Rebels? Underdogs? There’s no such thing in college baseball ...Middle East

Betting-wise, the Ole Miss baseball Rebels are underdogs in their opening College World Series game Friday night against North Carolina. That means nothing. Zero. Zilch.

There really is no such thing as an underdog in baseball. There are no upsets, either. Baseball is different that way. Anybody can beat anybody. There are so many variables.

But for entertainment purposes only, here’s the way the oddsmakers rank the eight CWS teams: 1) a tie, Georgia and North Carolina, 3) Texas, 4) West Virginia, 5) Ole Miss, 6) Alabama, 7) Oklahoma, and 8) Troy.

Now then, for entertainment purposes again, here’s the way I would rank them: 1) a tie, Georgia and Texas, 3) North Carolina, 4) Ole Miss, 5) Alabama, 6) West Virginia, 7) Oklahoma, and 8) Troy.

That written, don’t count Troy out. Oddsmakers didn’t give Troy much chance in the Gainesville Regional, especially after the Trojans lost their first game to Miami. But then the Trojans reeled off four straight victories, including sweeping No. 8 national seed Florida in the final two games 16-11 and 10-2. You score 26 runs in two games against Florida, you can beat anybody. Troy can. One through nine in the batting order, Troy hitters are a line drive waiting to happen.

Ole Miss fans should know better than most how much betting odds mean in baseball. Ole Miss was the fifth betting choice entering the 2022 College World Series, just as the Rebels are now. And you know what happened: Ole Miss, the last team to get in the 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament, won the championship. Texas, which was the betting favorite, lost its first two games. Stanford, the second betting favorite, also went two and out. Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma, the seventh betting favorite, in the championship series.

State fans know, too. Texas and Vanderbilt were the co-favorites to win the 2021 College World Series, but Mississippi State, the No. 7 betting favorite, won it all.

In college baseball, it’s about playing your best when it matters most. It’s also about the matchups you face along the way. The best Ole Miss baseball team I ever covered – better than the national championship team – was the 2005 edition that featured Stephen Head, Brian Pettway, Chris Coghlan, Zach Cozart, and I could go on and on. That team had six MLB first day draftees, won 48 games and a Regional – and then got matched with Texas in a Super Regional. It was crazy: The best two teams in the country that season had to play one another in a Super Regional at Oxford. In a three-day display of terrific college baseball, the Rebels played error-less, inspired baseball. Texas just played better. And then Texas waltzed through the College World Series to win the championship.

Head, a pitching and hitting standout for those Rebels and now a Los Angeles Dodgers talent scout, remembers it all too well.

“We knew how good we were,” Head now says. “Texas was really good, but so were we. It was kind of sickening to watch that World Series on TV, knowing we were good enough to win it all and didn’t even get there.”

Mississippi State players surely will feel the same way watching this World Series. The Bulldogs, who lost two close games in the Super Regional at Georgia, surely had the talent, hitting, pitching and depth to win it all. They just ran into a Georgia buzzsaw. It happens.

Southern Miss, the No. 9 national seed and winner of 44 games this season, won’t have any fun watching Troy in the CWS, having beaten the Trojans in four of six meetings this season. The Eagles also own victories over CWS participants Alabama and Ole Miss, but they couldn’t get it done when it mattered most.

Ole Miss did. So what are the Rebels’ realistic chances at Omaha? They could win it all. They also could go two and out. It’s baseball, you know.

So much depends on the game against North Carolina. Only three teams this century have lost their first CWS game and then gone on to win it all. It can be done, as three teams have shown, but it is exceedingly difficult. Few teams possess the pitching depth to lose the opener and then navigate the losers’ bracket.

And that means so much depends on the strong right arm of lanky Taylor Rabe, the announced Rebel starter for Friday night’s game. Rabe, a draft-eligible sophomore, has emerged as the Rebels’ most dependable starting pitcher late in the season with six consecutive quality starts in his last six outings.

Most onlookers probably expected Mike Bianco to to go with 23-year-old left-hander Hunter Elliott, who has been there and done this before. He was the pitching hero of the 2022 national championship run. But North Carolina handles left-handed pitching well and Rabe has been absolutely terrific down the stretch. The Rebels badly need for him to continue that excellence Friday night.

Hence then, the article about rebels underdogs there s no such thing in college baseball was published today ( Friday 12/06/2026 - 01:51 AM ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

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