OXFORD, Miss. – No. 14 Ole Miss did what it needed to do to keep its slim playoff hopes alive beating Mississippi State 26-14.
The Rebels’ experience against the Bulldogs followed a similar theme that other SEC teams (such as Texas, Georgia and Tennessee) had — they won comfortably, but had to work a lot harder than most would expect.
So, now Ole Miss has to wait and see. And if Friday night is any indicator of the chaos to come, the Rebels could be the big beneficiary.
Georgia Tech nearly upset No. 7 Georgia, taking the Bulldogs to overtime in a 44-42 8OT game. The Yellowjackets weren’t able to pull off the upset, but games like the in Athens are what Ole miss needs: underdogs in a position to upset a higher-ranked rival. (OK, the Rebels need the underdogs to win those games, too.)
But the Rebels’ didn’t need Georgia to lose. It would’ve helped, but the main point is that chaos can happen anytime.
The easiest way to understand what Ole Miss needs is for every higher ranked team to lose. Considering pretty much all of them are favored to win, that’s not very likely and just a couple more upsets is all it’ll take.
STUFFED đź’Ş
đź“ş ABC#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/mNBekWVFgl
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) November 30, 2024
The Iron Bowl may be the most important game with Alabama ranked one spot ahead of Ole Miss in the playoff rankings. No. 12 Clemson vs. No. 15 South Carolina is also a key game, as is No. 7 Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
But there are plenty of other rivalry games and as Ole Miss learned first-hand, lesser teams can punch above their weight class in rivalry games.
