Championship Saturday will determine Ole Miss football's bowl destination
Championship weekend is here, and despite not playing a game this weekend, Ole Miss has a lot at stake.
Even if all of it is out of the Rebels’ control.
Now, this is not a bad problem to have. Ole Miss is all but locked into a New Year’s Six bowl, which is quite the first-world problem as it pertains to postseason issues.
Atlanta, New Orleans and Glendale, Ariz., believe it or not, are where Ole Miss fans are currently keeping their hotel searches locked onto.
Come Sunday night, all Rebels will be able to make their decision.
Where will Ole Miss be ringing in the New Year?
The answer, for now, is anyone’s guess, but there’s enough out there to venture an educated opinion or two.
With a couple days to go before the Power 5 conferences have crowned their champions, final bowl predictions are rolling in.
As things stand, the most popular predictions for the Rebels have them ending their season where it began, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the Peach Bowl.
The only major difference, of course, would be the opponent.
With the Peach Bowl an SEC vs. ACC matchup, there is the possibility Ole Miss could be positioned for a rematch of the 2013 Birmingham Bowl against Pittsburgh, while others have the Rebels facing off against Wake Forest.
Bottom line: The winner between the Demon Deacons and Panthers in this week’s ACC Championship game will be booking their flight to Atlanta.
A return to the Sugar Bowl for the first time since 2015-16 is definitely still in play.
However, this is where the biggest domino of the weekend has to fall in the Rebels’ favor.
It will probably pain a lot of Ole Miss fans, but they must root for Nick Saban and No. 3 Alabama to find a way to knock off No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship game. Doing so would ensure two SEC teams make the College Football Playoff, as Georgia is solidly in with a win or a loss.
In such a scenario, Ole Miss would slot into the Sugar Bowl as the top SEC team not playing for the national title.
Baylor seems to be the odds-on, popular choice to wind up in New Orleans as the Big 12 representative. Though, if the Bears can knock off Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship game, who knows what happens.
Surely Ole Miss wouldn’t be paired up in the postseason with Oklahoma State yet again, right? Surely.
Then there is the Fiesta Bowl.
In order for the Fiesta to come into real play, as The Ole Miss Spirit reported this week, Georgia has to win, pushing Alabama to the Sugar.
Enjoy the weekend of what should be really good games. Rebel Fans can take a sigh of relief, as Ole Miss has all the hay in the barn, so to speak.
