Cotton Bowl Mississippi Rebels vs Texas Tech Red Raiders
Why in the world did the Arkansas Razorbacks release Houston Nutt as coach? The man knows what he’s doing. In one season he’s turned the Ole Miss Rebels from one of the least respected teams in the SEC to one of the top four teams in the SEC. Ole Miss actually beat the Florida Gators this season. No other team can say that. Straight-up the Rebels are only 8 and 4 but against the sports betting line they are a terrific 8 and 3. That’s a sign that this team has what it takes to get the job done. They not only win straight-up but they win against the BetUS online betting spread. They also finished the season going 5 and 1 straight-up with a four point loss to Alabama, and victories against Arkansas, Auburn, Louisiana-Monroe, LSU and Mississippi State. Ole Miss is a team on the rise.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders, with that awesome spread formation on offense, were ranked number two in the nation at one point. That’s when they ran into the Oklahoma Sooners and got blitzed 65 to 21. The Red Raiders have one of the most potent offenses in the nation which is why they are 11 and 1 straight-up. That’s a great record but college football betting fans might be disappointed to learn that the Red Raiders are only 5-4-1 against the BetUS online wagering spread.
Here are the BetUS online betting odds for this game.
Mississippi Rebels + 4 – 110 + 165 O 69 – 110
Texas Tech Red Raiders – 4 – 110 – 200 U 69 – 110
There are no real wagering trends in this game because these teams are so foreign to each other. Both teams can do well against the spread at times and both teams can fail against the spread.
Like so many of these college football bowl games the winner of this game is going to come down to two factors – – coaching and style. In the coaching department even though the Red Raiders are the flashier team, they didn’t play nearly the same schedule as the Ole Miss Rebels.
Texas Tech did beat Texas but in that game Texas was playing in their fifth straight game against a ranked opponent and Tech had to go all out to beat the Longhorns. What’s a more telling game from an online gambling point-of-view is Texas Tech’s loss to the Oklahoma Sooners.
In that game the Red Raiders couldn’t stop Oklahoma’s offense. Their coaching staff didn’t make any changes during the game that could help their team. That should worry Red Raider fans because coaching moves will determine the winner of this year’s Cotton Bowl.
Houston Nutt is a crafty guy. Even though the Red Raiders bring Graham Hall and Michael Crabtree into this game, one of the best quarterback/wide receiver tandems in the college football, Nutt has the defense to slow down Texas Tech.
This is actually my best online bet of the entire Bowl Season. Big-12 spread it out and score at will offense versus SEC toughness.
I have to take the SEC in this one. I just don’t see how that Red Raiders offense will outscore an Ole Miss team that has won 5 straight games by an average of 26 points and beaten some heavy conference opponents to boot.
Nutt will come up with something special to keep Hall and Crabtree off the field and the Ole Miss Rebels will pull off the upset.
2009 Cotton Bowl Prediction:
I’m making an online bet on the Mississippi Rebels to beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders straight-up at the BetUS online sportsbook money line odds of + 165.
