The Southern Line
No. 9 Ole Miss at Vanderbilt: Rebels Arrive in Nashville as Market Underdogs
A top-10 Ole Miss team at 4-1 visits a .500 Vanderbilt side, yet the market makes the Commodores the favorite under the lights at FirstBank Stadium.
The most interesting thing about Saturday night in Nashville may be the number. No. 9 Ole Miss comes in at 4-1 and ranked inside the top 10. Vanderbilt is 3-3 and unranked. Yet the market has the Commodores as the favorite at home. That gap between the standings and the line is the storyline. Either the Rebels have a question the record does not show, or Vanderbilt is being given more credit than a .500 mark suggests.
The matchup sets one program's résumé against the other's home field. Ole Miss has lost only once through five games and carries the ranking that comes with it. Vanderbilt has split its six games and has a chance to change the shape of its season with a win over a top-10 opponent. A headline from SB Nation this week reads "Ole Miss demolishes Vanderbilt, 52-17." The report as listed gives no further detail, but it is the kind of result that will be on the minds of both sides heading into kickoff.
There are no individual players on the board for this one, so the focus stays on the teams. For Ole Miss, the job is to play like the ranked side and make the market look wrong. For Vanderbilt, it is to show that a 3-3 record undersells what it can do at FirstBank Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM ET on Saturday, Oct. 17, with the game airing on ESPN and Disney+. The market lists Vanderbilt as the favorite at -203 on the moneyline, with no point spread or total posted in the information available. That price says the home team should win more often than not, a view the rankings do not share.
