Ole Miss Bowl Projections: New Year’s Six or Citrus Bowl?
OXFORD, Miss. — Now that the regular season is over, Ole Miss fans are eagerly waiting to hear where they’ll be headed for the Rebels’ bowl game.
Ole Miss (10-2, 6-2 SEC) is on the cusp of the field of teams for a New Year’s 6 bowl game, but many of the outlets who engage in such predictions believe the Rebels will narrowly miss out. It will all come down to how the conference championships end up and what the College Football Playoff committee decides to do between now and 11:00 a.m. Dec. 3 when the final rankings are announced.
As of today, there are five major outlets who believe Ole Miss is headed to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando on January 1. There is one who thinks the Rebels are headed to the New Year’s Six Cotton Bowl over Missouri.
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart talked after the Rebels’ 17-7 win over Mississippi State Thursday in the Egg Bowl, explaining why he believes Ole Miss deserves to be in a NY6 game.
“The (Ole Miss) losses came from the best two teams in the country, on the road, in very hostile environments. It’s something we can’t really control, but you look at the rankings and I feel confident our team can go in and compete with anybody in the country. It’s out of our control but I think we’re in a good spot for it.”
Jaxson Dart
Likewise, Rebels’ head coach Lane Kiffin also discussed his team’s worthiness for a New Year’s 6 game.
“I mean, I think this one is a pretty good argument where you went 10-2 (with) a super-hard schedule…the two losses are at Alabama and Georgia, the two people going to the SEC, playing as well as anybody at their place,” Kiffin said.
“So I would like to see the other 10-2 people and their losses, and I would doubt their losses are going to be harder ones than these two places to play because Georgia is about 30-0 there (in Athens) the last 30 games, and Alabama has now lost 2 or whatever in 52 home games with Texas being the second after (losing to) Joe Burrow’s LSU team…(looking at the) analytics, that’s got to be the two hardest places to win right now.”
Lane Kiffin
Kiffin also acknowledged the committee won’t be taking his thoughts under advisement.
“They’re not going to listen to me and say, ‘that’s a good point Coach Kiffin made. We’re going to move him up and put him in NY6.’”
Click on the links below to see each outlet’s complete list of predictions.
Outlets who see Ole Miss to Citrus Bowl
Steve Lassan (Athlon)
Brett McMurphy (Action Network)
Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach (ESPN)
Jerry Palm (CBS)
Brad Crawford (247Sports)
Outlet who sees Ole Miss to NY6 Cotton Bowl:
Andy Staples (On3)
Of those outlets who believe the Rebels are headed to Orlando, they are unanimous in their belief that the Iowa Hawkeyes will be Ole Miss’ opponent.
Iowa secured its second 10-win season of the past three years thanks to a game-winning 38-yard field goal from backup kicker Marshall Meeder as the Hawkeyes (10-2) beat Nebraska, 13-10.
Iowa will head to the Big Ten title game Saturday, facing Michigan.
The Rebels would have a couple of firsts if they do indeed head to the Citrus Bowl, as they’ve never played the Hawkeyes, nor have they been to the Citrus Bowl.
Next CFP Rankings Release
The final two College Football Playoff Committee rankings will be released as follows:
6 p.m. CT Tuesday, Nov. 28
11:00 a.m. CT Sunday, Dec. 3 (Selection Day)
Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for all your CFP rankings and bowl news.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
