Alabama Football vs. Ole Miss: Watching, injuries, betting and game prediction

Saturday afternoon against Ole Miss, Alabama Football has a most important game. It will be one of the most important September games in the Nick Saban Alabama Era. Arguments can be made on either side of it being a must-win game for the Crimson Tide program.

All will not be right with the Tide after a victory over Ole Miss. Even with the agony of a loss, Alabama football fans should not jump to an ‘all is lost’ perspective.

The teams have a long history, going back to 1894. In 70 previous games, Ole Miss has won just 10 times. The history is interesting but it matters not a whit on Saturday afternoon.

Ole Miss will go into the game on a wave of confidence. The Crimson Tide must disabuse the Rebels of that notion. It may not be easy.

Alabama Football Game Info, Injuries and Betting Info

How to watch: The game will be presented by CBS Sports, with kickoff around 2:35 PM CST. The play-by-play announcer will be Tom McCarthy, with Ross Tucker as the analyst, rather than Gary Danielson. The top announcing team for CBS has already moved to Big Ten games. Tiffany Blackmon will be on the sideline for CBS.

The game will be available for streaming through Paramount+, Hulu Live, and fuboTV.

Eli Gold, Tyler Watts and Christian Miller will provide radio coverage on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. CTSN will be available on SiriusXM Channel 81.

Injuries: After missing the USF game, Tyler Booker and Jaheim Oatis are expected to play. The Tide’s Emmanuel Henderson and Devonta Smith are not expected to play.

Key players expected to play for Ole Miss are running back Quinshon Judkins, transfer wide receiver Tre Harris and transfer tight end, Caden Prieskorn. While the trio should see action against Alabama, it is not known if they will be 100% recovered from injuries. It will be the first Ole Miss game for Prieskorn after a strong 2022 season at Memphis. Ole Miss wide receiver Zakhari Franklin has practiced this week. His status for Saturday is not known.

Betting Odds: On Friday afternoon, FanDuel had the Alabama Crimson Tide as a seven-point favorite. The Moneyline was Alabama -260 and Ole Miss +210. The Over/Under was 55.5 points.

Game Prediction: To be completely honest, both Alabama and Ole Miss winning feels plausible to me. I expect the Crimson Tide defense to play well and I expect the Alabama offense to play better than it has. Most important for Alabama will be the play of the offensive line and the play-calling of Tommy Rees.

The Tide’s O-line must be markedly better. Rees does not have to out-call Kiffin and the Ole Miss offensive minds, but Rees must have the Tide utilizing its strengths effectively. In gaining 474 yards on the Rebels, Georgia Tech passed for 307 yards. As much as joyless murderball would be fun against the Rebels, I think to win, Rees must find ways for Jalen Milroe to frequently produce in the passing game.

I can see an early Ole Miss lead and it being close in the 4th quarter, so turnovers could determine the outcome. My pick is Alabama 27 – Ole Miss 24.

Game info provided by rolltide.com

Ole Miss has only won in Tuscaloosa twice and the Crimson Tide is on a seven-game winning streak against the Rebels.