My opinion, not by much. I don't really think Vegas is as affected by "generate a ton of buzz". Our defense in your scenario still played poorly, and I am not sure how much Vegas analytics will still be using last season's data as part of its calculations this week (which certainly would add to Ole Miss margin).
Yep the loss of Charlie, Ace, and Keion, plus losing Zamari, Akelo, and Allen through the portal was pretty much guaranteed to have us lined up for a set back on defense this season. We have a lot of guys who have been in college a while, but not a lot of production to show for it.
"Vegas" doesn't matter.
The line opened at 20.5. That is Vegas. The line then moved. That is bettors.
But Vegas sets the line where they think the betting public will land. They try to set the line as closely as they can to the final line determined by the bettors. It has nothing to do with their (Vegas) perception of the game. Vegas set the line a little higher than it should have been to even up the bets on both sides. More bet on Tech, thus the line moved down. But Vegas sets the line not on what they think the winning margin will be, but on where they think they can even up the money bet by the public on both sides of it. They overshot, and the line moved down.
Might be a good bet. The over/under is at 63 points.
This. Vegas knows that opening with GT +10.5 or something similar would result in 90% of the cash on ole miss. They want it to be as close to 50/50 as possible so they can walk away with the juice no matter the outcome.
Is this the "prediction thread"? At any rate, my thoughts are that there is one critical difference between Tech and Tulane. Tulane's defensive line is far better. Watching the game between the Green Wave and the Rebels it was obvious to my untrained eye that Tulane was able to make Dart make throws before he wanted to. Ole Miss has a pretty pedestrian offensive line too. The strengths of this team are its fine quarterback and outstanding receivers including a tight end who looked to be a man playing with boys. I am thinking that Ole Miss wins and covers solely due to Tech not being able to apply pressure when needed on Dart. Ole Miss has some pretty good running backs as well. Tech's main advantage is being able to move the ball better than Tulane and the Rebels possibly looking ahead to Alabama the following week. Rebels to win and cover barely in an entertaining wide open game.
Made it to Tupelo! Got a round in at Tupelo National after arriving and probably heading to Oxford tonight to take in the college town Friday football weekend atmosphere if I can stand another hour of driving. I hear they have some great restaurants there.
wow, sound great --good luck
