The No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels head to Gainesville on Saturday afternoon looking to follow up one of the biggest wins of the young college football season against the No. 21 Florida Gators. Kickoff from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Ole Miss has already packed plenty into a 3-0 start. The Rebels opened the season with a 41-38 win over then-No. 24 Louisville, took care of Charlotte in Week 2 and returned home last Saturday for a highly anticipated matchup with former head coach Lane Kiffin and No. 7 LSU.
The Rebels jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead before LSU battled all the way back to tie the game in the fourth quarter. Trinidad Chambliss responded by leading another scoring drive and finishing it himself with a touchdown run, putting Ole Miss back in front for good in a 32-24 victory.
Chambliss threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns in the win while adding another score on the ground, earning SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors in the process. He now enters Saturday with 924 passing yards and seven touchdowns through three games, giving Ole Miss another chance to lean on its passing attack in Gainesville.
Florida has also reached 3-0 under first-year head coach Jon Sumrall. After opening with comfortable wins over Florida Atlantic and Campbell, the Gators got their first real look at SEC competition last weekend and came away with a 44-39 victory at Auburn.
Running back Jadan Baugh has been at the center of Florida’s fast start. The junior has topped 100 rushing yards in all three games and enters Saturday with 458 yards and eight touchdowns on 54 carries. Quarterback Aaron Philo has added 721 yards and six touchdowns through the air as the Gators have averaged 54 points per game.
This matchup will break a deadlock in a series that has been remarkably balanced. Ole Miss and Florida are tied 13-13-1 all time after the Rebels won 34-24 in Oxford last season. Gainesville has been a different story recently, with Florida winning the last two meetings at the Swamp, including a 24-17 upset of a ranked Ole Miss team in 2024.
Ole Miss vs. Florida Odds
Despite entering the weekend ranked No. 4 in the country, Ole Miss is a road underdog for Saturday’s matchup at Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook:
- Point Spread: Ole Miss +3.5 (-115) | Florida -3.5 (-105)
- Moneyline: Ole Miss +145 | Florida -175
- Total: Over 58.5 (-115) | Under 58.5 (-105)
Referenced odds subject to change.
Best Bet for Ole Miss vs. Florida
Florida -3.5 (-110): Seeing the No. 4 team in the country getting more than a field goal against No. 21 is going to make Ole Miss the appealing side, but there’s a reason this situation is so unusual.
According to ESPN Research, if the line holds, this will be just the fifth time since 1978 that an AP Top-5 team has been an underdog against a team ranked outside the Top 20. The previous four Top 5 teams went 0-4 outright and 0-4 ATS.
Then there’s the spot Ole Miss finds itself in one week after beating LSU.
The Rebels spent months waiting for their chance to face Kiffin after he left Oxford for Baton Rouge, then delivered a memorable 32-24 win over their former coach in front of a record crowd. It would be difficult to manufacture a bigger emotional high during the regular season, and Ole Miss now has to turn around and try to summon that same level of energy away from home.
Doing it at the Swamp only makes the challenge tougher. This is Ole Miss’ first true road game of the season, and rather than having time to settle back in after last week’s win, the Rebels immediately have to face another unbeaten SEC opponent in one of the conference’s most difficult environments.
It goes without saying that laying more than a field goal against Chambliss is uncomfortable. He’s coming off a 363-yard performance against LSU, leads the SEC with 308 passing yards per game and has already helped Ole Miss knock off two ranked opponents.
But this is a spot where we’re willing to look past the rankings. The history behind a Top 5 team being an underdog to a team outside the Top 20 is too much to ignore, and asking Ole Miss to immediately recreate the emotion and intensity of last week’s upset is an enormous challenge.
We’ll fade the Rebels coming off their biggest win of the season and lay the points with Florida -3.5.
- Best Bet: Florida -3.5 (-110)
Betting Splits at Hard Rock Bet
Hard Rock Bet players aren’t being scared away by Ole Miss’ unusual position as a Top 5 underdog, with the Rebels receiving heavy support across both the moneyline and spread:
- Moneyline: Ole Miss has drawn 70.9% of all moneyline bets and 71% of the dollars.
- Spread: Ole Miss +3.5 accounts for 79.5% of all spread tickets and 86.7% of the handle.
- Total: Over 58.5 has received 88.2% of all tickets and 94.7% of the money.
Ole Miss vs. Florida Game Info
- 🏟️ Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium – Gainesville, Florida
- 📅 Date: Saturday, September 26
- ⏰ Start Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
- 📺 Where to Watch: ABC
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