Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma St. vs Ole Miss

Oklahoma State vs Ole Miss OKST HC Gundy says QB Rudolph should be ready to play Jan. 1st after undergoing foot surgery near the end of November. Rudolph is their primary passer while Walsh comes in primarily for running plays. This is good news for OKST as they are going to have pass, pass, and pass some more to try and keep up in this game. OKST's running game is so bad that they had reeled off 7 "worst" performances in 8 games until rebouding with a "best" performance in their final game against OKLA -- a result aided by the fact that Rudolph was out so the run-centric Walsh played all game. Rudolph actually had a really good game passing the ball against OKLA too, but had two costly interceptions. MISS' has my 20th ranked pass defense, but I don't think they are quite that good. They played ALA with 1st year starter QB Coker in week 3, with Coker improving as the season went along, and they played games against New Mexico State who'd just lost their starting QB and TA&M in the game where Kyle Allen played with a bad AC joint and was terrible. That accounts for half of their 6 "best" games, leaving them with an equal number of 3 "worst" games. They did, however, finish the season with back to back good games against LSU and MSST. MISS' run defense was pretty much solid throughtout with 7 "best" and zero "worst" games. Like I said, OKST won't win on the ground here. As for MISS they should score points a' plenty, and do it however they wish. OKST ranks 49th at both run and pass defense, vs. MISS' 26th ranked running game and 2nd ranked passing game. MISS finished up the season playing as good on offense as anybody in football, with 3 straight "best" running games and 4 straight "best" passing games, all against better defenses than OKST's. With both teams playing at an above average tempo on offense while passing more than your average team, I project this to be a very high scoring game with MISS getting the cover on the strength of being able to run it as well as pass. *** MISS DE Nkemdiche had some kind of an alcholol/drug related breakdown that saw him trash a hotel room, break through a window, and either fall or jump off a hotel balcony some 15 feet above ground to the ground below. He's in stable condition, but WTF? He's one of the top defensive NFL prospects in the country. Recommended investments: Ole Miss -6.5 0.7% Over 68.5 0.7%