Poll Position: Ole Miss falls out of Top 25 for first time this season
The last month of the regular season was not kind to Ole Miss, losing four of its last five games and capping the regular season with a 24-22 loss to Mississippi State on Thanksgiving.
Plenty of off-the-field storylines surrounded the final five games of the year but Ole Miss got some finality to that with Lane Kiffin making the decision to remain in Oxford and not take Auburn’s head coaching job.
Despite that coming maybe a couple days, or weeks, too late in some people’s minds Ole Miss now has its eyes on the postseason and a bowl game sometime in the next month.
Sunday’s final rankings of the regular season tell a tale and spell out where the Rebels (8-4) might be heading.
For the first time this season Ole Miss fell out of the Top 25 rankings in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls.
After suffering the loss to the Bulldogs it was a seven-spot drop for Ole Miss in the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll. The Rebels were ranked No. 19 in last week’s poll but are the first team receiving votes (83) on Sunday, making them the unofficial No. 26 team in the country.
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In the AP Poll Ole Miss was ranked No. 20 last week and fell 11 spots to the unofficial 31st best team. The Rebels received 22 votes and were behind Troy, North Carolina State, Cincinnati, Boise State and Purdue.
There were plenty of shakeups to the Top 10 in both polls with Michigan blowing out Ohio State in Columbus, South Carolina handing Clemson a rare home loss and Texas A&M shocking a LSU team who was on the cusp of cracking the Top 4.
Tuesday’s final College Football Playoff rankings will clear up the picture but Ole Miss is probably looking at a mid-tier bowl game now. With Mississippi State and South Carolina now 8-4 and the Bulldogs holding a win over the Rebels and the Gamecocks with back-to-back wins over a Top 10 team, a Florida bowl game is probably out of the picture now.
Monday will present the final bowl projections ahead of next Sunday’s bowl selection show.
Related: Lane Kiffin is staying at Ole Miss, but, no, he’s not getting an eight-year contract
Below are the full Top 25 rankings for the AP and Coaches Polls:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
- Georgia
- Michigan
- TCU
- Southern California
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Penn State
- Washington
- Clemson
- LSU
- Utah
- Kansas State
- Florida State
- Oregon
- Oregon State
- UCLA
- Tulane
- Notre Dame
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Central Florida
- UTSA
- North Carolina
- Mississippi State
COACHES POLL
- Georgia
- Michigan
- TCU
- Southern California
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Penn State
- Tennessee
- Washington
- Kansas State
- Clemson
- Utah
- LSU
- Florida State
- Oregon
- Oregon State
- UCLA
- Tulane
- Notre Dame
- South Carolina
- Texas
- North Carolina
- Central Florida
- UTSA
- Mississippi State
