OLE MISS REBELS VS. UL MONROE WARHAWKS

Records: Ole Miss (3-2) | UL Monroe (2-3)

Rankings: Ole Miss (47th S&P+) | UL Monroe (119th S&P+)

Game Time: 4 p.m. ET

TV: SEC Network

Commentators: Dave Neal, D.J. Shockley, Dawn Davenport

Watch Online: WatchESPN

Spread: Ole Miss (-21)

Total: 75/75.5

Records ATS: Ole Miss (2-3) | UL Monroe (1-4)

(Odds come via OddsShark)

The Ole Miss Rebels have been tossing and turning all season. At some points, you watch their offense and can feel captivated by it. Other times, you watch their defense, and you find yourself getting agitated. The Rebels, 3-2 on the year, will look to push themselves closer to bowl eligibility on Saturday when the ULM Warhawks come to town.

Ole Miss is on the heels of a disparaging effort last week. The LSU Tigers welcomed them to Baton Rouge and proceeded to stomp the daylights out of them. The Rebs were lit up 45-16 in Death Valley, and frankly were never close to competing. Sure, LSU is a Top 5 team in the country now. But you would expect a bit of a better effort from the team, and it just wasn’t there.

UL Monroe, meanwhile, comes into town riding a three-game losing streak. The Warhawks lost 48-10 to the Texas A&M Aggies, 35-27 to the Troy Trojans an then 46-14 to the Georgia State Panthers last week. It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows despite their 2-0 start to the year. Their defense is one of the worst statistically in the nation, and the offense ain’t much better.

It’s for that reason that you should likely expect Ole Miss to win on Saturday. The issue, of course, is that Ole Miss has looked sluggish at times against lesser competition. Their back-and-forth affair against the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks a little worse as time has progressed. Let’s not even delve into what happened against Southern Illinois, either. To avoid embarrassment, the Rebels simply must step up. If they can’t against ULM... well, who can they?