Vegas Play of the Day: Tennessee at Ole Miss

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014 | 10:35 a.m.

I normally try to stray from games I’ve already written, or in this case also videoed, the most about in the Play of the Day, which uses odds from the South Point and $10,000 starting bankrolls.

Not today. My slide, which now stands at 1-7 in a last eight fraught with bad picks and worse beats, puts me in a position so dire that there’s no choice other than to put my best forward.

Tennessee plus-16.5 at Ole Miss: $1,100 to win $1,000

The Volunteers are the most improved team in the country that no one is talking about. There are several reasons why coach Butch Jones’ revitalization efforts in Knoxville, Tenn., have gone unnoticed.

The most conspicuous is a misleading 3-3 record. Tennessee would have beaten Georgia or Florida with as little as one break. It lost 34-10 at Oklahoma, but the game was much closer than the final score.

In all, the Volunteers have a plus-53 point differential against a schedule Football Outsiders rates as the 14th toughest in the nation so far. That’s nothing to scoff at.

Many called for a hangover game — myself included, though far from assuredly — for Ole Miss last week after it knocked off Alabama at home. But it wasn’t hard to get motivated for a road trip to Texas A&M, a team that had reams of hype for its explosive offense.

Tennessee has no such buildup despite being a better team than Texas A&M. The Volunteeers are No. 31 in Football Outsiders’ F/+ as opposed to the Aggies’ No. 36. No one pays attention to a program overhauling itself by focusing on defense first.

They will after tonight. This is the spot where the Rebels could truly overlook an opponent and get tripped up.

I’ll say it one last time: Good Ole Rocky Top.

Standings: Standings: Bern (48-44-1, $10,651), Keefer (45-50, $9,731), Brewer (43-48-3, $6,105)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.