(4) Ole Miss Favored By 3 Over South Carolina On Thursday Night

Sports Betting News - September 23rd, 2009 - Written by Scott

Ole Miss has finally recovered from the flu outbreak which effected almost one third of the team last week. This comes at a great time as they have played two warm up games and now begin SEC play. The No. 4 ranked Rebels, which is their highest ranking since 1970, travel to Columbia on Thursday night to play Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks. The Rebels will only have four days to prepare as they spent their bye week last week recovering from the flu. Ole Miss is coming off its 52-6 victory over Southeastern Louisiana which marks their eight win in a row. South Carolina, 2-1, won it's last game 38-16 over Florida Atlantic. South Carolina got the win last year against Ole Miss 31-24.

The offense for Ole Miss has looked well in their first two games of the year and is averaging 46 points per game. The Rebels, 2-0, showed a very balanced offensive attack against Southeastern Louisiana as they had a total of 500 yards, 258 rushing and 242 passing. Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead has passed for 384 yards and 5 touchdowns on the year. His touchdown total should be higher, but dropped passes have plagued the Rebels so far this year. Brandon Bolden leads the way rushing for the Rebels with 176 yards. Rushing has shown to be their strong point so far this season offensively as they are averaging 216 yards per game on the ground. Although their two previous opponents were not the of the same quality Rebels, Ole Miss is only surrendering 11 points per game defensively.

South Carolina had it's best offensive production of the year against Florida Atlantic as they also had over 500 total yards and finally got their running game going, rushing for 287 yards. Coming into the game, they had only 222 yards on the ground in their first two games. Quarterback Stephen Garcia has passed for 683 yards and 3 touchdowns on the year. They will be facing a much tougher opponent this week however. Ole Miss limited Southeastern Louisiana to just 86 yards rushing last week. The Gamecock's defense must play solid to not allow the big play capabilities that Bolden and wide receiver Dexter McCluster possess.

Betus Sportsbook has Ole Miss favored by 3 against South Carolina. This will be a good first test for the Rebels to see if they can live up to their No.4 ranking, their highest in forty years, against a good SEC team in South Carolina. South Carolina's only loss was to Georgia 41-37.

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