What are Ole Miss' bowl projections ahead of the Egg Bowl?

The more things change the more they stay the same and that could not be more true for Ole Miss and its bowl projections.

Despite suffering its third loss in the last four games No. 20 Ole Miss is still sitting at eight wins and the chance to secure a nine-win regular season. A second straight 10-win regular season — the second in program history — was in the cards but not to be after Arkansas knocked off the Rebels on Saturday.

With an 8-3 overall record it would lead to a reasonable line of thinking that Ole Miss have squandered a good bowl berth opportunity but not so fast, my friend.

Yes, the College Football Playoffs and a New Year’s Six bowl berth are long gone but that next tier of top-level bowl games are still well within reach for Ole Miss.

Entering last week’s game in Fayetteville the Rebels were a unanimous pick to represent the SEC in this year’s Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Florida is still in play this week but it is going to take Ole Miss beating Mississippi State to lock in that destination.

The annual Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night does not have the major stakes that Ole Miss fans might have envisioned it having a month ago, but there are postseason implications.

A win gives the Rebels nine wins and all but assures them of heading to Florida, which city is up in the air and discussed in a moment. Keeping the Golden Egg trophy in Oxford will also mean a 3-0 record for Lane Kiffin over Mississippi State’s Mike Leach since coming to Ole Miss.

Ole Miss fans are praying to be thankful for a lot of things on Thanksgiving night.

The Bulldogs (7-4, 3-4 SEC) are also trying to improve its bowl trajectory and a win over the Rebels could murky the waters for their own postseason. The Starkville rivals would have the same record as Ole Miss but have the nod of beating them, possibly leap-frogging the Bulldogs in the bowl selection process.

As of right now, the Rebels are projected to be spending New Year’s in either Orlando or Tampa.

Six of the eight outlets who do projections on a weekly basis have Ole Miss playing in the Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium on Jan. 2. The remaining two projections have the Rebels going back to Tampa for a second time in three season, playing in the newly-named ReliaQuest Bowl at Raymond James Stadium, also on Jan. 2.

Whichever destination is picked it will be against a Big Ten opponent and right now Penn State is the near consensus pick to play in the Citrus Bowl while Maryland and Iowa are the two opponents for the ReliaQuest Bowl.

Now, all this could change as Ole Miss is the first game this week since it plays on Thanksgiving and then there is Championship Saturday on Dec. 3, which may have some implications but more so on the opponent.

If the Rebels do not pick up the win it is well within reason that the Music City Bowl in Nashville could become a prime pick as that bowl committee, but an eight-win team could still find its way to the Sunshine State.

Time will tell in 13 days.

Here is the full list of Ole Miss’ bowl projections.

ESPN

• Kyle Bonagura – Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State
• Mark Schlabach – Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State

CBS SPORTS

• Jerry Palm – Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

• Richard Johnson – ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Maryland

ACTION NETWORK

• Brett McMurphy – Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State

SPORTING NEWS

• Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State

ATHLON SPORTS

• Citrus Bowl vs. Penn State

COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS

• ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Iowa

PRO FOOTBALL NETWORK

• Citrus Bowl vs. Iowa