Oklahoma vs. South Carolina football prediction: What the analysis says

This weekend sees a new look in the SEC matchup as Oklahoma takes on South Carolina in Week 8 of college football on Saturday in a matchup of teams needing a conference win. Let’s take a look at the latest prediction for the game of a football model that will determine the winners.

Oklahoma fell to 1-2 in SEC play after a 31-point loss to Texas that once again exposed its lack of offensive dynamism despite a quarterback change to Michael Hawkins, Jr., as the Sooners ranked 123rd out of 134 FBS teams prove issue handed over.

South Carolina had Alabama on defense for much of last week’s game in Tuscaloosa but couldn’t keep up for long, falling to 1-3 in conference play and losing three of its final four games overall. Through 187 games, South Carolina ranked 105th nationally in pass production yards per game average.

Looking ahead to this week’s matchup, let’s take a look at the latest college football predictions from computer prediction model Football Power Index.

The model simulates every NCAA college football game 20,000 times, utilizes key analytics from both teams and selects winners based on a projected point spread per game.

As expected, the models give the Sooners a significant advantage over the Gamecocks.

Oklahoma is projected to win the game outright in a majority of 65.7 percent of recent computer simulations of the match.

That leaves South Carolina as the expected winner in the remaining 34.3 percent of Sims.

Overall, the Sooners were ahead in 13,140 of the index’s simulations, while the Gamecocks won in the other 6,860 predictions.

But the models predict a very close game between these new SEC rivals.

According to the model’s latest projection, with the current makeup of both teams on the same field, Oklahoma is expected to be just 2.7 points better than South Carolina.

If so, that would be enough for the Sooners to cover the lead over the Gamecocks.

That’s because Oklahoma is a 1.5-point favorite against South Carolina, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

FanDuel gives the total score for the game at 40.5 points.

And the moneyline odds for the overall win were set at -125 for Oklahoma and +105 for South Carolina.

Most bets give the Sooners a significant advantage over the Gamecocks, according to the latest spread consensus picks for the game.

61 percent of bettors trust Oklahoma to win the home game and cover the spread.

The other 39 percent of bets assume South Carolina will pull off an upset or lose the game by a single point.

Oklahoma is ninth among SEC teams with a 6.5 percent chance of qualifying for the College Football Playoff and will win 6.8 games this season, according to FPI data.

This model gives South Carolina an overall win projection of 5.9 games and a 63.3 percent chance of being bowl eligible this season.

According to the FPI model, Oklahoma is projected to be 11.9 points better than an average neutral-court opponent, good for 20th nationally.

South Carolina is expected to score 9.2 points better than its opponents in this category, ranking 26th among 134 FBS teams by the model’s calculations.

The college football rankings Football Power Index (FPI) and computer prediction model is a measure of team strength that predicts a team’s future performance.

Rankings and score predictions are based on 20,000 simulations of a team’s season and games and use a combination of key analytics including past results, quality of opponents, team talent, recruiting and a team’s schedule.

The teams are not ranked by talent as in other rankings, but by a expected points lead per game against an average team on a neutral field.

First place votes in parentheses

1. Texas (56)
2. Oregon (6)
3. Penn State
4. Ohio State
5. Georgia
6. Miami
7. Alabama
8. LSU
9. Iowa State
10. Clemson
11. Tennessee
12. Notre Dame
13. BYU
14. Texas A&M
15. Boise State
16. Indiana
17. Kansas State
18. Ole Miss
19. Missouri
20. Pittsburgh
21. SMU
22. Illinois
23. army
24. Michigan
25. marine

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The game odds are updated regularly and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and needs help, please call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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