Undefeated SEC Sides Clash as Alabama Visits Ole Miss
Bo Wallace and the Ole Miss Rebels will look to pull off a major upset as they host Alabama.
One of the most lopsided rivalries in sports will get a fresh injection of intrigue Saturday as No. 11 Ole Miss hosts No. 3 Alabama in a battle of undefeated SEC sides.
Kickoff at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.
The showdown between ranked sides is just one of three SEC matchups this weekend that will likely shape the immediate future of the conference. No. 6 Texas A&M visits No. 12 Mississippi State, while No. 15 Louisiana State visits No. 5 Auburn. At least two of those five sides with a 0 in the right-hand column will be going home with a loss this weekend.
The Story So Far
Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC) has started the season keeping a low profile, at least as low a profile as a team expected to compete for a national championship can.
It’s a case of so far, so good for Nick Saban’s side as it has run off four straight wins. Last weekend, the Tide parried an early challenge from Florida before running away with a 42-21 victory. Now Alabama faces its toughest challenge of the season, a rivalry game against a ranked opponent.
Ole Miss (4-0, 1-0 SEC) entered the season with a No. 18 ranking in the AP preseason poll, a ranking it has improved on through four unbeaten weeks of football.
The Rebels have yet to record a marquee victory though, and have certainly faced nothing like the Alabama side that will take to the field on Saturday. They also haven’t faced the sort of mentally crushing losing streak they’ll be up against in Oxford (see head-to-head).
The SEC Landscape
Saturday’s showdown will be crucial for both teams. Head-to-head matchups will whittle away the seven SEC teams currently ranked in the top 15 of the AP poll.
For Alabama, anything less than a win is virtually championship suicide thanks to the level of expectation currently thrown at the side and a tough schedule ahead. For Hugh Freeze’s side, an upset win – which in itself would be a major upset – would really set the cat amongst the pigeons.
In theory, an Ole Miss win should propel the Rebels above the Tide, but that’s not a guarantee.
The rest of this weekend’s SEC action, and in particular the A&M-Mississippi State game, will also have a huge impact on how the conference plays out down the stretch. For now, we simply get to watch and enjoy.
Head-to-Head
In a display of sheer dominance, Alabama is 48-7-2 all-time against Ole Miss. That’s right; in the 107 year history of this rivalry the Rebels have just seven wins.
The Crimson Tide has won 10 straight against the Rebels and is just two wins shy of tying its longest winning streak in the series.
You might think home cooking would be beneficial to Ole Miss, and in some ways you’d be right: six of the Rebels seven wins have come when playing as the home side. However, only two of those wins have come in Oxford, where the team is 2-8. The last win over the Tide at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium came during the 2003 season, the Rebels’ last win in the series.
Injury Report
Tight end Matt Brown (leg) is expected to miss 6-8 weeks for Mississippi, while wide receiver Collins Moore (knee) and defensive back Senquez Golson (hamstring) are both questionable for Saturday’ss game.
Alabama tight end Kurt Freitag (knee) and defensive back Jarrick Williams (foot) are both listed as questionable, while Blake Sims is likely to shrug off a shoulder injury.
Check out the full injury list
Blake Sims and Alabama will look to get the better of Ole Miss in a battle of undefeated SEC sides.
Betting Report
Below you’ll find Betting Sports’ breakdown of odds and betting trends.
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Ole Miss Rebels odds for 10/04/2014
Moneyline: Alabama (-215) opened as the favorite over Ole Miss (+189) on the moneyline. That advantage has subsequently stretched with the Crimson Tide sitting at -275 at the time of writing.
There’s little historically to suggest backing the Rebels, but the closeness of that spread goes some way to suggesting that Saturday’s game might not be the blowout we’ve come to expect in this series.
Just for fun, the Rebels have never beaten the Tide in a year ending in 4 (posting losses in 1924, 1944, 1964, 1974 and 1994).
Spread: The spread opened at 4.5 in favor of Alabama before climbing to 7.
Despite being undefeated straight up, Alabama (1-3-0 ATS) has struggled against the spread in the early part of this season. The same can’t be said of Ole Miss (4-0-0 ATS), which has covered in every game so far this season.
Ole Miss is 6-3-0 ATS in its last nine games against Alabama and 4-2-0 ATS in its last six games in the series as the home team.
Total: The total opened at 51 before climbing to 53.
Alabama (3-1-0 O/U) has favored the over this season while Ole Miss (1-3-0 O/U) has favored the under.
The total has gone under in five of the last six meetings between the two schools.
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