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Mississippi vs Memphis College Football Picks, Odds & Predictions: Head Coach Houston Nutt and his No. 8 Mississippi Rebels are in Tennessee today to take on the Memphis Tigers out of the Conference USA. Kickoff for this annual opener is set for 3:30pm ET at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN. Online bookmaker Bodog.com has the Rebels listed as a heavy -18 against the spread road favorite in this afternoon's college football picks special.

The Rebels turned a number of heads last year with their 9-4 record and second place finish in the SEC West division. They also got plenty of attention for being the only team to knock off the Florida Gators, at the Swamp no less. 

The big line in today's contest is indicative of the type of season people are now expecting out of Mississippi. And those expectations are not out of line. Nutt returns 16 starters and 51 lettermen from last season's Cotton Bowl winning team, including highly regarded quarterback Jevan Snead.

Snead led the offense to an average of 32.1 points per game a season ago, throwing for 2762 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions as a sophomore. He will be working behind a line that has three starters back and with almost the identical group of skill players, the exception being wide out Mike Wallace (39 catches, 784 yards, seven touchdowns), that helped take out Memphis 41-24 last year.

The Rebels had 438 yards of offense in that game, 216 of which came on the ground (6.0 yards per carry).

Memphis, led by Head Coach Tommy West, welcomes back 12 starters and 49 lettermen from a squad that went 6-7 a year ago. The seventh loss came in the St. Petersburg Bowl as the Tigers were crushed 14-41 by South Florida.

West should feel comfortable at the skill positions as quarterback Arkelon Hall, running back Curtis Steele and wide receiver Carlos Singleton all return. Hall threw for 2275 yards and 12 touchdowns last season while Steele ran for 1223 yards and seven scores. Singleton led the Tigers in receiving with 52 catches for 791 yards and five touchdowns. 

The Tigers held their own, at least in terms of yardage, against the Rebels in last year's meeting. Memphis had a total of 453 but was undone a -2 mark in the turnover department. 

Despite the 17 point difference in last season's game, the Tigers have traditionally kept the score close in this rivalry series. The average tally over the last five season's has Mississippi at 23 per game and Memphis at 19.2. The Tigers won as recently as 2004, beating the Rebels 13-20 in Oxford.

Bodog.com Mississippi vs Memphis College Football Picks, Odds & Predictions:

Mississippi Rebels -18 (-110), Over 55 (-110)

Memphis Tigers +18 (-110), Under 55 (-110)

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