Rece Davis came into the College GameDay Podcast expecting to be out on an island with Missouri. Instead, he walked himself off that edge and landed on Ole Miss.
The ESPN host changed his pick before Saturday’s No. 13 Missouri-at-No.
9 Ole Miss matchup in Oxford, after Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel both went with the Tigers. Davis said he had been leaning Missouri anyway, but ultimately landed on the Rebels to survive what he expects to be a tight, swingy game.
“You guys have surprised me because I thought for sure I was going to be the only one to pick Missouri,” Davis said. “I’m going to change my mind a little bit.
Not just because you guys took Missouri, but I was leaning Missouri. Austin Simmons’ revenge, running game, the whole thing.”
Davis’ read on the game is built around the sense that this one could look a lot like Missouri’s earlier trip to Mississippi. The Tigers were beaten 31-24 at Mississippi State on Sept. 26 after giving up a fourth-quarter lead, and Davis thinks Saturday could follow a similar script.
“A back-and-forth game, up and down. Probably ends up much like Missouri’s last trip to the state of Mississippi,” Davis said.
“I’ll say the Rebels hang on. I’ll be the one who says the home team wins it.”
Missouri enters at 5-1 and 2-1 in the SEC, and the Tigers have bounced back hard since that loss to Mississippi State. They blasted No. 8 Florida 45-17, which gave Eli Drinkwitz his first regular-season win over a top-10 team in 11 tries at Missouri, then followed it with a 27-6 win over Texas A&M.
That stretch is part of why Davis believes the Tigers still have plenty of room to make noise if they can pull off another ranked win.
“If Missouri can do it, having a top-10 win because the Gators were top 10 at the time, they can win multiple games against top-10 teams for the first time since 1978,” Davis said.
That 1978 Missouri team beat defending national champion Notre Dame 3-0 and No. 2 Nebraska 35-31.
The Tigers are leaning on a strong offense and a major rushing threat. Austin Simmons, who lost his Ole Miss starting job after a Week 2 ankle injury against Kentucky in 2025, has thrown for 1,434 yards, 14 touchdowns and one interception at Missouri, just one yard short of Trinidad Chambliss’ passing total for the Rebels.
Jamal Roberts has powered Missouri’s ground game, and he leads the SEC in rushing. Ole Miss, meanwhile, has had a rough time stopping the run. The Rebels are last in the SEC at 176.4 rushing yards allowed per game and rank 106th nationally in EPA per rush allowed.
“The Ole Miss defense hasn’t been what we thought it was going to be,” Davis said. “I remember talking to some people in the preseason, thinking this might be one of the best defensive fronts in college football. Maybe it’ll turn out to be, but so far we haven’t seen evidence of that.”
Ole Miss comes in at 4-1 and 2-1 in league play with Trinidad Chambliss at quarterback and Kewan Lacy in the backfield. Chambliss remains in the Heisman Trophy conversation after winning an injunction against the NCAA to return for another season, and Lacy has his own angle in this one after beginning his career at Missouri.
“There’s also a little bit at stake here in the personal rivalry for Trinidad Chambliss, too. Maybe Kewan Lacy,” Davis said.
Lacy owns Ole Miss’ single-season rushing record with 1,567 yards in 2025 and signed a deal to return to Oxford, but his availability remains a question. A shoulder injury kept him out of the 52-28 loss at Florida, and he left last week’s 52-17 win at Vanderbilt after seven carries.
Ole Miss’ offense ranks eighth nationally in success rate, while Missouri’s defense has allowed just 23 points over its last two games.
The loser drops to 2-2 in SEC play when the teams kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
In Other News...
Kewan Lacy Suddenly Carries Big Stakes For Ole Miss Against Missouri
Kewan Lacys return to availability gives Ole Miss a little more weight in a matchup that already carried plenty of meaning for him. The running back transferred from Missouri and is now back in the conversation for the Rebels after being cleared off the injury report, a welcome development after a season interrupted by injuries. He was back in the starting role in Ole Miss last game and finished it with a touchdown, a reminder that when he is on the field, he can still tilt the offense in a useful way.
Missouri will get its own familiar face across the line of scrimmage in running back Jamal Roberts, a former teammate who spoke about the competitive edge between the two. That adds another layer to a game that already had plenty of personal stakes attached to it, with Lacy set to face the program he left and Ole Miss hoping his health can finally translate into a steadier role. Even before the opening kick, this one feels like more than just another SEC meeting. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Gets Texas At A Moment The Longhorns Desperately Needed Stability
Texas arrives in Oxford already carrying more baggage than anyone in the program would have wanted at this point in the season. Floridas 27-24 win over No. 7 Texas made it back-to-back SEC losses for the Longhorns, and the latest one came with Arch Manning enduring another difficult afternoon, capped by a costly late fumble that helped swing the game. For a team that opened the year with playoff hopes, the margin for error has quickly disappeared.
Ole Miss now gets a Texas team trying to steady itself while the schedule only gets tougher. The Longhorns still have multiple ranked opponents ahead, which means there is not much room for the kind of uneven play that has followed them through conference play. From the Rebels perspective, that makes this matchup more than just another SEC date - it is a chance to catch Texas at a moment when the Longhorns badly need a clean response, and they have yet to show they can find one. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Suddenly Faces A Dangerous SEC Test In Week 7
Week 6 was a reminder that the SEC race can shift fast, with six top-25 teams going down and No. 1 Texas among the biggest surprises after losing to Oklahoma. The ripple effect reached beyond the scoreboard, too, as the leagues contenders continue to juggle injuries and uneven stretches while trying to keep pace in a crowded conference picture. For teams like Ole Miss, the margin for error keeps shrinking every week.
Kentucky now draws a dangerous test at just the wrong time, with the Wildcats having to sort through the same chaos that has already swallowed ranked programs like LSU and Florida. Around the conference, from Missouri to Mississippi State and even teams outside the SEC such as UCLA, Wisconsin, SMU and Virginia, the recent results have made one thing clear: nothing is safe in October, and every matchup can turn quickly if a team is not sharp from the start. [Read more 🡒]