Memphis
vs.
Ole Miss
College Football Pick
10/1/16
By Jason Green
Ole Miss is only at 2-2, but are they one of the better teams in the nation? They lost their season opener by 11 points to a 4th ranked Florida State team and then only lost by 5 points to top-ranked Alabama. Last week they laid a serious 45-12 beat down against 12th ranked Georgia. Many teams play cream puffs to pad their early season Schedule, but the Rebels have played 3 top 12 teams in their first 4 Games.
Memphis has started the season 3-0 and they scored 77 points in their last Game, but their opponents have been Southeast Missouri State, Kansas, and Bowling Green. Their D has been solid playing less than stellar teams, but can they keep Ole Miss in check? In their last 2 Games facing Bama and Georgia the Rebels have scored 43 and 45 points respectively.
Last season at Memphis the Tigers pulled off a shocker beating Ole Miss 37-24.
Both teams won and covered the spread in their last Games in blowouts.
The underdog is 6-2-1 ATS in the last 9 Games between these non-Conference teams.
Chad Kelly leads the Ole Miss passing attack, which ranks 17th in the nation in passing yards per Game. The aerial offense is the strength of the Rebels since they only rank 105th in rushing yards per Game. To say Ole Miss has a deep WR corps is a major understatement with 6 guys that have at least 100 receiving yards led by Evan Engram (26 rec 397 yards 3 TD). The rushing offense is not bad, but for Memphis to pull off another shocker defending the pass is the key.
QB Riley Ferguson leads the Tigers and after throwing 2 picks in the season opener he has 6 TD and no INT since. Memphis does have some playmakers, but only 2 players have over 125 receiving yards and the 2 lead RB’s have yet to play a solid front line D. However, the RB duo of Patrick Taylor Jr. and Doroland Dorceus will be key, as the Rebels only rank 116th in the nation in run defense.
Ole Miss is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home Games and they are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 Games facing a team with a winning record.
Memphis is 18-7-1 ATS in their last 26 non-Conference Games and 12-5-2 ATS in their last 19 road Games.
Jason’s Pick: Look for Ole Miss to exact some revenge on Memphis for last season’s defeat, by easily winning in their house and covering the 14.5-point spread.