College GameDay’s crew leaned toward Ole Miss on Saturday morning, and the picks came with a clear theme: Trinidad Chambliss.
With No. 7 Ole Miss heading to Austin to face No.
19 Texas in a ranked SEC showdown carrying major College Football Playoff implications, the pregame desk split the difference in classic College GameDay fashion. Three of the four pickers who were featured backed the Rebels, while only Nick Saban went with the Longhorns.
Desmond Howard made his case by pointing directly at Texas’ missing pieces on defense.
"Defensively, without Colin Simmons, I don't see how they can stop Trinidad Chambliss. I'm going with Ole Miss," Howard said.
Saban, whose coaching tree includes both programs’ head coaches from his Alabama staff, saw a different script for Steve Sarkisian and Texas after two straight losses to Oklahoma and No. 20 Florida.
"Texas, with their back against the wall, they're going to respond the right way. I'm going with Texas," Saban said.
Pat McAfee called it close to a toss-up, but still landed on Ole Miss and its quarterback.
"I'm gonna go with Trinidad Chambliss getting a huge win down in Austin," McAfee said.
Dalton Kincaid, the former Utah star and current Buffalo Bills tight end, made it four for Ole Miss among the featured selections.
"I'm also taking Ole Miss here," Kincaid said. "I think Trinidad Chambliss is one of the, if not the best, quarterbacks in college football, so I believe they go in there and take down Texas."
The matchup itself brings plenty of uncertainty for Texas. The Longhorns are set to be without edge rusher Colin Simmons and running back Hollywood Smothers, and there’s also a quarterback question after backup KJ Lacey Jr. took more first-team reps than usual this week in place of Arch Manning.
Ole Miss comes in riding two wins in a row, having beaten Vanderbilt and No. 22 Missouri. Texas, meanwhile, is trying to stop the slide and reset at home.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT tonight.
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Texas Faces One Brutal Test Protecting Arch Manning Against Ole Miss
Ole Miss has already spent much of this season proving it can handle high-end competition, with Pete Goldings defense navigating four ranked opponents and coming away with three wins. That track record is a big part of why the Rebels are getting attention heading into the matchup with Texas, a program that has slid from No. 1 to No. 19 after back-to-back losses and now has even more pressure on every snap.
The conversation starts up front, where Ole Miss has leaned on a pass rush that can change the tone of a game and force quarterbacks into hurried decisions. Texas will spend plenty of time worrying about that edge pressure and the Rebels disruptive front, while Ole Miss still has its own offensive cleanup work to handle if it wants to make the most of another marquee SEC chance. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Gets A Chance To Prove A Popular Model Wrong
ESPNs SP+ model is leaning toward Texas in this weekends SEC matchup with Ole Miss, even as the Longhorns arrive on a two-game losing streak and the Rebels carry plenty of momentum of their own. It is the kind of prediction that adds a little extra edge to a game that already has plenty riding on it, especially with both teams trying to shape the bigger picture in conference play.
For Ole Miss, the matchup offers more than a chance to bank another important SEC win. It is also an opportunity to challenge a computer projection that sees Texas as the better bet on paper, and those kinds of games tend to say as much about where a team really stands as they do about the scoreboard. Around the league, SP+ has plenty of other Week 8 calls lined up too, but this one stands out because it pits current form against a model that still favors the Longhorns. [Read more 🡒]
Arch Manning Pressure Is Suddenly Rising Before Ole Miss Showdown
The Texas Longhorns have gone from the top spot in the rankings to No. 19 after back-to-back losses, and the fallout has put Arch Manning squarely in the middle of the conversation ahead of the upcoming Ole Miss matchup. Even with a passer rating above 150 in each of the last two games, the bigger issue has been the turnovers, which have undercut Texas at the worst possible times and turned a promising season into one suddenly searching for answers.
Josh Pate raised the possibility that Manning could be on a shorter leash moving forward, a sign of how quickly the pressure can build when losses pile up. For Ole Miss, the situation adds another layer of intrigue to a game that already carries plenty of weight, because the quarterback Texas puts on the field could come in with more scrutiny than ever and little room for another costly mistake. [Read more 🡒]