Ole Miss to face Duke in Gator Bowl

What every Ole Miss football fan knew became official Sunday with the College Football Playoff field announced and the Rebels weren’t included.

That’s not a surprise. Every Ole Miss fan knew their team wouldn’t make the playoff and would be headed to a traditional bowl game. However, with Alabama getting knocked out of the 12-team playoff, Ole Miss will fall back one spot in the bowl game-pecking order because it’s Alabama.

That’s why Ole Miss (9-3, 5-3 SEC) is headed to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl to face Duke (9-3, 5-3 ACC) in what is a near-meaningless game to end the 2024 season.

Get ready for a historic night under the lights!

The 80th Annual TaxSlayer Gator Bowl will feature @DukeFOOTBALL vs @OleMissFB facing off on January 2nd at 7:30 PM!

Tickets on-sale now on @Ticketmaster at https://t.co/2jExCXykPn pic.twitter.com/u9QBdxITAv

— TaxSlayer Gator Bowl (@taxslayerbowl) December 8, 2024

If the Rebels win it’ll be the third 10-win season with Lane Kiffin leading the program and the only other time Ole Miss won 10 or more games in three of four seasons was from 1959-1962. So, a 10^th win is something, but it’s not a playoff game win.

The goal for Ole Miss this year was the College Football Playoff and despite having a strong argument to ranked ahead of Alabama (and maybe even SMU who is in the playoff), the Rebels fell short of their goal.

And a win against Duke – on a football field, not a basketball court – is the equivalent to lighting a firework and watch it shoot off one shot before going out.

So why not play a bowl game that would actually mean something?

Bowl games don’t like to feature two teams from the same conference, so it’s moot to argue the Rebels should’ve tried to play Alabama in their bowl game.

But what about Miami? Or BYU? Or Iowa State? Or Colorado?

Wouldn’t either of those teams playing Ole Miss be more entertaining than watching the Rebels play Duke? And it would mean more.