While most of the negativity about the Oklahoma Sooners before they played the Temple Owls came out of Philadelphia, two of the biggest mouths in sports also had low expectations for Brent Venables’ team.
Before the No. 13 Sooners blew out Temple 42-3, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy on Saturday morning both put OU on upset watch in what could have been a trap game sandwiched between a win over Michigan and SEC opener against Auburn for quarterback Jackson Arnold’s return to Norman.
Kirk Herbstreit and Dave Portnoy put Sooners on upset watch vs. Temple
Portnoy didn’t predict a complete upset, at least not outright, but he wrote in a post on X that he didn’t expect the Sooners to jump on Temple early in Philadelphia and liked the Owls as 6.5-point underdogs in the first quarter.
I love Temple 1st quarter +6.5 today.
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 13, 2025
Portnoy, and ultimately Herbstreit, were proven wrong almost immediately. After holding Temple to a three-and-out, the Sooners easily got down the field for a touchdown on their first drive, then converted a two-pointed conversion with a wild jump pass from tight end Jaren Kanak to punter Jacob Ulrich…