Chick-fIl-A Peach Bowl Betting: Mississippi Rebels vs. TCU Horned Frogs Odds

Two teams with much bigger goals heading into the final month of the season are relegated to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta as the TCU Horned Frogs meet the Ole Miss Rebels.

The Horned Frogs did just about everything they could to make the four-team College Football Playoff field but dropped out of the No. 3 spot when the Florida State Seminoles and Ohio State Buckeyes both won their conference title games.

TCU is 7-0 straight up and 6-1 against the spread as a favorite this year.

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl point spread: Horned Frogs opened as three-point favorites; the total was 56.5. (Line updates and matchup report)

Odds Shark computer prediction: 50.3-41.1 Horned Frogs

Why the Rebels can cover the spread

The Rebels have gone 9-1 SU and 8-1-1 ATS in their past 10 bowl games and faced arguably better competition throughout the year in the SEC than TCU played in the Big 12. Of course, their season was highlighted by a 23-17 home victory against the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide as 4.5-point underdogs, as they remain the only team to defeat the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff field.

Ole Miss also finished out the campaign with a 31-17 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs as 2.5-point dogs in the Egg Bowl, proving that this team still has some gas left in the tank and can play well when motivated despite losing three of four games in conference play before that.

Why the Horned Frogs can cover the spread

The Horned Frogs can approach this game in one of two ways obviously: as a highly motivated team looking to prove it should have been in the College Football Playoff or as a disappointed squad simply looking to ride out the year and put in minimal effort against the Rebels.

The former is much more likely than the latter due to head coach Gary Patterson, who has prepared his players as well as anybody in the country. TCU has won six of its last eight bowl games and went 10-2 ATS in winning 11 of 12 games this season, with the lone loss this season coming on the road against the Baylor Bears.

The Horned Frogs fell to the Bears 61-58 but still covered as seven-point underdogs.

Smart pick

This is a classic matchup of a team that got snubbed in TCU playing against another from a superior conference. The problem is, Ole Miss sputtered down the stretch in SEC play and probably will not be able to keep up with the offensively gifted Horned Frogs, who have scored 30 points or more in every game this season.

The Rebels were able to get up for a matchup with rival Mississippi State in their last game, but trying to trade points with TCU could be the team’s most difficult challenge of the year. The Horned Frogs have proved that they can rack up points and cover against almost everybody on their schedule, and it would have been interesting to see how they fared in the College Football Playoff.

Instead, look for TCU to make one final statement here.

Trends

• Mississippi is 10-3 SU in its last 13 games
• TCU is 12-2 ATS in its last 14 games

Note: All spread and odds data powered by Odds Shark. Follow us on Twitter for injury updates and line move updates.