re: Your prediction: Ole Miss @ Alabama

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Your prediction: Ole Miss @ Alabama

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Take the over. Don’t even care what it is.

Ole Miss 37
Bama 23

Bama by 14

Ole Miss: a lot

Alabama: also a lot, but just a little less than OM

I think Alabama is going to lean on 12 and 13 personnel to force some of Ole Miss’ smaller nickel personnel to pick up run fits because there are more gap assignments. They showed some of it this week against Southern Miss. Imagine there is more going on there too. Alabama will have an adequate enough game on the ground to control possession and finish drives near the goal line.

Alabama demonstrated a lot of playmaking ability in special teams. Their specialists are solid. The returners are electric. Coverage team is usually among the better units in the conference and usually block a few punts each year.

Defense is the concerns for Alabama but they are getting more DL rotation at an opportune time. The big problem is the OLB depth took a hit in game 1 so the high-quality 3 man rotation w/ Allen, Anderson, and Sanders is gone…Sanders and Anderson are on the field a lot of the snaps and the drop off is noticeable when they’re out. The defensive backfield has not played well either. They’re busting coverages and committing needless panicky DPIs when isolated in coverage.

Despite the obvious improvement by Ole Miss on defense, it is still only an improvement from all-time bad for an SEC team to a competent middle to low-middle SEC team defense. Alabama is going to win the Bama O v. OM D matchup.

Alabama doesn’t seem to have really figured it out on defense and the depth/rotations are not impressing me heading into a tempo offense matchup. Ole Miss is going to win the OM O v. Bama D matchup.

So that ultimately means who can be effective on offense while limiting turnovers and three and outs will probably be in great position to win. Furthermore, in a close matchup special teams often comes up huge. Ole Miss knows this because it was a huge factor in their wins over Alabama in 2014 and 2015 while also springing an Alabama comeback in 2016.

Ole Miss is going to give Alabama another nail biter but I think home field probably ends up making a difference. This is going to be Ole Miss’ first game with a hostile crowd since 2019. Similar to Alabama a few weeks back, I think it is going to cause them some problems. Lane always has a problem with waiting until very late to get a play in…could cause some problems with pre-snap procedural penalties. Alabama doesn’t run for 300 yards again but they demonstrate that they can run more than well enough to control the pace of the game and get tough yards.

Alabama 48 Ole Miss 38

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Because all we’ve heard over the last three weeks about how Ole Miss is going to beat Alabama, I’m feeling like this sets up for a Bama win. There’s no catching Bama sleeping, etc.

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There’s many reasons to pick Bama, but this is such a dumb one.

In 2015 we had just beaten Bama the previous year. Do you think we caught them sleeping when we beat them a 2nd year in a row? Of course not, we didn’t sneak up on them that year and we still won.

Again, there are many reasons to pick Bama this year, but the “catch them sleeping” factor is an odd one to hang your hat on.

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It's kinda feels like Bama will jump up early and hold off Ole Miss. I don't think Ole Miss has the element of surprise like in years past.

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How did we have the element of surprise in 2015? We had just won the previous year.

Bama. I think it might be close the first half, but Bama Bamas in the 4th.

We got Ole Miss' best game last season and still won by 15 in their place.

BAMA has a very young team, and they went on the road and beat a well-prepared Florida team two weeks ago. That was the worst thing that could happen for Ole Miss. The Florida game was enough to open their eyes and cause them to prepare better than they were before.

BAMA by 21.