Oklahoma Double Digit Favorite over OSU in Early Bedlam Betting Line

We’re (barely) closer to Bedlam 2018 than we are to Bedlam 2017, which means that football season will soon be upon us.

While Game 1 of the 2018 slate is still best measured by months, not days, it’s still fun to look ahead at the schedule and get a feel for how OSU should shape up.

As we sit with just over three months until the start of the season, the outlook, at least in terms of competing for a Big 12 title, appears to be dimmer than usual. OSU currently has the third best odds of winning the conference in 2018, and a peak of a few early betting lines for individual games tells an interesting tale, particularly as it projects OSU to perform against the Vegas favorite to repeat: Oklahoma.

According to South Point Sportsbook, the Cowboys are 11-point underdogs in the 2018 edition of Bedlam, which will be played in Norman on Nov. 10. That seems … about right considering the recent history of Bedlam, which has ranged from ridiculously close to ridiculously ugly.

Since 2012, in fact, here is the final point spread of each of the Bedlam showdowns.

• 2012: 3 (overtime)
• 2013: 9
• 2014: 3 (overtime)
• 2015: 35
• 2016: 18
• 2017: 10

That’s an average of 13 points since 2012 in the series. So considering OSU will be 1. on the road and 2. breaking in a new QB and 3. throwing out a new defensive scheme, this spread seems pretty fair.

As for other early point spreads to watch for OSU, the only one that was listed as of now is OSU’s Sep. 15 battle against Boise State, where the Cowboys open as a six-point home favorite. And as for win totals? Vegas put the over/under line at 7.5 in 2018 — a mark that OSU last fell below in 2014 when it went 7-6 and defeated Washington in the Cactus Bowl.

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