Ole Miss
vs.
Texas A&M
SEC
College Football
Pick – Analysis
10/11/14
How good are both of these teams? Was the Ole Miss win over Alabama a one-time thing? Is Texas A&M even good with their best wins being against South Carolina and in OT against Arkansas? The Aggies are favored at home in this one, but only by -2 points at betonline with a total of 63.
Texas A&M has won the last two matchups on the road between these teams with Ole Miss covering in both. However, Johnny Manziel is now gone and this is the best Rebels team that we have seen in some time.
Mississippi has suddenly found themselves at No. 3 in the AP Polls coming off a big 23-17 win over Bama. Should we expect a letdown? It’s possible, but this team is built in the trenches and should be just fine in this Game, especially if Bo Wallace continues his stellar play.
Texas A&M is coming off their first loss of the season and leads us to question them a bit. Maybe they aren’t as good as we originally thought. South Carolina already has three Conference losses and beating Arkansas in OT isn’t that great. Kenny Hill still lacks in some areas and the defense isn’t all that great. Not to mention the Aggies still have three remaining top 10 teams on their Schedule.
The Aggies can be beat on defense and that’s not good news for this Game. While the Rebels don’t have much of a run Game, they will still try and rush the ball with Jaylen Walton (238 yards) and I’Tavius Mathers (152 yards) even if it isn’t working. That kept Alabama honest last week. At quarterback Bo Wallace is much improved as seen against the Tide in a three-TD effort. Wallace is completing 68.5% of passes on the year for 14 TDs and six INTs. He’s headed for his best season yet. Ole Miss should be able to run a little more in this Game and that could open things up even more for Wallace. With guys like LAquon Treadwell (362 yards, 4 TDs) in the passing Game, A&M will have their hands full.
On the other side, Ole Miss boasts the better defense, that is for certain. The Aggies have gotten out to slow starts the past few weeks which eventually leads to Kenny Hill having to air it out. He attempted 62 passes last week in the loss, but also threw three interceptions. The Aggies should try and get the ground Game going first behind Trey Williams (287 yards, 4 TDs) and Tra Carson (244 yards, 4 TDs) because that’s their best route to succeed. Hill can air it out, but this Ole Miss defense may be the toughest unit A&M has faced yet.
There are many different ways to rank offenses and defenses. When you hear the talking heads on TV refer to a team having the #1 defense in the country they are generally referring to points allowed or yards allowed. We rank teams based on a combination of both, and you’ve seen us refer to it over and over as yards per point. Well, Ole Miss fields the #1 defense in the country in terms of yards per point with a 27.2 defensive number. The posted total for this Game is 63 and we’re going to go UNDER the total here.