We are approaching the halfway mark of the NFL season, and we’re coming off a weekend that didn’t see too many upsets.
The Bengals won Thursday night as 5-point underdogs against the Steelers, but all the heavily favored teams took care of business on Sunday with outright wins.
What does this weekend have in store for us?
Let’s take a look at a couple of potential upsets, one in college football and one in the NFL.
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No. 8 Mississippi @ No. 13 Oklahoma
This is a huge SEC game with massive playoff implications, and the loser will be left with that second, dreaded loss of the season. That also means the loser will have little to no margin for error going forward.
For Ole Miss, running the table after this one seems feasible.
Three of the team’s four remaining games will be at home, with very winnable contests against South Carolina, Florida and the Citadel. The Rebs’ lone remaining road game will be against rival Mississippi State.
The schedule for Oklahoma isn’t nearly as friendly, with every remaining game coming against a ranked opponent, including trips to Alabama and Tennessee.
As far as this game, I think Ole Miss has the offensive firepower to do what it did last week against Georgia and that’s scoring early and often and staying in the game until the very end. Ole Miss, though, couldn’t seal the deal and ended up surrendering a 9-point, fourth-quarter lead against the Bulldogs.
Now the Rebs face an Oklahoma offense that has struggled since quarterback John Mateer injured his throwing hand a few weeks ago.
Mateer threw three interceptions in a loss to Texas. That was his first game following the injury. He followed up that performance with a game last week in which he only threw for 150 yards.
Ole Miss is averaging 6.9 yards per play (top 10 in the nation). The Rebs are 4.5-point ‘dogs (+170 on the moneyline) but they will have the far superior offense come Saturday.
Look for Ole Miss to take one step closer to punching a ticket to the College Football Playoffs.
PICK: Ole Miss (+4.5) to lose by fewer than 4.5 points or win outright
Giants @ Eagles
The Giants upset the Eagles in Week 6 on Thursday Night Football. Can they do it again just a couple of weeks later?
Despite the collapse last weekend against the Broncos, the Giants played well enough to build an 18-point, fourth-quarter lead on the road against a team that most expect to make the playoffs again this year.
Since rookie Jaxson Dart took over at quarterback, New York has wins over the Chargers, Eagles and what should have been a third impressive victory against the aforementioned Denver.
It’s a new era of Giants football, and it might be time to adjust how we view this team going forward.
While they are 2-5 and likely not headed for the playoffs this season, it appears they hit a home run in the draft this past April.
The rookie trio of defensive lineman Abdul Carter, Jaxson Dart and running back Cam Skattebo now make NYG a dangerous team in every game, and that should continue to improve every week considering all of their young talent.
The Giants won’t catch the Eagles by surprise this time, but the young core makes them a scary ‘dog every week — especially as a +270 underdog, as they are this week.
PICK: Giants (+7) to lose by fewer than 7 points or win outright
Will Hill, a contributor on the Bear Bets Podcast, has been betting on sports for over a decade. He is a betting analyst who has been a host on VSiN, as well as the Goldboys Network.
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