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Ole Miss

Ole Miss bowl projections for Week 3 after first SEC win of the season

11by: Jake Thompson09/08/25JakeThompsonOn3
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Ole Miss linebacker T.J. Dottery. Mandatory credit: Ole Miss athletics

No. 17 Ole Miss picked up its first Southeastern Conference win on its first attempt of the 2025 season, beating Kentucky in Lexington this past weekend.

The Rebels (2-0, 1-0 SEC) have gotten September off to the start it needed with early conference games, two in the first three weeks, and a first-year starting quarterback in Austin Simmons needed confidence and experience. More so the latter after four interceptions in the first two games.

“Not much different than what the points made after the game,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said during his weekly Sunday Zoom availability. “Thought that was a really good win, especially after last year’s loss against (Kentucky). They play teams tough over the years and give people problems. …Obviously a lot of things in the game to work on to get better. For now you play four SEC road games and they’re always hard and difficult. Anytime you can get a win that’s encouraging. I kind of always look at it like there’s four of them and you just try to kind of knock them off and get as many as you can. To get one early is good. Now we play at home for a month here. Excited to come back to our fans.”

But what did the success in the first two weeks do for Ole Miss when it comes to early-season bowl projections? Not much of a change, to be honest.

It is early and these projections are always fluid before mid-October or early November, but these are the postseason games the bowl prognosticators see the Rebels potentially heading to.

  • Brett McMurphy (On3) – Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. Pittsburgh
  • Mark Schlabach (ESPN) – Texas Bowl vs. TCU
  • Kyle Bonagura (ESPN) – ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Indiana
  • Brad Crawford (CBS Sports) – Liberty Bowl vs. Houston
  • College Football News – Music City Bowl vs. Minnesota

The Rebels now open up a homestand that sees them playing four games inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium over the next five weeks, including the first bye week of the season on October 4.

Saturday’s game against Arkansas (6 p.m. CT / ESPN) kicks it off followed by Tulane then No. 3 LSU before the off weekend. Then Washington State comes to Oxford on October 11 (11:45 a.m. CT / SEC Network).

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