Ole Miss’ 24-17 loss to Florida continues a familiar storyline that has plagued even the best seasons of the modern era. The Rebels have never appeared in the SEC Championship Game – which started in 1992 – and have to go all the way back to 1963 to find their last conference title.
Great players and coaches have come through Oxford producing huge moments and big wins, but too often over the course of a season the Rebels have struggled to string together enough successful moments to put them in SEC title contention.
The last time Ole Miss was on the field, a record crowd of 68,126 stormed a rain-soaked field after the Rebels defeated Georgia 28-10. The Bulldogs were the highest-ranked visiting team to lose at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, and the College Football Playoff implications were clear after the win. Tiebreaker scenarios did not favor Ole Miss in terms of reaching the SEC title game, but with a head-to-head win against Georgia, the Rebels were well-positioned to compete for a spot in the 12-team playoffs. bracket – as long as they finished the season 10-2.
With Florida and Mississippi State scheduled for its final two games, Ole Miss spent part of its off week thinking about the future. Lane Kiffin discussed the potential benefits of not playing in the SEC Championship Game, and fans took to social media to advocate for inclusion in the playoffs, and even for a spot in the top 8 that will have a playoff game at the home field in the first round.
Instead, Ole Miss let history rear its ugly head on Saturday. The loss to the Gators once again eliminates the Rebels from SEC title contention and potentially costs them a shot at the College Football Playoff.
These comments about the SEC Championship Game came from a coach who spoke to other coaches concerned about what a third loss would do to a team’s playoff profile. But the context will be lost, as fans will only remember Lane Kiffin discussing how it might be better not to play in the title game – right before a devastating loss that dashed their playoff hopes.
Now in his fifth year at Ole Miss, Kiffin has already achieved sustained success not seen since Johnny Vaught, the coach responsible for six SEC championships and all three of the program’s national titles. Kiffin has raised standards and expectations, given Ole Miss an identity and used the tools of modern roster construction to field competitive teams without having to completely rebuild them.
The Rebels rely heavily on the transfer portal, but not all portal additions are short-term solutions. The ability to find players who can contribute for multiple years is just as beneficial as landing a promising high school prospect. While the locker room is a wide collection of backgrounds and personalities, it is Kiffin who has brought them together and kept the program moving in a winning direction year after year.
But Saturday’s loss will be painful for Kiffin, who had a chance to follow up the Georgia win with a College Football Playoff run. With multiple New Year’s Six appearances, Kiffin’s Ole Miss program was among those expected to benefit from an expanded playoff field.
The Rebels could have made it to the CFP in previous years under this year’s format, and with victory in Georgia in hand, all Kiffin had to do was land the plane.
While the game itself lacked the drama of others, it brought back memories of Ole Miss facing Arkansas in 2015. After an early season win against Alabama and victories against division foes Texas A&M and Auburn, the Rebels only had to serve for a trip to the SEC title game.
They seemingly stopped the Razorbacks on a 4th-and-25 in overtime until Hunter Henry’s stunning overhead sideways move was picked off the bounce by Alex Collins and advanced for a first down. Arkansas then scored and ran away with a two-point conversion to win at Oxford.
Many remember the incredible run as the moment that cost Ole Miss the SEC West. But in reality, the same team threw a wrench into Ole Miss’ postseason hopes in 2015 and 2024: Florida.
The Rebels were ranked No. 3 in the rankings after beating Alabama, but it was a loss in The Swamp that narrowed the margin for error in October and November.
Florida crushing Ole Miss’ lofty hopes twice brings poetic intrigue. It was the Rebels who upset the Gators in 2008, leading to Tim Tebow’s famous post-game “promise.” Tebow kept his word and gave the Gators a second national title in three years.
With Florida’s win on Saturday, the Gators are now 3-0 against Ole Miss since “the pledge.”
Ole Miss now moves on to the Egg Bowl and looks to recreate the kind of chaos that was just around the corner this weekend. If the Rebels win, a 9-3 record with a win against Georgia will get a look from the selection committee. But as a three-loss team with multiple losses to unranked teams, it won’t win many tiebreaker scenarios.
The expanded CFP format was seemingly built for Ole Miss to make its first-ever playoff appearance, and after pulling off one of the biggest wins in program history, the job was seemingly done. But that first appearance can be deceiving. The mirage of Ole Miss’ playoff push turned out to be another Ole Miss football nightmare.