Ole Miss hosts South Carolina in bid to stay in playoff hunt

No. 7 Ole Miss will try to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive when it hosts South Carolina on Saturday at Vaught‑Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Eastern and the game will be televised on ESPN.

Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC) enters the matchup off a 34-26 road victory at then-No. 13 Oklahoma, a result that helped the Rebels remain in contention for the SEC championship and the playoff. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss threw for 315 yards and a touchdown in that game, while running back Kewan Lacy rushed for 78 yards and two scores and now has nearly 700 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns on the season. The Rebels’ only loss came at Georgia, and oddsmakers installed them as roughly a 12.5-point favorite for Saturday. Probability models place South Carolina’s upset chance at about 19 percent.

South Carolina (3-5, 1-5 SEC) has struggled through a difficult stretch of opponents but nearly upset No. 4 Alabama last week, leading late before a fumble and two Alabama touchdowns in the final minutes produced a 29-22 defeat. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers accounted for 289 total yards against Alabama, with 222 passing yards and 67 rushing yards, along with...