Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, QB Jaxson Dart make the case for a New Year’s 6 bowl game for the Rebs
OXFORD, Miss. — After beating Mississippi State, 17-7, in the Egg Bowl Thursday night, Ole Miss finishes the regular season 10-2 overall with a 6-2 record in the SEC. The Rebels now await the conclusion of the remainder of this week’s league games and SEC championship game before they will learn their fate on Bowl Selection Sunday, December 3.
After the win over State, head coach Lane Kiffin and quarterback Jaxson Dart made their case for why Ole Miss should get a spot in one of the New Year’s 6 bowl games.
While a 10-2 record in the toughest league in the country seems as if it should be enough to get one in a New Year’s 6 bowl game, it’s not that simple. Ole Miss is ranked below Missouri, Louisville, and Penn State in the College Football Playoff rankings and appears to need one or more of those to lose in order to help the Rebels’ NY6 chances. The Nittany Lions travel to Michigan State this weekend, the Tigers travel to Arkansas, and Louisville hosts Kentucky. Louisville also must play Florida State in the ACC conference championship game.
And perhaps the most ironic thing? Well, again, making it into a New Year’s 6 bowl game is based on the final CFP rankings. After the top four teams are selected to play in the playoffs, the four non-playoff New Year’s 6 bowl games are chosen. But it’s not quite that easy. If it were, Ole Miss would be in great shape with the Rebels currently sitting at No. 12 in the CFP Rankings. But, another fly in the ointment is that the top-ranked Group of 5 champion automatically gets a spot in a New Year’s Six game (unless it’s in the top 4).
So….who is that top-ranked Group of Five team right now? None other than No. 23 Tulane, the Green Wave team whose one loss was at the hands of Ole Miss.
After the win in the Egg Bowl Thursday night, Dart talked about why he believes the Rebels deserve a NY6 Bowl 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
Head coach Lane Kiffin also talked about the rankings and the Rebels’ case 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 began.
“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
But 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.’”
Basically, the Rebels need some chaos and calamity to ensue this weekend. If that doesn’t happen and they do not get a NY6 bowl bid, Kiffin and his team are projected by many to receive an invite to the Citrus Bowl, still a very nice bowl game. It will just be hard to swallow if Tulane, who lost head-to-head to Ole Miss, is in a NY6 game.
Now that the Rebels have won the Egg Bowl, here’s to a weekend of chaos in the college football world!
Hotty Toddy!
(Feature image credit: Ole Miss Football)
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.
