7 college football bold predictions for the final month of the 2023 season

1. Texas beats Oklahoma in Big 12 Championship, Red River Rematch

If your takeaway from the Red River Showdown a few weeks ago was that the Oklahoma Sooners were a significantly better team than the Texas Longhorns, then I don't know what game you were watching. OU is definitely more on Texas' level than I forecasted going into that matchup, but I still thoroughly believe that the Longhorns are the better team and would win head-to-head about 70% of the time.

And this all makes the possibility of a Big 12 Championship Game rematch for Red River that much more enticing. These are clearly the two best teams in the conference and that game was a beautiful one to watch. Moreover, if the Sooners and Longhorns both run the table, that will likely put a College Football Playoff berth hanging in the balance of the conference title game as one-loss Texas with a rematch win or an unbeaten Oklahoma team seems like a shoo-in for the CFP.

Running the table, of course, just became a much tougher task for Texas with Quinn Ewers suffering a shoulder injury that could hold him out for a couple of games. The good news in Austin is that Maalik Murphy has a ton of talent and will be guided by one of the best offensive minds in the sport, Steve Sarkisian, while Ewers is sidelined. They should be able to weather the storm.

Oklahoma has to hold up its part of the bargain too, which we saw in Week 8 might be easier said than done after UCF put a scare into the Sooners. But when all the dust settles, we will get the rematch for the Big 12 Championship Game in JerryWorld.

As mentioned, I think Texas is the better team. Ewers will be back on the field by then. Then, if they limit some turnover misfortune from the initial regular-season meeting and also have a better gameplan for Dillon Gabriel's leg, which should be achievable for the Longhorns, then they can comfortably handle the Sooners in the rematch. Texas will be back, and going to the College Football Playoff.