ESPN has the Rebels in Nashville for the Music City Bowl while CBS projects Ole Miss to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl.
Thanks to the two consecutive losses at season's end the Rebels are tied with Mississippi State at 3-5 in the conference, and of course State owns the tie-breaker, however the common thought is that the Bulldogs (6-6) would get the Compass Bowl bid from the bowl with the SEC's last selection. Having been there last year most Ole Miss fans would prefer just about anywhere to Birmingham and Legion Field. A year ago the Rebels were bowl starved and Birmingham sounded fun. This year...not so much.
Wherever Ole Miss goes it'll be an important game. The Rebels badly need some positive momentum going into the off-season. Losing to Mississippi State in the fashion that it happened on Thanksgiving night was a tremendous buzz-kill, and an abrupt end to what seemed like an extended honeymoon phase between the fan base and Hugh Freeze. It's not that Freeze has suddenly fallen out of favor, but he has now left the "new coach who can do no wrong" part of his tenure. It happens to every coach eventually, and it's to be expected when you lose to a bad Mississippi State team starting a 3rd string quarterback. Freeze is mortal, not that he ever thought he wasn't, but he has enjoyed almost two years of a fan base that felt he could do no wrong. Now there are questions. Questions about what went wrong. Questions about play calling, motivation, quarterback, and so on and so forth. All of which is perfectly normal and all of which follows close behind losing unexpectedly. The best way to heal all those hurt feelings is go out there and win a game. It doesn't matter where and it doesn't matter who. So while the upcoming bowl won't be important for the reasons you hoped it would be a few weeks ago when a trip to Florida for New Year's Day seemed possible, it will be extremely significant for Ole Miss and Freeze and the overall direction of the program.
It's time for everybody to shake off the cobwebs, get their minds right and get ready to go bowling, fans included. Me included. Ole Miss is 7-5 two years after finishing 2-10. The trajectory is still headed in an upward direction and Freeze is leading this program to a good place. Nothing that's happened causes me to believe otherwise. Stay the course. Get those credit cards ready and let's get ready for a fun bowl game. We all need it - Freeze, Bo Wallace, the team, and us fans.
On Saturday, out of some weird need to renew my commitment to the school that will never love me back (I know this), I ordered a navy Ole Miss pullover and a new navy Ole Miss bar cap. The white hat I've been wearing for 15 years can't be rehabilitated, and thirty-eight is too old for the frat boy dirty hat look. I needed the upgrade, but I also just wanted to buy back in. It's just a sweat shirt and a hat, but I got excited about the new gear and something about the purchase made me feel like I was confirming my allegiance in the face of the post-Egg-Bowl gloom. Lord willing I've got at least 40 more Egg Bowls in me and I'm looking forward to all of them.
But first....the bowl game.
Ole Miss is going bowling for a 2nd straight year, and I'm excited. You should be, too.
But first....the bowl game.
Ole Miss is going bowling for a 2nd straight year, and I'm excited. You should be, too.