Alabama
vs.
Ole Miss
Free SEC
College Football Pick
9/17/16
Ole Miss thought they had things figured out in the opener against Florida State. The Rebels were up 28-10 at halftime and things were looking good… until they weren’t. From upsetting the Seminoles, to possibly a 1-2 record after this Game, it may not be a good start for the Rebs.
Of course, we shouldn’t get ahead of Ourselves. Alabama looks as dominant as ever, but last year’s result can’t be forgotten so quickly. It was almost exactly the same situation with these teams except the Crimson Tide were the home team and Ole Miss was coming off two freebie wins. Either way, ‘Bama was close to a double-digit favorite (-9) and ended up losing 43-37.
The Tide won the national title, but their lone loss, and the only time they looked somewhat vulnerable was this Game against the Rebels. Their defense let Chad Kelly have his way for the most part en route to 341 passing yards and three TDs. That resulted in a 30-10 lead in the third quarter and eventually 43-24 in the Fourth. That said, Ole Miss couldn’t really run the ball and a lot of those early points came via turnovers as Bama’s QBs threw three interceptions.
If Jalen Hurts and Blake Barnett can take care of the ball, will Ole Miss have a chance? The last time we saw them against a decent team, their beat-up secondary was getting destroyed by a freshman quarterback as the Seminoles dropped 32 points in the second half. At the minimum, Mississippi’s run defense was acceptable against Dalvin Cook and it’ll be important for them to stop Damien Harris and Bo SCarbrough from completely going off, which is the norm these days for Bama’s running Game.
But can this Tide offense be stopped, no matter who is at quarterback? The offensive line remains a top unit, while the skill players are some of the best in the country with ArDarius Stewart, Calvin Ridley and Gehrig Dieter out wide with O.J. Howard at tight end. Stopping this offense is going to be a problem for anyone this year and USC found that out soon enough.
The Rebels picked up costly injuries in the loss to FSU and those could definitely come back to haunt them in this Game. And if the turnovers don’t come for them, it’ll be up to Chad Kelly to keep up on the scoreboard. He did that for a half against Florida State and then got a little cocky and sort of fell apart, tossing three interceptions in all. The problem for Ole Miss, as has been in recent years, is that their ground Game is close to non-existent. Akeem Judd ran the ball just eight times in the opening loss.
Without a semblance of a rushing attack, it’s extremely tough for anyone to beat Alabama, especially if Kelly is going to be slinging interceptions.
Ole Miss won this Game last year, but a lot of things went their way in the process. If those things don’t go their way here, they could be looking at two early-season losses.
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