Mississippi at Vanderbilt

DATE/TIME: Thursday Aug. 29, 9:15 p.m. eastern
ODDS: Mississippi -3, O/U 53.5
TELEVISION: Sportsnet 360

One of the fiercest rivalries in SEC football is renewed Thursday as Ole Miss visits Vanderbilt in front of a North American audience on ESPN and Sportsnet 360.
The line for Thursday’s game opened with the Rebels listed as 1-point underdogs, but they were quickly steamed up to 3.5-point favourites. It has since came back down to a field goal.
Mississippi holds a 47-38-2 advantage in the all-time series, but is 21-27-2 in 50 visits to the Commodores.
Vanderbilt won last year’s clash 27-26 at Mississippi, scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final minute to complete a comeback from a 23-6 deficit.

Why Ole Miss will cover: This isn’t just a rivalry game for the Rebels, it’s also a chance to avenge the gutwrenching loss of a year ago. Ole Miss has some very high hopes for this season, having signed ESPN’s No. 5 recruiting class for 2013. Bo Wallace is back at QB for the Rebels and hopes to build on his 403-yard performance in last year’s meeting. Vanderbilt returns 17 starters from last year’s 9-4 squad, but the Commodores lost many of their impact players on offence and could struggle early on.

Why Vanderbilt will cover: The Commodores have gotten the better of Ole Miss in recent meetings, winning six of the last eight matchups. Vanderbilt has been a very strong team at home of late, going 12-3 against the spread in its last 15 games on its own turf. Mississippi could suffer from some jitters with plenty of freshmen expected to play major roles in their first game on the road on national TV.

Our pick: Mississippi -3