Rebel Roundabout: How does a first-round CFP matchup between Ole Miss and Texas sound?
Ole Miss doesn’t face off against Texas in the regular season. The Rebels get Oklahoma in Oxford instead.
But On3 national college football analyst Andy Staples could still see a scenario where Ole Miss eventually draws the Longhorns in 2024-25.
Staples, on Tuesday, released a playoff projection for the 12-team College Football Playoff. No. 10 seed Ole Miss was pitted against 7-seed Texas in the first round, with the winner moving on to a date with No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
“Ole Miss and Texas don’t play one another in the regular season in the Longhorns’ first year in the SEC,” Staples wrote. “But Georgia does play Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas. It’s entirely possible a Bulldogs team that makes the CFP in a less dominant fashion than the one predicted here winds up playing one of those teams again.”
ESPN (and fellow Disney-owned network ABC) will televise a first-round game kicking off on Friday, December 20 at 7 p.m. CT. Another follows on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT.
TNT has two games on December 21 — at 11 a.m. CT and 3 p.m. CT.
“Presumably, ESPN will keep the best two games for itself,” Staples wrote. “The best TV matchup of the bunch is Notre Dame-Michigan, so that likely would air at 8 p.m. on ABC and ESPN. The second-best would be a judgement call between Tennessee-Oregon and Ole Miss-Texas.
“The Volunteers’ visit to Eugene likely would get the Friday primetime slot to avoid an early-afternoon local time kickoff on Saturday. Boise State-Alabama would almost certainly kick off Dec. 21 at noon ET on TNT.”
NEW: Preseason College Football Playoff Projected 12-Team Field via @Andy_Staples
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OLE MISS’ FISCHER NAMED TO ABCA/RAWLINGS SOUTH ALL-REGION TEAM
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Andrew Fischer became just the 19th Ole Miss Rebel since 2001 named ABCA/Rawlings South All-Region.
Ole Miss has now had at least one Rebel make the team in five straight seasons. Fischer — who transferred in from Duke in the off-season and was the Rebels’ best hitter — was placed on the second team at third base.
Fischer has already announced his 2025 return. He led Ole Miss in hits, RBI, triples, total bases and home runs last season. He was second in three other categories (slugging percentage, walks, and runs scored) and third in another (batting average).
“Wouldn’t trade this year for anything,” Fischer wrote on social media after Ole Miss finished two games under .500, its second straight losing season since winning a title in the summer of 22. The Rebels are now busy recruiting, among other big-ticket off-season items.
“Thank you, seniors. You will be missed. Thank you, Rebel Nation, for your support. We’ll be back next year. See you at Swayze. Hotty Toddy.”
Fischer is a rising junior.
He became the first Ole Miss designated hitter/utility player in nearly 20 years named All-SEC back in May. Fischer is the fourth Rebel ever to hit 20 or more home runs in a single season. Tim Elko is the record-holder with 24.
Fischer had an in-season stretch of four straight games with a homer. Logan Power (in 2007) was the last Rebel to pull off the feat.
“All of us that are coming back,” Ole Miss slugger Will Furniss said, “we’re all tired of not playing good, not doing good, not winning. We know it means a lot to the fans.
“Sometimes they may doubt it, but it means a hell of a lot more to us.”
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