College football The playoffs are officially in full swing after they started with Alabama return victory over Oklahoma Friday night after the Tide fell behind 17-0 before rallying for a 34-24 win that earned them a date with Indiana in the Rose Bowl.
The rest of the first round continues on Saturday, including a rematch of a game we saw a few months ago. Ole Miss hosts Tulane, which won the AAC and earned a playoff berth, and the Rebels dominated en route to a 45-10 win back in September. However, things have changed a lot since then: the Green Wave have won all but one game since then, and the Rebels now have a new head coach. Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU before the launch of the CFP Rebels, and the university named defensive coordinator Pete Golding to the full-time head coaching position. And just in case, Tulane is also in the midst of a coaching change, with John Sumrall heading to Florida after the Green Wave's season ends.
The Rebels were 16-point favorites at the start with leading bookmakers but are now 17.5 ahead.
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So what should you say about this line movement? Is this a market correction or an overreaction? Here's a look at the point spread and line movement in Saturday's CFP games. All times Eastern.
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No. 11 Tulane in No. 6 Ole Miss (15:30 Saturday)
Open: Ole Miss -16
Last week: Ole Miss -17.5
Current: Ole Miss -17.5
Back on September 20, the Rebels took care of the Green Wave with a 35-point win in Oxford, and the game wasn't even as close as that score would suggest. Ole Miss had 548 yards of offense to Tulane's 282, and the Rebels led 45-3 before giving up a late score with just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter. The 35-point win over Ole Miss is the main reason the Rebels got early money despite Kiffin leaving the team with a new head coach for this postseason. Obviously, players don't believe Kiffin is worth 19 points against the spread.
No. 12 James Madison in No. 5 Oregon (19:30 Saturday)
Open: Oregon -20
Last week: Oregon -21.5
Current: Oregon -20.5
This is the kind of game the Ducks usually play. Since Dan Lanning took over as coach in 2022, Oregon is 10-0 against non-major conference teams by an average margin of 36.3 points per game. However, this game may be a little different. First, James Madison is not your run-of-the-mill Big Five team. The Dukes can run the ball (245.8 yards per game, sixth in the country) and stop the run (76.2 yards allowed per game, second in the country). Plus, even if the game gets out of hand, would the Ducks want to continue playing their starters knowing they have a quarterfinal matchup against Texas Tech upcoming? Oregon deserves to be a big favorite against a team that loses coach Bob Chesney to UCLA after the season, but there may be a cover story.
