Oklahome State vs. Ole Miss: Point Spread & Over-Under

On Friday, No. 12 Ole Miss exorcized its Peach Bowl demons with a commanding 48-20 win over No. 15 Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl.

Hugh Freeze’s Rebels returned to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for another afternoon practice session. Oklahoma State’s quarterback Mason Rudolph is out with an ankle injury, so J.W. Walsh will have to bring his A-game to the field in order to stay ahead of the Ole Miss defense. Overall, Ole Miss scored 40.3 points per game, 12th best. They then had some disappointing setbacks, a blowout loss on the road against Florida, a loss on the road at Memphis, and a one point defeat against Arkansas.

Ole Miss’ defense will be without National Football League bound DT Robert Nkemdiche due to suspension but they have depth including Breeland Speaks who filled in well against Texas A&M which was Nkemdiche’s lone previous absence this season. They also outgained Oklahoma State 392-156 in total yards and 21-10 in first downs before halftime. Walsh rushed 10 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns in a little more than a quarter, but it was too little, too late.

The bowl win is the Rebels’ third in the last four seasons.

Defense: The task for Oklahoma State’s defense is simple: hang in there long enough to give the Cowboys offense a shot to win…. this outfit surrenders 29.0 points per game, which ranks No. 85 in the country, and has given up at least 26 points to every Power Five opponent it has faced, with the exception of lowly Kansas.

Ole Miss finished the half with a bang as Kelly tossed a lateral to standout offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil for a 2-yard touchdown run as time expired. If Ole Miss can take away their success in the passing game it’s going to be a rough game for the Pokes.

Treadwell caught a 14-yard touchdown with 13:04 remaining in the fourth quarter, his third of the game. The Rebels have a very solid leader in Chad Kelly at quarterback, he’s combined for 37 touchdowns on the year, Ole Miss has some nice players at the receiver position, they will look to get the football to Laquon Treadwell quite often in this one.

“We all know how embarrassing last year was in a New Years Six bowl”, sophomore running back Jordan Wilkins said.

After a sloppy possession with two straight penalties, Oklahoma State had to punt and that was bad news. Treadwell hauled in three touchdown passes on Friday and even heaved a pass 45 yards to move the Rebels closer to a score.

The 34 points by the Rebels tied a Sugar Bowl record for most in a half, tying LSU, which did it against IL in 2002.

Some of the Rebels’ top defensive players and defensive coordinator Dave Wommack took a turn with the media during a morning press conference. Two of them make sense, but the other four are really no different than any other meaningless bowl game they just happen to feature better football teams. On Kelly’s second pass of the game, he heaved an ill-advised deep ball into double coverage that Oklahoma State cornerback Ashton Lampkin intercepted.