Updated playoff rankings give Ole Miss a chance

Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff rankings didn’t bring any surprises to Ole Miss or its fans.

The Rebels were No. 14 in the latest rankings, putting them outside of the 12-team playoff after falling to Florida last weekend.

That’s no surprise. The immediate reaction after the loss in Gainesville was the Rebels were out of the playoff hunt. Then South Carolina beat Texas A&M and, more surprisingly, Oklahoma dominated Alabama. That gives the SEC three three-loss teams inside the top 15 and the committee has them ranked Nos. 13, 14 and 15.

The odds certainly don’t favor Ole Miss and they don’t really favor either Alabama or South Carolina. But there is a series of events that could unfold and the Rebels find themselves in the 12-team playoff.

Based on the current rankings, the SEC has three teams in the playoff: Texas, Georgia and Tennessee. What Ole Miss needs is for a fourth SEC team to make the playoff and for that team to not be Alabama. Here’s how that could happen:

(Disclaimer: The following is assuming an Ole Miss win against winless-in-the-SEC Mississippi State on Friday in the Egg Bowl.)

The Battle for the Golden Egg 🏆

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1. Texas beats Texas A&M

Georgia is already headed for the SEC title game and Texas just needs to beat Texas A&M (no small task) to join the Bulldogs. Even if the Longhorns lose to the Aggies, they probably still make the playoff. An Aggies’ loss would remove them any claim to a playoff spot.

2. South Carolina beats Clemson

This would boast the Gamecocks’ resume, but No. 12 Clemson would fall out of playoff contention. Considering the Rebels are ranked ahead of South Carolina (and won the head-to-head game), this result would move Alabama, Ole Miss and Clemson up one spot.

3. Vanderbilt beats Tennessee

Ole Miss needs chaos to shake up the rankings and this result certainly would shake things up. Other than the epic SEC Shorts and SEC Roll Call videos we’d get, the Volunteers would have three losses to Arkansas, Georgia and Vanderbilt. Tennessee probably still makes the playoff, but maybe Ole Miss would have a good argument to make.

Of course, the Rebels will absolutely need the fourth result to happen to have any hopes:

4. Auburn beats Alabama in the Iron Bowl

This isn’t the Alabama team SEC schools (and Notre Dame) have come to fear. Even when the Tide were that team everyone feared, they’d lose in the Iron Bowl. But Ole Miss needs to find a way to leapfrog Alabama in the committee’s rankings and this is the only chance of that happening.

So, in summary, Ole Miss needs a major upset (Auburn), a sort of big upset (Vanderbilt), a coin flip game (South Carolina) and a chalk game (Texas). If that happens (plus the Big 12 chaos continues), the Rebels will be the highest ranked SEC team after Texas, Georgia and Tennessee.

Is all that really so crazy?