Rebels and Yellow Jackets Set to Clash in Music City

Ole Miss is looking for back-to-back bowl wins under Freeze.

Photo by Seph Anderson / HottyToddy.com
Photo by Seph Anderson / HottyToddy.com

The Ole Miss Rebel football team returns to the Music City for an encore to take part in a SEC vs. ACC Music City Bowl match-up against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Dec. 30. Kick off is slated for 2:15 CST and broadcasted on ESPN.

Ole Miss (7-5, 3-5 SEC) comes into this match-up after dropping two consecutive games to Missouri and Mississippi State to finish the regular season. The loss in the Egg Bowl to Miss. State was a heart-breaker, as quarterback Bo Wallace was stripped of the ball going into tie the game in overtime.

In just his second season, Wallace has secured his name in the record books at Ole Miss. He moved into second place in career total yards of offense (6,743), fourth in career passing yards (6,084), fourth in passing Touchdown’s (39) and second in 300-yard passing games (7).

When the Rebels take the field against the Yellow Jackets, Wallace only needs 214 total yards to break the school record for total yards.

In coach Hugh Freeze’s tenure at Ole Miss, he becomes just the third man to lead the Rebels to consecutive bowl game appearances in their first two-seasons at the helm. He joins David Cutcliffe (1999-2000) and Houston Nutt (2008-2009).

Georgia Tech (7-5, 5-3 ACC) is making their 17th straight bowl appearance, which is second in conference only behind Virginia Tech (21). The Yellow Jackets enter as one of the nation’s top rushing offense and rushing defense. Tech’s offense ranks sixth nationally averaging 311.7 rushing yards will they hold their opponent to 107 ypg which is ninth best in the country.

Coach Paul Jackson’s squad averages 36.6 points per game. Senior defense end Jeremiah Attaochu leads the team with 15.5 tackles for loss on the season and combining with 12 sacks. He ranks third nationally with averaging 1.0 sack a game.

Ole Miss and Georgia Tech are meeting for the fourth time and Tech leads the series 2-1, but the series is split 1-1 in bowl games.  In the most recent meeting the Rebels came away victorious by a score of 41-18 in 1971 Peach Bowl.

— Adam Brown is the Sports Editor of HottyToddy.com