Florida Gators at Ole Miss Rebels Odds & Game Pick (2020)
Arriving late to the party, but still getting here in the month of September, the SEC joins the ACC and Big 12 as the third Power 5 conference to start up in this 2020 mid-pandemic college football season. With all 14 teams in play in their opening weekend, given any major outbreaks within the conference, the plan is to move forward with the regularly scheduled SEC title game later this year.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at two of the more popular SEC teams facing off this weekend, one of which has National Champion aspirations.
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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Details
- Opening Lines: Ole Miss +12.5; O/U 59
- Current Line: Ole Miss +13.5
- O/U: 57
- Location: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, MS
- Start Time: 12:00 pm ET
- Television: ESPN
- Last Meeting: October 3, 2015 – Mississippi 10, Florida 38
Overview
After going 10-3 in his first season in Gainesville in 2018, third-year head coach Dan Mullen followed up with an 11-2 2019 campaign, including closing it out with three wins by an average margin of 32 ppg and a bowl win over Virginia. While the Gators do lose a lot (10) of starting talent to the NFL, they bring back a ton of playing experience, most notably at the quarterback and receiving positions.
One of my dark horses to win the Heisman, Florida quarterback Kyle Trask returns off a 2,941 yard and 25 touchdown season in which his only losses came against LSU and Georgia, both away from the Swamp. Not only do the Gators get LSU at home this season, but two of Trask’s top targets in Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney return for what should be monster seasons.
In Oxford, the Matt Luke experience ended after just 15 wins in three seasons, which given the level of talent in the SEC, shouldn’t have been all that surprising. In his place steps Lane Kiffin, a touted “offensive guru†whose stops range from the NFL, USC, Alabama, and most recently head coach at FAU.
With just five starters returning on already suspect defense, Kiffin and company will live and die by the arm and legs of their two sophomore quarterbacks in John Rhys Plumlee and Matt Corral at his disposal. Corral, the much better pure passer, should be who we expect to see early as Kiffin tries to implement his system.
- The Gators are 5-2 ATS in their last seven September games
- The Under is 4-1 in the last five games between these two
Bottom Line
For Trask, the opportunity like the one he’s getting this season has been almost a decade in the making. Having the unfortunate role as backup to now Miami starter D’Eriq King at the prep level, Trask took advantage of his opportunity last season when Franks get down and I think you see that again this season.
While lack of spring practices effects both teams here early, Ole Miss is also dealing with the fact they’ve had to install a brand new offense and are now facing a defense that is almost two-deep with NFL talent.
Lane is already publicly complaining about the lack of non-conference games to start the season, and I think the built-in excuse trickles down to the rest of this team early and often in 2020.
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TJ Perun is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from TJ, check out his archive and follow him @JohnnyCovers.