What are the latest bowl projections for Ole Miss heading into championship week?
The hay is in the barn and all Ole Miss can do is wait out the week to find out where it will be heading for a postseason game.
After the regular season concluded on Saturday and the dust settled Ole Miss’ bowl scenarios went from a possible lock for the sunny skies of Orlando to a complete and total guess. Once the Rebels dropped the Egg Bowl, losing four of its last five games, it put a big wrench in their bowl projections.
A win over Mississippi State would have put Ole Miss at nine wins and assuredly a trip to one of the Florida bowls if not the Citrus Bowl for certain. But the loss kept the Rebels at eight wins and in a tie with the Bulldogs and South Carolina at 8-4.
The Gamecocks are riding a lot of momentum after knocking off Clemson for its second Top 10 win in as many weeks. They beat Tennessee on Nov. 19.
Pair that with the Bulldogs closing the year with a win over Ole Miss and also having positive momentum it puts the Rebels below those two teams, in theory, in the bowl selection pecking order.
Related: The Must-Haves: The transfer portal window is about to open, and Ole Miss has some needs
Other results on Saturday also dinged up Ole Miss’ hopes for a upper-tier bowl game, including LSU’s loss.
The Tigers were sitting No. 5 in the College Football Playoff entering its regular season finale at Texas A&M. The four-win Aggies throttled LSU and killed CFP hopes in Baton Rouge. With LSU not making the playoffs and Alabama also a potential long shot — unless chaos reigns on Championship Saturday — not having two SEC teams in the playoffs also bumps Ole Miss down the bowl selection list.
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Currently Ole Miss is projected anyway from Florida (still) to Las Vegas and a couple cities in between.
The most popular projection for the Rebels is a return to Nashville and the Music City Bowl on Dec. 31 at Nissan Stadium. The opponent projected for Ole Miss is either Iowa or Minnesota, at the moment.
Memphis is also becoming a projected destination, again, with two outlets putting Ole Miss back in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28 against Oklahoma. Lane Kiffin versus Jeff Lebby. In Memphis. Like everyone expected.
Still there is one projection to get back to Tampa for the newly-named ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 2 at Raymond James Stadium. There is also a projection for the Rebels to go to Jacksonville and play in the Gator Bowl at TIAA Bank Field on Dec. 30.
Ole Miss will learn its bowl destination on Sunday.
Below are the full list of bowl projections for the Rebels:
ESPN
- Mark Schlabach – ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Illinois (Jan. 2)
- Kyle Bonagura – Music City Bowl vs. Minnesota (Dec. 31)
CBS SPORTS
- Jerry Palm – Music City Bowl vs. Iowa
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
- Richard Johnson – ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Illinois
ACTION NETWORK
- Brett McMurphy – Las Vegas Bowl vs. Oregon State (Dec. 17)
SPORTING NEWS
- Gator Bowl vs. Notre Dame (Dec. 30)
ATHLON SPORTS
- Music City Bowl vs. Iowa
Pro Football Network
- Liberty Bowl vs. Oklahoma (Dec. 28)
College Football News
- Liberty Bowl vs. Oklahoma
