The pros at FiveStarPick.com will be giving our members the winner of tonight’s ESPN College Football game between the Rebels of Ole Miss and the South Carolina Gamecocks.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Rebels as 5-point road favorites with a total of 53.

The Rebels are currently sitting at No. 4 in the Associated Press poll and they have won eight straight, the second-longest current streak in the country. In addition, Ole Miss looked strong in the Cotton Bowl dropping the Red Raiders of Texas Tech 47-34, but the team hasn’t had to face a quality opponent in 2009, with easy wins over Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana. 

Coach Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks, on the other hand, kicked off the Thursday night season with a pillow fight at N.C. State.  South Carolina won that game 7-3.  But one week later the Gamecocks made up for the borefest at Georgia for their SEC opener; a game Spurries team would eventually lose, 41-37, in a wild one.  After beating Florida Atlantic last weekend, South Carolina is sitting at 2-1 and a win over Ole Miss would set them up nicely for the rest of their schedule.

Gamecock sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia has certainly done a much better job taking care of the ball to start this season and had a 313 yard, two-touchdown performance against Georgia.  On the other side of the ball, signal caller Jevan Snead was probably the single biggest reason the Rebels received a Top 10 preseason ranking.

On defense for the Gamecocks senior LB Eric Norwood is beyond happy to know that his defensive line will get DT Ladi Ajiboye (suspension) and Nathan Pepper (knee) back for this game. It will be the closest to full strength that this unit has been all season and that could be bad news for Mississippi, especially when you consider this program hasn’t won a SEC opener in five years, with the last two losses coming at the hands of Vanderbilt.  Snead will definitely have to be on top of his game in hostile territory for the Rebels to break that streak and a win would give Ole Miss a 3-0 start for the first time in 20 years.

This line opened with Ole Miss being favored by three points and has since jumped to five. Both teams are currently undefeated against the spread although South Carolina looks much more impressive at 3-0 ATS than does Ole Miss who has only played in one lined game.

So who covers the spread in this matchup?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com for a month ($99.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com gave its members another 3-1 against the spread day yesterday and look forward to another win today as we professionally handicap today’s matchup between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Memphis Tigers.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Rebels as 18-point road favorites with a total of 57.

Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt is going to have to step up his game if he wants to upstage his season from a year ago.  Ole Miss went 9-4 straight up in 2008 under Nutt, including wins over the eventual National Champion Florida Gators in the regular season and the high-powered offens of the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl.  In addition, the Rebs went 10-3 against the spread last year. 

A lot of the Rebels’ success is going to ride on how well quarterback Jevan Snead handles himself under center this season. The former Longhorn completed 56 percent of his passes for 2,762 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2008.  Matthew Stafford and Tim Tebow were among a select few who did better.

Ole Miss loves there “Wild Rebel” style of offense with Dexter McCluster at the point. He’s definitely an all-purpose kind of player, as evidenced by 655 rushing yards and 625 receiving yards with seven scores.

Memphis is just hoping to keep it close today. The Tigers opened the 2008 campaign with three straight losses, covering the spread just once. But they picked it up with six wins in their final nine regular season tilts to get back to a bowl game. Bettors for the Tigers lost the juice last year with 5-5 against the spread ledger.

The Tigers will start Arkelon Hall today, but back up Will Hudgens might also get a few snaps.  What will be a challenge for Memphis in this game is how well they can defend the run. Last year, they allowed 4.7 yards per carry. That is the exact same average YPC that the Rebs had for 2008.  The Tigers do have reason to be confident that they can hold Ole Miss back on the ground with juco transfer Justin Thompson anchoring the defensive line now.  Their secondary will get a much needed boost with DeRon Furr starting after sitting out ’08 because of transferring from Auburn.

Memphis has been profitable during their last 8 meetings with the Rebels going 5-3 against the spread.  And as double-digit home underdogs, they are a robust 5-2 against the spread.

So who covers the spread tonight in the Liberty Bowl?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com for a month ($99.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com