The Ole Miss Rebels officially find themselves in an eerily familiar situation. With two games to play, they need to win out, and they are almost guaranteed a College Football Playoff berth. However, sitting at 9-1, there’s an argument to be made that if they simply go 1-1 over their final two, they could still get a spot in the playoff. But that scenario puts their fate in the hands of the committee. No one wants to have their fate left in the hands of a select few people.<\/p>\n
So how is this similar to another situation they’ve been in?<\/p>\n
Well, going back 10 years, the Rebels had an SEC Championship Game appearance in their sights. But ultimately, a catastrophic 4th and 25 in overtime vs Arkansas cost them that opportunity. A win in the SEC Championship game, and they would’ve almost certainly been a lock for a playoff berth, in the days when it was a four-team playoff.<\/p>\n
Then, just last year, despite two early-season losses, they needed to beat Florida and Mississippi State and would likely have secured a berth in the first-ever 12-team field. Instead, a trip to The Swamp proved to be their demise. This year, their final two opponents remain the same.<\/p>\n
Do the Rebels fix their past mistakes and reach their first-ever College Football Playoff? Or do the same problems come back to haunt them once again?<\/p>\n
For Ole Miss, they couldn’t ask for a better opportunity. Due to a few early-season conference matchups, this past weekend, they got to play The Citadel. They took care of the Bulldogs 49-0, as expected. Now, their remaining two opponents are Florida and Mississippi State. But this isn’t Urban Meyer’s Florida team, and it isn’t Dan Mullen’s Bulldog squad. Florida and Mississippi State have a combined three SEC wins so far this season. And the Gators already fired head coach Billy Napier a few weeks back.<\/p>\n
Another key is that while last year’s matchup with the Gators was in Gainesville, this season it’s in Oxford. And it’s coming against a Florida team that is reeling after a 38-7 blowout loss to Kentucky. Given the circumstances, it would be nothing short of a disaster if the Rebels once again fell late in the year to the Gators.<\/p>\n
And while the Egg Bowl is in Starkville this year, it’s against a struggling Mississippi State squad. It’s a much-improved team for Jeff Lebby, but the talent on the roster still isn’t at a level to legitimately compete in the SEC. So if they can put the thoughts of a playoff berth to the side, that should also be a game the Rebels are heavily favored in.<\/p>\n
In the past, Ole Miss hasn’t been able to handle success. For Rebel fans, the phrase “We are Ole Miss” isn’t a positive thing. It’s a saying that simply means they always find a way to choke away opportunities at bigger and better things. This year, the Georgia game was an example of that statement coming to fruition. A nine-point lead late, with a chance to get a stop on a fourth down to essentially end the game, and they couldn’t get it done. Ultimately, they lost the game because they couldn’t get a defensive stop<\/a>. Trinidad Chambliss<\/a> and the offense also faltered late in that contest.<\/p>\n However, apart from the disaster of a fourth quarter against the Bulldogs, they’ve avoided those moments this year. Last season, they struggled in close contests. Three-point losses to Kentucky and LSU. A seven-point loss to Florida.<\/p>\n So far this season, they’ve largely found a way to be successful in those tense moments. A win in Lexington over Kentucky. Surviving against LSU. And forcing a late turnover to beat Arkansas in a game that shouldn’t have been that close. Needless to say, those are the kinds of moments that define seasons. Elite teams nearly always have a game or two that end up being tight, but they find a way to get the win. In the past, the Rebels haven’t been able to do that.<\/p>\n But this season, if they can do that for the last two games of the season, Ole Miss will be playoff-bound. They’re in full control of their own destiny.<\/p>\n Date and Time<\/strong>: November 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM<\/p>\n Location<\/strong>: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, MS<\/p>\n TV Network: <\/strong>ESPN<\/p>\n Main Image: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ole Miss Rebels officially find themselves in an eerily familiar situation. With two games to play, they need to win out, and they are almost guaranteed a College Football Playoff berth. However, sitting at 9-1, there’s an argument to be made that if they simply go 1-1 over their final two, they could still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4571,"featured_media":82435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17,35582,3],"tags":[8272,495],"class_list":["post-82362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-ole-miss-rebels","category-sec","tag-jeff-lebby","tag-lane-kiffin"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82362"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82437,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82362\/revisions\/82437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How to Watch<\/h3>\n