The Oklahoma Sooners are one of the top college programs in the country and, as a result, Bob Stoops and his team are usually favored to win. In fact, it has been a very long time since this particular program faced the circumstance that the Sooners will encounter this weekend against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
According to the good folks at OddShark (h/t OU Daily), Oklahoma has not been a home underdog in terms of point spread since Oct. 28, 2000. On Saturday, that is going to change, as the Sooners currently sit as 1.5-point underdogs to a top-five team in the Buckeyes.
It should be noted that Oklahoma was able to pull out a victory in this similar spot 16 years ago, upsetting a top-ranked Nebraska team in Norman. Still, Stoops and company will be entering this game in an extremely rare spot and that should lead to an additional level of intrigue for the proceedings.
Coming into the year, Oklahoma probably would have been favored, even against the highly respected Buckeyes. The loss to Houston likely ended that notion, though, and Ohio State's lights-out play in the early going helped to swing pendulum.
Once the game is kicked off, the point spread only matters to those with a vested "interest" on one side or the other, but it is certainly worth noting in this case.
