College Football Cotton Bowl - Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma State

Cotton Bowl – January 2nd, 2010
Cowboys Stadium Dallas Texas – 2pm EST

Mississippi Rebels -3½ -165 Over 50½
Oklahoma State Cowboys +3½ +145 Under 50½

January 2, Cowboy Stadium, the usual home of the Dallas Cowboys plays host to the 2010 Cotton Bowl. This year’s Cotton Bowl features No.21 Oklahoma State Cowboys who will be looking for a school record tying tenth win of the season. The Cowboys will face the 8-4 Ole Miss Rebels.

The odds guys at BetUS do not like the Cowboys chances as they have the Mississippi Rebels as the -3½ favorites. However, a straight up wager on OK State will pay college bettors +145 on the moneyline. The posted over/under for the game is 50½ points.

Both teams spit with bettors as OKS went 5-5-1 and Ole Miss went 6-6 against the spread, in their combined 24 games 11 games went over the posted total and 13 games fell under.

Offensively both teams put up similar numbers with each scoring 30.2 points a game but Ole Miss holds the edge in points allow holding opponents to 18.6 PPG to the Cowboys 21.8 PPG.

The Cowboys offense fell short of expectations, as a string of injuries to key offensive players a NCAA season ending suspension to WR Dez Bryant slowed the juggernaut. Starting quarterback Zac Robinson struggled with injuries throughout the season and it reached a humiliating low in the final game of the regular season.

In the final game against the Oklahoma Sooners, Robinson was limited to 38 offensive yards (44 passing and -6 rushing). However, his offensive coordinator swears he’s 100% healthy for the Cotton Bowl.

Ole Miss had their own quarterback struggles with starter Jeven Snead who tossed 17 picks this season including 3 in the Rebels final game of the season. Snead did manage to mix in 20 touchdowns between his 17 interceptions. Snead does have the traits the Pro’s look for in an NFL QB though, Tall, Solid on his feet and a cannon of an arm.

OK States running game was a bit better than Ole Miss was this season, led by Keith Tolston’s 1431 rushing, receiving yards, and 12 combined touchdowns. The Cowboys got 11 other rushing TDs from various players this season.

However, the Rebels have their own star tailback in Dexter McCluster, McCluster lead the team with 985 rushing yards and was second on the team with 475 receiving yards but was only able to find the end zone 8 times.

On defense, the Rebels were solid against the pass, limiting opponents to only 179 yards a game despite only intercepting nine balls all season. Against the run Ole Miss was a little more pedestrian, giving up 140 yards a game on the ground. The Cowboys, while allowing a few more points, are incredible against the run, limiting opponents to 87.7 yards a game.

On paper, these two teams matchup evenly but the question I have is the health of Oklahoma States quarterback Zac Robinson. If he’s 100% healthy, I’m solidly behind the Cowboys but if his shoulder isn’t 100%, we could see a repeat of OK States last game against the Sooners.