What in the world can Houston Nutt do for an encore? After outplaying fearsome Florida in the Swamp and leaving Gainesville with a 31-30 signature win (snapped a 9-game SEC losing streak), Nutt and his rejuvenated Rebels are suddenly a ‘playuh’ in the SEC. Bear in mind with a few lucky bounces against Wake Forest and Vanderbilt, Ole Miss could easily be 5-0 and wearing a national ranking in addition to the 2008 ‘glass slipper’. Still, we’re compelled to remind you that South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier owns a profit table 45-22-1 SU and 45-23 ATS record on the conference road in his college head-coaching career. The old’ ball coach may not have cashed the ticket in last week’s win over UAB but he finally got to keep QB Stephen Garcia on the fi eld for an extended period of
time and the redshirt freshman revived the moribund Gamecock offense (completed 13-of-20 passes for 131 yards and scrambled for 86 more). That’s good news for a team that lost SU at Columbia as 17-point favorites. in their last meeting with the Rebels. Much like the Oregon State game on Thursday, Ole Miss falls into the ‘teams off a SU dog win of 20 or more points’ scenario, a feeble 8-16 ATS proposition when taking on a foe off back-to-back SU wins. Nutt appears to have his Ole Miss team on the fast track to success but following their huge win over the Gators, the Rebels’ feet don’t fi gure to hit the ground here until they go into the locker room at halftime. The clincher is Nutt’s poor 4-15 ATS record versus conference opponents off a SU win (0-6 if he’s off a SUATS win). Gamecocks are 5-0 ‘ITS’ this year and will show up HUNGRY.
NEBRASKA Plus over Missouri
Laugh if you want. The truth is No. 3 Missouri has beaten a trio of 98-pound weaklings after opening the season with a diffi cult 10-point win over Illinois. Translation: sure the Tigers are good but they’re
going to have to step WAY UP to prove it here today. The Corn Boys have a bumper crop of good stats tucked in their silo: they’re 6-0 ATS playing in their fourth straight at Lincoln, 13-2 SU and 14-1 ATS taking on Big 12 adversaries when playing off if three in a row at home and 10-1 SU and ATS home versus undefeated conference opponents. Whew! The big, bad Tigers are a woeful 0-3-1 lately as double-digit road chalk and they’ve covered just ONCE if their last five tries coming off a bye week. True, Nebraska failed its first major test against Virginia Tech but the Huskers were undone by two Hokie trademarks, special teams and defense… not exactly Missouri’s forte. With Nebraska the subject of this week’s INCREDIBLE STAT, we can’t fade numbers like these – especially when the series host has cashed six straight tickets. Children of the Corn turn Memorial Stadium into a house of horrors for Mizzou today.
Folks in south Florida may still despise the ground he walks on but there’s no denying coach Nick Saban has damn near performed miracles with the Alabama program since he arrived at Tuscaloosa in 2007. Last week’s shocking domination of preseason No. 1 Georgia at Athens moved the Tide up to 4th spot in the Coaches Poll – and also drove the line up on this matchup by at least a field goal. After such a monster effort, Saban will be hard-pressed to get his team up for a so-so Kentucky team. Bama’s poor ATS history in today’s role doesn’t help, either. Bear’s descendants are a woeful 0-4 ATS home off BB road games and just 3-12 ATS in Game Six (Saban is also only 6-12-1 ATS off a SU dog win). Kentucky coach Rich Brooks has led his Wildcats to an impressive 9-0 SU record in the first five games of the past two seasons. UK is also 5-1 ATS away off BB homers and 5-1 ATS off a DD non-SEC win. THIS JUST IN: Since 2005, 4-0 road dogs are 11-2 ATS in Game Five. Did we mention that Bama is also a SMART BOX FAT CAT fade? Only one way to look here.
Navy Plus over AIR FORCE
Much-maligned Midshipmen defense put a halt to any ‘Riley Skinner for Heisman’ talk after they forced the Wake Forest QB into four killer turnovers in last Saturday’s jaw-dropping 24-17 win at Winston-Salem. The Middies’ ground attack was at full force, rushing for 292 yards against a Deacon defense that limited Florida State to just 118 rushing yards a week earlier. Now the Middies set sail for Colorado Springs to defend their Commander In Chief title for the sixth straight year against military rival Air Force. Navy’s ATS credentials are among the nation’s best: 31-7-1 as a road dog versus an opponent off a SU loss and 16-3 ATS in their last 19 skirmished with military foes (11-0 SU and 10-1 ATS last 11!). The Falcons are off to a fi ne 3-1 start but they gained just 191 total yards and 9 first downs in last week’s 30-23 loss to Utah. In fact, the Flyboys have been outstatted by over 400 yards in their past two games and have dropped FIVE IN A ROW both SU and ATS in their series with Navy. If it ain’t broke, we’re not fixin’ it.
N TEXAS over Fla International
There are just some things in life you learn never to do. Like hopping a train going faster than you. Or swimming with sharks. Or telling your wife her sister looks hot. They can all put you in intensive care. So too can betting on a road favorite that has won just TWO of its last TWENTY EIGHT road games – and laying a touchdown to boot. Granted, FIU is coming off a rare road win and UNT is not much, but these days even a pigeon can make a deposit on a Ferrari. What say we make like Steve Miller and ‘fly like an Eagle’ tonight?
Last Week: 3-0 Season: 9-4