The No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels will enter SEC play on Saturday after turning in one of the most dominant starts to any college football season on record, particularly on offense.
The Rebels are the first team in SEC history to amass at least 600 yards of offense in four straight games, while their 220 points are the most through the first four games in program history. Ole Miss leads the country in scoring offense (55.0 points per game), total offense (670.8 yards per game), passing offense (422.8 yards per game) and generating first downs (130).
The Kentucky Wildcats, who have already played a pair of conference games and rank among the top 10 in FBS in total defense (217.0 yards per game), will take to the road for the first time in 2024 as they try to snap their three-game losing streak in the series and slow down this offensive juggernaut.
Kentucky vs. Ole Miss Betting and DFS Preview
All Kentucky vs. Ole Miss odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook and are correct as of Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.
- Spread
Ole Miss -17.5 - Moneyline
Kentucky +625, Ole Miss -950 - Over/Under
53.5 - Game Time
12 p.m. ET - Location
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium | Oxford, MS - Predicted Weather at Kick
71 degrees, mostly sunny and warm - How To Watch
ABC/ESPN+
Ole Miss is one of three SEC schools to start the season 4-0 both outright and against the spread, along with Texas and Tennessee. The Rebels have been favored by at least 21 points in each contest this season and have a 9-2-2 record as a spread favorite since the start of last season.
Under Lane Kiffin, the Rebels have covered the spread in nearly 74% of their non-conference games (14-5-1 ATS) compared to less than 44% of their SEC games (13-17-3 ATS) during that same span.
After going over the total in their season-opening 76-0 win against Furman, the last three Ole Miss games have all gone under the total.
MORE: Simulate the College Football Season with CFN’s College Football Playoff Predictor
Kentucky has covered the spread in three of its four games this season. That includes the only game the Wildcats were plus points, as they fell by just one against Georgia as a 22-point underdog.
The Wildcats have covered the spread in 11 of their last 19 games as an underdog dating back to the start of the 2021 season. Kentucky games, particularly in conference play, have also been consistently low-scoring during that span. Sixteen of the Wildcats’ last 26 SEC games have gone under the total.
Top DFS Picks and Fantasy Plays
- QB Brock Vandagriff (UK)
- QB Jaxson Dart (MISS)
- RB Demie Sumo-Karngbaye (UK)
- RB Ulysses Bentley IV (MISS)
- RB Henry Parrish Jr. (MISS)
- WR Barion Brown (UK)
- WR Dane Key (UK)
- WR Ja’Mori Maclin (UK)
- WR Tre Harris (MISS)
- WR Cayden Lee (MISS)
- WR Antwane Wells Jr. (MISS)
- TE Jordan Dingle (UK)
- TE Caden Prieskorn (MISS)
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart leads the FBS with 1,554 passing yards, and he’s attempting to become just the third SEC quarterback to do so since 1956, joining Alabama’s Mac Jones in 2020 (4,500) and Kentucky’s Tim Couch in 1997 (3,884).
That is the most passing yards through four games by any SEC quarterback in the past 20 seasons — even more than LSU’s Joe Burrow during his record-setting 2019 season.
Dart seems to have a favorite target in Tre Harris, who had a career-high 225 receiving yards on Saturday against Georgia Southern while also matching a career-best 11 receptions. Harris has crossed the 100-yard mark in three of his four games this season.
225 yard night for @_treharris13 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/qtDYHYH7M6
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 22, 2024
Brock Vandagriff of Kentucky has not found the end zone through the air in any of his past three games, though he set personal season bests in passing yards (237) and completion percentage (70.8%) on Saturday against Ohio. The Rebels have allowed only one passing touchdown through four games this season.
Prediction for Kentucky vs. Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin and Co. have certainly raised the expectations in Oxford, even before the dismantling of Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern.
The Rebels rank first in scoring offense and tied for first in scoring defense among all FBS teams. But their warm-up is over, as Kentucky brings a legit SEC defense to Oxford. The Wildcats held a potent Georgia offense to 13 points just two weeks ago.
While Dart has a plethora of weapons on offense, his connection with Harris is as strong as any quarterback-receiver duo in the nation. Without a shutdown corner on the roster, Kentucky will hope that defensive tackle Deone Walker, the Wildcats’ best pro prospect and a likely first-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft, can generate pressure on Dart and force him off his spot.
Getting to play this game at home is huge for the Rebels, whose next two matchups come in tough road environments at South Carolina on Oct. 5 and at LSU on Oct. 12.
While Mark Stoops, now Kentucky’s all-time winningest head coach, has a strong defense that recently slowed down Carson Beck and the Georgia Bulldogs, this is a step up in weight class that isn’t ready for what the Rebels bring to the table.
Prediction: Ole Miss 45, Kentucky 6
College Football Network has you covered with the latest from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and every Group of Five conference and FBS Independent program.