Paul Finebaum reveals if losing to LSU was a College Football Playoff elimination game for Ole Miss

Ole Miss losing to LSU Saturday night could very well end their College Football Playoff dreams in 2024, according to Paul Finebaum.

The Rebels led in overtime but saw LSU score the winning touchdown on their possession of the first period. With that loss, Ole Miss has two on their schedule, both in the SEC.

Safe to say, based on what’s to come, Finebaum doesn’t see Ole Miss making a run to the 12-team bracket at this point.

“I agree with you, Matt and playing the schedule game, Ole Miss has one game on schedule that I think will do them in, even assuming they’re not done in already,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “Because that Kentucky loss is now looking nasty. They have to deal with Georgia … a win against Georgia, and depending on where Georgia is, but Georgia very likely is going to have to win that game too. 

“So I don’t see their path which gives Lane (Kiffin), you know, far more time to start doing some voodoo on Billy Napier’s career so he can get the Florida job.”

Ole Miss bound to miss CFP?

As Finebaum mentioned, Kiffin and Ole Miss still have Georgia, so, good luck with that. Kiffin, Florida rumors aside, knew Ole Miss let the game against the Tigers slip away.

“That’s a hard one, obviously,” Kiffin said postgame. “I feel for the players in the locker room; played really hard. Made some plays at the end. Give them credit too. That last drive in regulation, we led the whole game until the last 30 seconds. To come here and led the whole game, we were doing some things right.

“They made some really big plays. Quarterback played great. Scramble play, a couple of 4th down conversions put us in overtime. Should have never got there. We should have finished it when we had the ball up 4 with a chance to go up two scores. We didn’t do that and put ourselves in a much harder situation.”

The difference between 5-2 and 6-1 for Ole Miss at this stage of the season is massive.

“I’m disappointed, obviously,” Kiffin said. “We should win that game. We kind of commanded the game for majority of it, but credit them for making plays late in the 4th quarter and overtime. I told our guys we have to make plays, coach better and sometimes you get breaks sometimes — that’s the sport.”