Rece Davis picks LSU to win, cover spread against Ole Miss

Rece Davis is taking the Tigers. On Thursday, the ESPN analyst broke down his pick in the LSU–Ole Miss matchup this weekend.

“Ole Miss put so much in the last week,” Davis said. “The disconsolate sound from the players and the coaches afterward about, ‘We thought this was our chance to get Alabama.’ I’m thinking hangover here, plus LSU probably has a better team.

“I’ve been very high on Ole Miss. I thought Ole Miss was going to win last week, but Alabama looked like Alabama and Ole Miss looked too much like Ole Miss. So I’m gonna go with LSU and lay the points.”

According to FanDuel, LSU is a 2.5-point favorite in the matchup. The spread is no surprise. Ole Miss enters Saturday off a painful 24-10 loss to Alabama last weekend. In the defeat, the Rebels struggled to establish a run game.

Ole Miss recorded just 56 rushing yards against the Crimson Tide, averaging 1.9 yards per carry. As for LSU, the Tigers are on a three-game win streak since losing to Florida State in their season opener. Nonetheless, LSU’s win in Week 4 wasn’t a breeze.

LSU narrowly defeated Arkansas 34-31 despite boasting the home-field advantage. The Tigers rarely found a stop when necessary, allowing the Razorbacks to convert on 8 of their 13 third-down attempts.

New blood on old history for LSU

Although this is only head coach Brian Kelly‘s second season at LSU, Davis claims this game will be personal due to history.

“This is a rivalry game. There’s Billy Cannon’s punt return on Halloween night. There’s the year that Ole Miss in 1972 went to Baton Rouge and got cheated by the clock operator, and Bert Jones beat him at the end. And then there was Eli Manning getting stepped on in 2003 and losing the last chance to perhaps lead Ole Miss to a rally and a victory and a place in the SEC Championship game; a year in which LSU went on to win the national championship.

“If Ole Miss had won that game LSU wouldn’t have even gotten to the conference championship game,” Davis said. “There are deep and bitter feelings between these two that date back decades and generations.”

The rivalry hasn’t been quite as competitive lately. LSU has won six of the two programs’ last seven meetings. Davis believes nothing will be different this weekend. On Saturday, the two teams will square off at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.