College Football Odds: Cotton Bowl

The Rebels are listed as 3-point favorites vs. the Cowboys. (AP Images)

Saturday’s Cotton Bowl, which is being held at the new Cowboys Stadium for the first time, matches Ole Miss and Oklahoma State, two teams that had legitimate BCS bowl expectations before the season. Mississippi is a 3-point favorite on Bodog’s college football odds.

Both the Rebels, who are in their second straight Cotton Bowl, and Cowboys enter off one-sided losses to in-state rivals in their regular season finales. The teams, both highly ranked early in the season, didn’t play a common opponent in the regular season.

Ole Miss (8-4, 6-6 ATS) was a disappointment in large part because QB Jevan Snead did perform like a preseason Heisman candidate that he was being touted as. Snead is completing just 54.3 percent of his passes this season and threw way too many interceptions with 17 – in three of the four Rebel losses this season, Snead threw multiple picks. The Rebels started winning when they got the ball often to RB Dexter McCluster, who will surpass 1,000 yards rushing and 500 receiving this season (first player in SEC history to do that in a season). Mississippi was 4-0 this season when McCluster ran for at least 100 yards, but that will be tough to accomplish against an OSU defense ranked sixth in the nation against the run.

Oklahoma State (9-3, 5-5-1 ATS) was really done in this year by an injury to star RB Kendall Hunter and the suspension to All-American WR Dez Hunter, whose career is over. Hunter is back healthy and teams with RB Keith Toston to form one of the best 1-2 punches in the nation. OSU is pretty balanced on offense, averaging 192 yards on the ground and 185 yards in the air. The Ole Miss defense is much better against the pass than it against the run.

When making your college football bet on this one, know that Ole Miss has won six bowl games in a row against current members of the Big 12, although that streak dates to 1986. The Rebels were impressive in beating Texas Tech in the Cotton last year, while OSU lost to Oregon in the 2008 Holiday Bowl.

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