Michigan needed a miracle to beat Western Michigan last weekend despite being 28.5-point favorites over the Broncos. Obviously WMU covered with Michigan winning at the buzzer by just one point. Michigan's one-point win was disappointing for all parties involved and obviously this weekend's matchup with the Sooners goes up several levels.

After winning in unimpressive fashion, Michigan well all the way out of the AP Top 25 and went from being favored over the Sooners to being 4.5-point underdogs on their home field. Michigan will have to be much, much, much better in order to be competitive with OU.

Oklahoma is 1-0 after a dominant 51-0 win over UTEP in their season opener. Quarterback John Mateer was on point. Running back Lloyd Avant was a bellcow back. And wide receiver Isaiah Sategna was as dynamic as advertised. Tight end Rocky Beers also found the end zone for the Sooners giving Mateer yet another weapon to attack defense with.

It's going to take a near-perfect performance by Michigan to keep this one close, at least that's how it feels heading into the matchup.

When you look at how Oklahoma played in Week 1 compared to how Michigan played in Week 1 this spread simply doesn't seem big enough. There's some thought that U-M played down to their competition but needing a last-second Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan should not happen. Unless things change in a major way, Oklahoma is going to win this game by more than five points. 

This bet follows the same line of reasoning as the first one. Underwood threw for just 170 yards against Western Michigan and that included the game-winning 47-yard Hail Mary at the very end of the game. To put it bluntly, Underwood was not good against the Broncos. Now, he's going to be going up against four and five-star players and one of the best defensive minds in all of college football in Brent Venables. 

After watching all of Underwood's plays after the fact, he just didn't look ready against an inferior team. Against a squad like Oklahoma with equal or even better talent, it could really be a problem for the true sophomore.

This one just has to happen. The fact that neither Marshall nor freshman phenom Savion Hiter found pay dirt against the Broncos is sacrilegious. Offensive line coach Jim Harding was probably sick to his stomach after the game after not scoring and not even getting to a five-yard average. Head coach Kyle Whittingham said he wanted the running backs to run more violently and north and south versus east and west. If the focus in on that, Marshall has to punch one in.