FBSchedules.com is
picking Memphis to beat Ole Miss straight up!
Memphis (2-1) at #10 Ole Miss (3-0, 1-0 SEC), 7:30 PM ET | FSN
If there has ever been a trap game, this is the one. Memphis appears to be legit in 2014 with a 7-point loss to UCLA being the only blemish in 2014 going into Oxford to face No. 10 Ole Miss.
Not only is Memphis winning, but they are doing it in front of witnesses. An announced crowd of 46,378 watched as the Tigers trounced Middle Tennessee 36-17 Saturday night at the Liberty Bowl.
I spoke with Daily News Journal beat writer for Middle Tennessee State, Will Borthick (@willborthick), who got an up-close and personal look at the Tigers inside the Liberty Bowl on Saturday. I asked Will if Memphis could pose a serious threat to the Rebels outside of Ole Miss just playing their worst game of the year.
Absolutely. Tigers defense will be best Ole Miss has faced by far. Trap game, plus Memphis HATES Hotty Toddy.
The Memphis DL is big, nasty and tough to beat. Linebacker Tank Jakes is legit too. If Bo Wallace doesn’t protect the football, and we all know that is a weakness of his, the Tigers will capitalize. I’m not convinced Memphis will be able to move the ball a ton against Ole Miss’s defense, but if the Rebels are looking ahead to Alabama, they will get beat.
I detect a very minimal amount of “if” in that analysis of Memphis. The key is will Ole Miss be able to fool themselves long enough to believe they aren’t all hotty toddy hiddy giddy over Alabama coming to Oxford in seven days?
History has a way of poking its head in the door of college football’s office. Memphis beat Alabama in 1987 and Tennessee in 1996. The Tigers have a wide receiver that transferred from Alabama, Memphis native Keiwone Malone. He was 18 when he was a freshman at Alabama. If you double the number of years between the victories over Alabama and Tennessee, you get 18.
Because none of that really makes sense and it conveniently flows with what I’m trying to do here, we will just pretend that 18 has substantial meaning and thus and so. Memphis single-handedly takes the luster out of next week’s 3:30pm CBS kickoff from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium by handily winning the battle of field position by downing 80 percent of all punts inside the 20 yard line coupled with great defense that will force enough turnovers to create enough points to pull off the upset of the day.
FINAL SCORE: Ole Memphis 18, Ole Miss 9