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Ole Miss Rebels 2013 NCAA Football Gambling Odds & Predictions

2013-14 Preview (SEC) Mississippi

Ole Miss finished strong last season winning both their annual battle with Mississippi State and their bowl game against Pittsburgh, creating a feeling of confidence heading into the 2013 season.

Ole Miss Rebels (Team Link)
Coach: Hugh Freeze
2012 Record: 7-6
Odds of winning BCS Championship: +12500

It was Hugh Freeze’s first year as coach of the Rebels and it was a success, especially on the recruiting trails where they brought in what some considered the top recruit in the nation in DE Robert Nkemdiche (it helps when a brother is already on the team).

No matter how you look at it 2012 was a good start for Freeze in Oxford..

The question is whether he can keep improving, which is very tough to do in the SEC, all he has to do is ask Dan Mullen at Mississippi State. When you look closely at last year;s results the only teams they beat were the ones they were supposed to.

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It is hard to take that next step and start beating the higher echelon teams but they have a good chance this year with visits from both Texas A&M and LSU. Otherwise 7 or 8 wins is all they can probably expect.

Coach Freeze is expecting an offense that was pretty good, averaging 31ppg last year, to be even better this season. QB Bo Wallace had a solid sophomore season but if he can be more patient and cut down on the turnovers the offense will take the next leap as he has his top three receivers from last year all returning, the most dangerous of which is Donte Moncrief, who almost reached 1000 yards while scoring 10 touchdowns.

Running back Jeff Scott wasn’t too far from 1000 yards either last year and he will be running behind a line that returns 4 starters from a year ago so he should eclipse that benchmark this season.

Wallace is a very good athlete but he needs to let the game come to him a little bit and take off less even though he is a competent runner.

If the offense can become more dangerous than the defense will have less pressure put upon them. Like so many programs out there the quarterback is the key.

Ole Miss’ defense was in the middle of the pack of the conference last season.

7 starters also return on this unit the most accomplished being DE C.J. Johnson who led the team in sacks and Denzel Nkemdiche who led the team in tackles last season (both SEC second teamers). The hope is that Denzel’s brother Robert can dominate from the word go like another highly touted SEC defensive recruit named Jadeveon Clowney.

He is not quite the speed athlete that Clowney is so his presence could be felt in different ways. He is already a man among boys as a freshman though at nearly 300 pounds. [soliloquy id=”82219″]

2013-14 Record Projection: 8-4

I think that Ole Miss can take another step forward this season, which is really hard in this league. They open the season at Vanderbilt, a game I pick them to win (they are -3 right now).

If they don’t they could really be behind the eightball this season because they have games @ Texas and @ Alabama before the end of September. Starting off 1-3 and 0-2 in the SEC is going to make it hard to move things forward this season.

The offense should be improved and will serve them well against weaker SEC teams like Arkansas and Auburn but to hang with the big boys they have to play better defense. They were good against the run last year but the pass offense was 11th in the conference, they have to tighten that up and this is the year to do it with 3 defensive backs returning from their 4-2-5 scheme.

Ole Miss has to win the swing games to keep the enthusiasm of the program high moving forward.

2013 Rebels Schedule

AUG 29 – @Vanderbilt
SEP 7 – SE Missouri State
SEP 14 – @Texas
SEP 28 – @Alabama
OCT 5 – @Auburn
OCT 12 – Texas A&M
OCT 19 – LSU
OCT 26 – Idaho
NOV 9 – Arkansas
NOV 16 – Troy
NOV 23 – Missouri
NOV 28 – @Mississippi State

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By The Wiesguy

The Wiesguy is a newcomer to the handicapping scene. Hailing from Toronto, Canada he is always sweet on the underdogs and you can often find his thoughts, musings and picks at moneydogs.blogspot.com.