The Ole Miss Rebels have done what few teams have in the Nick Saban era, beaten the Alabama Crimson Tide twice. Not only that, but Ole Miss has been the only team in the SEC to knock off Alabama in each of the last two seasons. This season, the Rebels will attempt to do what no team has been able to do yet, beat Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide three years in a row.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Alabama Crimson Tide -5
Ole Miss Rebels +5
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Crimson Tide have only been an underdog once since 2009, so it’s no surprise that the reigning national champs are a favorite here. However, Ole Miss has beaten Alabama outright as a 4.5 and 6.5 point underdog in each of the past two seasons and is a very live underdog in this one.
WHO TO WATCH
It’s rare for a true freshman to make an instant impact at Alabama and rarer still for a wide receiver to be the one to do it. Calvin Ridley did just that last season though. Ridley broke Amari Cooper’s freshman receiving record and was the team’s lone 1000-yard receiver. His ball skills are exceptional for a player as young as he is and whoever throws him passes this season will be looking his way often.
Last season, Chad Kelly had a lot of success against Alabama’s secondary and you can be sure Saban has let that unit know it all offseason. Minkah Fitzpatrick and Marlon Humphrey both struggled to match up with the Rebels’ talented wide-outs in 2015, but got better as the season went along and are poised to have solid sophomore campaigns. Fitzpatrick and Humphrey should both have better performances but will be tested by Kelly.
Chad Kelly was fantastic during his first season in Oxford. He threw for 4100 yards and 31 touchdowns and was an improvement from the erratic Bo Wallace. Kelly is a gunslinger in every sense of the term. He’s extremely confident and has the ability to fit passes into very tight windows, but sometimes takes too many chances. Last season he went through a stretch where he threw interceptions in six straight games and he can’t afford to do that against an Alabama team that thrives off of turnovers.
The Crimson Tide like to run the ball and will try to pound the rock as much as they can against Ole Miss’ front seven in this one. The Rebels lost a lot of talent along their defensive line and need to find players who can step up in a hurry. Issac Gross will be a key for Ole Miss here. Gross missed all of last year with injuries, but is healthy now and ready to anchor the defensive line. He is undersized for an interior lineman, but is rock solid in the middle.
LIVE BETTING
Quarterback play has doomed Alabama in each of its previous games against Ole Miss and that’s the most important thing to watch here. The Crimson Tide will be starting an inexperienced quarterback no matter who they go with and the Rebels will try to make him beat them through the air.
QUICK PICK
Can Ole Miss do it again? The Rebels lose three first-round picks from last season’s team, but the Crimson Tide are very unproven on the offensive end. Alabama will be a popular pick after a likely loss for Ole Miss in its season opener against Florida State, but Hugh Freeze and Ole Miss will find a way to sneak out a win here.
College Football Odds: Ole Miss 17, Alabama 13
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