Keeping an eye on Ole Miss football’s opponents in action this weekend
OXFORD, Miss. —Â Ole Miss has this week off and it will give the Rebels time to rest and heal from some nagging injuries. But, just because Ole Miss will not be on the field Saturday, that does not mean the Rebels cannot benefit from some other games.
Here are some games of prior and upcoming opponents from this season with outcomes that could help the Rebs in the long run.
No. 1 Georgia at Vanderbilt
Ole Miss needs the Bulldogs to steamroll Vandy. The Rebels head to Athens in a few weeks and it would be nice if UGA was still the top-ranked team in the nation. Not only the No. 1 team, but on a roll. That way if Ole Miss can pull off an upset in Samford Stadium, it would be epic. But the Rebels still play Vandy, so if the Commodores can keep it close for a half, it will also help.
Arkansas at No. 11 Alabama
Ole Miss has beaten Arkansas and lost to Alabama. Barring what would be a highly unlikely Hogs win, Bama needs to rout the Razorbacks to make the lone Rebels’ loss look much better. It could happen. Arkansas is reeling after its loss in Oxford last week and could it be that the Tide is finally discovering themselves?
Texas A&M at No. 19 Tennessee
Ole Miss has a couple of possibilities in this one. Should the Aggies win, that would make the game with the Rebels on November 4 in Oxford that much bigger. It could even mean who finishes higher in the division at the end of the season. But if Tennessee wins, it will still be within striking distance of the SEC East title. That would force Tennessee to be a focus of Georgia for a while. And the Saturday before UGA heads to Neyland Stadium, guess who the Bulldogs play? Yep, Ole Miss. It would be nice for Kirby Smart to look past the Rebels and concentrate on the next week in Knoxville.
Auburn at No. 22 LSU
Ole Miss has already defeated LSU and has to travel to Auburn next week. It would probably be better for LSU to win because the Rebels do not want the Bayou Bengals to fall out of the rankings. But there is something else here Ole Miss would like to see. After traveling to Baton Rouge, how nice would it be for Jayden Daniels to run all over the Tiger Stadium turf and force the Auburn defense to chase him for 60 minutes? How cool would it be for Harold Perkins to knock the Auburn quarterback around so that is still in his mind next week when the Landsharks come after him?
Georgia Tech at Boston College
The Ramblin’ Wreck got a miracle last week — or just a Mario Cristobal brain cramp — to beat Miami last week. That is the same Miami that beat Texas A&M earlier this year. With the win over Tech earlier this season, Ole Miss needs the Yellow Jackets to keep winning.
Tulane at Memphis
Tulane has just one loss on the year and that is to Ole Miss. The Green Wave heads to the Liberty Bowl Friday to take on Memphis. Ole Miss needs Tulane to not only beat the Tigers, but to roll to a conference championship. With no ranked teams left on its schedule, Tulane could pull that off.
No. 20 (FCS) Chattanooga at Mercer
After being dismantled by Ole Miss in the season opener, Mercer is at 4-2 and hosts the ranked Mocs in Macon.The Bears are not ranked but did receive 31 votes in last week’s FCS poll. Mercer has four games left after Chattanooga and if the Bears can pull off the upset Saturday, they will be ranked next week. If Mercer falls, but wins the last four against unranked teams, the Bears should still make the FCS playoffs. When a Southeastern Conference team plays at team from the Football Championship Subdivision, the big school needs to play against a playoff team to make it relevant.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
