Houston @ Oklahoma preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 3, 2016 ) Oklahoma 23, Houston 33

Jalen Hurts may be a serious Heisman Trophy contender considering his history and the fact Oklahoma boasts the last two winners of college football's top individual honor, but he may end up not even being the best player at his position on the field in his debut. Houston's D'Eriq King attempts to announce his presence in front of a larger audience Sunday when the Cougars visit the fourth-ranked Sooners.

Hurts has big shoes to fill after Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray enjoyed record-breaking seasons en route to becoming the No. 1 overall picks in each of the last two NFL Drafts, although the Houston native is no stranger to such expectations after going 26-2 as a starter at Alabama. “He certainly brings a lot of great game experience that Kyler and Baker did not have when they got here. It’s not like you’re starting from scratch. … We don’t plan on the offense dipping," Sooners coach Lincoln Riley told reporters last month. Buried somewhere underneath the shadow of Murray in 2018, King quietly became one of only three quarterbacks in FBS history with at least 35 passing touchdowns and 13 rushing touchdowns in a single season despite missing the last 2 1/2 games due to injury. The senior signal-caller may not have reached the height of his powers either, as new coach Dana Holgorsen has directed an offense that has ranked 10th or better nationally 10 times in the last 14 years.

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC. LINE: Oklahoma -23

ABOUT HOUSTON (2018: 8-5): Despite his abbreviated campaign last year, King threw for 2,982 yards and ran for 674 more while also setting an American Athletic Conference single-season record with 50 touchdowns responsible for (36 pass, 14 rush), including at least one rushing score in each of his 11 games. Junior receiver Marquez Stevenson, who tallied 75 catches for 1,019 yards and nine TDs last season, ranked sixth nationally with six plays of 50-plus yards and 11th in FBS with 12 30-yard plays. Although the defense lost No. 9 overall draft pick Ed Oliver, Isaiah Chambers returns from a season-ending knee injury after the junior defensive lineman ranked 14th in the AAC with 4.5 sacks despite playing only five games.

ABOUT OKLAHOMA (2018: 12-2): Hurts ranks second in Alabama history with 71 TDs responsible for, but he barely won a quarterback competition with two freshmen (Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler) in what Riley called "the closest (quarterback race) since I’ve been around." Kennedy Brooks (1,056 yards rushing, 12 TDs), who was cleared of wrongdoing in a Title IX investigation this summer, ranked third in FBS with 8.9 yards per carry (minimum nine carries per game) and was one of eight freshmen nationally to run for over 1,000 yards. In addition to fixing the Big 12's worst scoring and total defense, Oklahoma must replace the FBS' all-time leading scorer among kickers in Austin Seibert, who handled kicking and punting duties for the Sooners in each of the previous four seasons.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Oklahoma has won two of the three all-time meetings but lost the most recent one - 33-23 in Houston to begin the 2016 season.

2. King's 27.5 points responsible for per game last year was four points higher than NFL first-round draft picks Murray and Dwayne Haskins, who shared second place.

3. Holgorsen went 0-7 against the Sooners while at West Virginia. The Mountaineers surrendered at least 44 points six times and 50 points four times over that span, including at least 56 in each of the last three meetings.

PREDICTION: Oklahoma 59, Houston 38