NCAA Football Saturday - Memphis at Mississippi

The Rebels of Ole Miss (3-9 SU, 6-5 ATS in 2007) are looking for a new lease on life with their brand new head coach. They'll start the 2008 season with optimism, as they play host to the Memphis Tigers (7-6 SU, 5-6-1 ATS in 2007) in the NCAA football opener for both teams, scheduled for Saturday, August 30 and a 7 PM ET kickoff at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (artificial turf) in Oxford, MS.

Saturday, August 30

BetUS NCAA Football Betting Odds: MISSISSIPPI -7.5, Total 53.5

Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* MEM has covered two of its last six games
* MEM has won five of its last seven games SU
* MEM has lost 15 of its last 23 games SU
* MEM has won and covered four of its last six road games
* MEM has played seven of its last ten road games UNDER the total
* MISS has lost five of its last six games SU
* MISS has lost five of its last seven home games SU
* MISS has covered five of its last six games
* MEM has covered four of the last five meetings
* MISS has won six of the last eight meetings SU

Houston Nutt moves over from the University of Arkansas to take over this Ole Miss program, which was highly disappointing under previous coach Ed Orgeron. Nutt is wiping the slate clean, and is making some meaningful personnel changes.One of them involves his new quarterback, Jevan Sneed, a highly touted schoolboy who lost out to an even more highly-touted schoolboy, Colt McCoy, for the starting job at Texas, and is here to get playing time.

Benjarvis Green-Ellis, who wound up in the New England Patriots' camp, was a significant loss out of the backfield, so Nut will have to rely on a few freshmen running backs, including Enrique Davis, as he looks to pick up the slack. Early reports indicate that though the Rebels may get off to a slow start in the ground game, the long-term prognosis is good. Part of the reason is that they will be running behind, among others, the man who is possibly the best offensive tackle in the country, Michael Oher, who may just be a top five pick in the NFL Draft.

But Ole Miss is missing its top two defensive linemen, pro prospects Greg Hardy and Peria Jerry, and that is huge, since this unit is not so talent-laden that it can substitute with a lot of quality depth. The Memphis team they're facing is not coming in to roll over. And they would like to wipe the bitter taste of last season's 44-27 New Orleans Bowl loss to Florida Atlantic from their mouths. Arkelon Hall, a 6'4" junior college transfer who can run with the ball, is the new signal-caller for the Tigers, who are all about filling the air with footballs. Hall will have six wideouts returning, and they combined for 244 catches last season. Where Memphis needs quick improvement is on the defensive front. They gave up 5.1 yards a carry last year, and have brought in a new coordinator, Tim Walton, to shore things up.

We'll be watching that defensive situation for the Tigers, but the fact is, this series if often very competitive. The last three meetings have been decided by a total of nine points, and the underdog has covered the last five. In last season's contest, Ole Miss got off to a 20-0 lead, then almost blew it, barely holding on for a 23-21 victory.