The pick: Why No. 4 Ole Miss will beat Washington State

A smile crossed the face of Jimmy Rogers, the Washington State head coach in charge of finding a way to pull an upset of staggering proportions on Saturday against No. 4 Ole Miss.

“Unless you know of 70,000 fans that want to show up at our stadium to replicate it this week,” Rogers said, “you don’t.”

Rogers was referencing Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, where the No. 4 Rebels are 321/2-point favorites to beat the Cougars in Saturday’s game, set for 9:45 a.m. It’s clear that Rogers and the Cougs understand the task ahead, that they can’t familiarize themselves with what figures to be a raucous atmosphere.

But here’s predicting that environment will only compound problems for WSU, which will take a loss to Ole Miss for much bigger reasons. The Cougs don’t have the personnel to match up, on offense or defense, which is no knock on the crimson and gray.

Instead, it’s a reflection of the state of WSU’s program, which scheduled this game last year in an effort to cobble together a lineup of games in its second and final year away from a traditional conference landscape. The Cougs were never expected to compete with the Rebels.

Instead, WSU would do better to avoid injuries and get ready for the rest of the season.

The pick: Ole Miss 42, WSU 14