Tennessee vs. Ole Miss: TV Info, Spread, Injury Updates, Game Time and More
Normally an encounter between a top-three team and a .500 opponent is one to ignore, but that is hardly the case in the SEC this weekend when the Tennessee Volunteers hit the road for a date with the No. 3 Ole Miss Rebels.
Tennessee is still stuck in rebuild mode under the guidance of Butch Jones, but the team has helped to produce a couple of nail-biters against better opponents this season in close losses to then-ranked No. 12 Georgia and Florida.
Ole Miss is a darling of the nation at the moment, along with No. 1 Mississippi State. Hugh Freeze's Rebels are 6-0 and have taken down Alabama and Texas A&M over the course of the past two weeks.
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So, what a late Saturday kickoff has for fans is a matchup between a heavyweight and a scrappy underdog with immense College Football Playoff implications on the line.
Stay the Course
This is about not getting complacent and sticking to what works for the Rebels.
A 23-17 win over then-ranked No. 3 Alabama confirmed what most knew—the Rebels can be a great team if quarterback Bo Wallace is on top of his game. The defense, which ranks second only to Stanford overall, allows just 11.8 points per game on average.
Those thoughts were reaffirmed one week later in College Station with a 35-20 manhandling of then-ranked No. 14 Texas A&M.
Freeze is certainly not allowing his team to become complacent against Tennessee, a program that he says parallels the path traveled by the Rebels recently, as captured by Patrick Brown of the Times Free Press:
In all likelihood, the defense will continue to play at a high level. The pressure, then, falls on the shoulders of Wallace to hold up his end of the bargain.
Wallace is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation when he is on point. Against the Crimson Tide, he threw for 251 yards and three scores with 32 more yards on the ground. He found 178 passing yards and 50 more on the ground to go with three total touchdowns against the Aggies.
When Wallace struggles, though, he tosses three interceptions against Boise State or two more against Memphis while rushing for negative yardage. His off days have yet to hurt the team, but in the face of a credible opponent, they most certainly will.
Tennessee qualifies as a credible opponent.
The Predictable Approach...
It's the only path Tennessee can travel come Saturday.
The offensive line in front of quarterback Justin Worley is downright miserable. While the senior has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 1,388 yards and 12 touchdowns to five interceptions, his line has allowed 23 sacks to date, which ranks among the 10 worst totals in the nation.
In other words, Ole Miss does not have to worry much about the running game or long-developing pass plays. This is an offensive line that allowed five sacks to UT-Chattanooga last week, an FCS team.
The only applicable thing Jones can draw up, then, is quick-hitting plays to a set of talented wideouts that can certainly do damage with the ball in their hands:
| Marquez North | 25 | 240 | 9.6 | 24 | 4 |
| Pig Howard | 24 | 219 | 9.1 | 31 (TD) | 1 |
| Jason Croom | 13 | 188 | 14.5 | 30 | 1 |
| Josh Smith | 10 | 135 | 13.5 | 40 (TD) | 1 |
Considering the team as a whole averages just 3.0 yards per carry, the passing game will need to come through Saturday for the Volunteers. The only problem is, the nation's second-best defense is well-aware.
When: Saturday, October 18, 7 p.m. ET
Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at Hollingsworth Field, Oxford, Mississippi
Television: ESPN
Betting Lines (via Odds Shark):
- Over/Under: 46.5
- Spread: Ole Miss (-16)
Team Injury Reports
| Cody Blanc | WR | 08/07/2014 | will miss the entire season | Out | Achilles |
| Jacob Gilliam | T | 09/02/2014 | will miss the remainder of the season | Out | knee |
| Treyvon Paulk | RB | 09/22/2014 | was dismissed from the team | Out | disciplinary |
| Josh Smith | WR | 10/12/2014 | is questionable for Saturday's game against Ole Miss | Questionable | ankle |
| Owen Williams | DT | 10/12/2014 | is questionable for Saturday's game against Ole Miss | Questionable | thumb |
| Anthony Alford | S | 10/01/2014 | has left the team | Out | personal |
| Chief Brown | DB | 08/03/2014 | will miss the entire season | Out | Achilles |
| Matt Brown | TE | 09/08/2014 | is expected to miss 6-8 weeks | Out | leg |
| Carlos Davis | CB | 08/15/2014 | will miss the entire season | Out | knee |
| Collins Moore | WR | 10/12/2014 | is questionable for Saturday's game against Tennessee | Questionable | knee |
| Tee Shepard | CB | 08/15/2014 | will miss the entire season | Out | toe |
Injury reports per The Sports Network, via USA Today.
Prediction
Eventually, Tennessee is going to explode for a major win it is not supposed to have.
It just will not be against Ole Miss.
The Tennessee wideouts will give Ole Miss some problems, but a one-dimensional attack behind a patchwork offensive line is only going to do so much damage against an elite defense.
Wallace has been unstoppable to date, which may be impacted by a top-20 defense. But Saturday at home, the Rebels are the safe bet, even if it means riding the defense to avoid an epic letdown.
Prediction: Rebels 21, Volunteers 13
Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.
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