The path to the College Football Playoff has diminished greatly for an Ole Miss football team that fell short on Saturday in a game it could not afford to lose.
Coming in at No. 13 in the latest poll from the playoff committee is a Rebel squad that dropped its third matchup of the season — a 24-17 loss at unranked Florida. Lane Kiffin’s squad walked into the Swamp ranked No. 9 in the nation with a shot at competing for a national title on a silver platter but left with playoff hopes in drastic peril.
With two turnovers on downs and one missed 34-yard field goal, Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3 SEC) never capitalized on three red zone attempts. The Gators, on the other hand, were perfect when in the red zone.
Ole Miss also struggled on third down, moving the chains just three times on 14 attempts. Lane Kiffin leaned heavily on his jumbo package on fourth and short but was only successful on half of the four late-down opportunities. A muffed punt on Florida’s side of the field was the icing on top of the poisonous cake Ole Miss was served on Saturday.
In the absence of starting running back Henry Parrish, Jr., who has not returned to action since getting banged up at Arkansas, Kiffin turned to wide receiver and return specialist Micah Davis as the primary ball carrier. The move puzzled Rebel fans as veteran Ulysses Bentley IV sat on the bench and was not handed the ball once. Bentley was, instead, used as a kickoff returner.
Veteran Rebel signal caller Jaxson Dart was sharp for the most part tossing for 323 yards and two scores, despite a multitude of consequential drops from a typically reliable receiving corps and another costly injury to star wideout Tre Harris.
However, with the game, and likely playoff, on the line, Dart turned the ball over not once, but twice in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. A full recap of the Rebels’ outing versus Florida can be found here.
Before the most recent shortcoming, Ole Miss suffered a devastating home loss to a Kentucky club that has not won any other conference games. Kiffin and company were also victims of an overtime loss at LSU after failing to put the Tigers away early.
Though the third loss on the docket is expected to be the nail in Ole Miss’ playoff coffin, the Rebels have a slight glimmer of hope to be in the field of 12 teams vying to hoist a championship trophy in January. On Saturday, just about all went right for Kiffin’s crew, besides the outcome of the Rebels’ outing of course, to keep Ole Miss in the hunt.
Alabama was trounced by Oklahoma. Texas A&M was taken down by Auburn in quadruple overtime. Colorado fell to a feisty Kansas team. All of these occurrences, along with BYU’s loss to the Jayhawks two weeks ago, played a hand in keeping the Rebels alive.
Now, work has to be done for Ole Miss to earn a playoff berth. The Rebels must first handle business against bitter rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl on Friday. Ole Miss would also benefit greatly from now-No. 13 Alabama losing its Iron Bowl rivalry matchup against Auburn and No. 15 South Carolina ousting No. 12 Clemson, removing the Tigers from the equation.
A couple of unlikely outcomes aiding Ole Miss’ chances would come in the form of Vanderbilt defeating No. 8 Tennessee and Purdue beating No. 10 Indiana. The odds are certainly stacked against the Rebels, but hope is not yet lost.
The full top 25 can be found below:
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Miami
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- SMU
- Indiana
- Boise State
- Clemson
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- South Carolina
- Arizona State
- Tulane
- Iowa State
- BYU
- Texas A&M
- Missouri
- UNLV
- Illinois
- Kansas State
- Colorado
