With a Saturday noon ET kickoff, the Liberty Flames (7-2) head south to take on the Ole Miss Rebels (6-2) at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium. Below, we look at the Liberty at Ole Miss odds and lines, and make our expert college football picks, predictions and bets.
While keeping things on the down low may be Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin’s style, he let it slip that the Rebels practiced without 9 of their original 11 offensive starters earlier this week, 247Sports reported.
In this Heisman Trophy candidate faceoff, Ole Miss QB Matt Corral will be down at least his top weapon and potentially his top-three receivers. The injuries to Ole Miss have made this spread under double figures when it may have opened over two touchdowns in the preseason.
Liberty is led by star QB Malik Willis. Expected to be a first-round pick, he’ll have to be that superstar for Liberty to stand a chance against an SEC powerhouse.
Liberty at Ole Miss odds, spread and lines
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 3:52 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Liberty +265 (bet $100 to win $265) | Ole Miss -350 (bet $350 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Liberty +9.5 (-107) | Ole Miss -9.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 66.5 (O: -112 | U: -108)
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Liberty at Ole Miss odds, lines, picks and predictions
Prediction
Ole Miss 34, Liberty 31
Money line
PASS with a slight “lean” to Liberty. The Flames (+265) will be taking on a heavily-injured Rebels side.
While I’d love to tell you to bet on the Flames, they just haven’t shown much in big-time games, losing to Syracuse and Louisiana-Monroe, their two toughest opponents this season.
Against the spread
“LEAN” to LIBERTY +9.5 (-107) as the better side of the spread. The Flames are 6-3 against the spread this season and have a player that can keep this game close.
Willis is a legitimate superstar. The 6-foot-1 dual-threat quarterback has run for 684 yards with 9 touchdowns and thrown for 1,986 with 21 TDs. The concern is that, despite being nearly flawless against Syracuse, the Flames still came up short.
Ole Miss will be their toughest test of the season. Considering what we’ve seen from Ole Miss and the talent it should have even while missing some starters, I’d still not bet on its money line in this instance.
The injuries matter enough to look toward the spread, which Liberty has consistently rewarded backers in so far this season.
Over/Under
BET on the UNDER 66.5 (-108) as the best bet in this game.
I know what you’re thinking – how are you betting against two potential Heisman candidates? Well, quite frankly, Liberty may keep games close, but it hasn’t scored against competent defenses like it has against no-name competition.
Sure, it put 62 on UMass, but it hung just 21 on Syracuse despite Willis having three touchdowns and no interceptions. On the other side of the ball, Corral may not have his top three weapons and is nursing an injury of his own.
Both teams have been dubbed as having high-profile attacks which is why the pregame totals for both have been high this season. Ole Miss is 3-5 on the O/U, while Liberty is 3-5-1.
Considering the injuries and Liberty’s big-game limited scoring, the Under is the better play.
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