It’s probably not going to happen, but what if there is a pathway the Ole Miss Rebels can shock the world and upset the LSU Tigers in the Magnolia Bowl?
The LSU Tigers are on top of the college football world entering Week 12. The Bayou Bengals are 9-0 (6-0) just beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa for the first time in eight years. They are the No. 1 team in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings and have the frontrunner for the 2019 Heisman Trophy in quarterback Joe Burrow. This looks to be a magical year for LSU football.
By beating Alabama last week, the Tigers can afford to drop one of their next three conference games and still reach the SEC Championship. If LSU beats presumably the Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta, LSU will reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history as either an undefeated or one-loss Power 5 champion. Their path to the Peach Bowl is right in from of them.
That being said, LSU still has three conference games left against SEC West division rivals. All three of these rivals are looking up at the Bayou Bengals in the standings, wanting nothing more than to ruin their perfect season. The next team that could stand as a roadblock on LSU’s pursuit to perfection is the Ole Miss Rebels. It doesn’t seem even possible, but can Ole Miss upset LSU?
Truth be told, this would be the biggest upset of the college football season. It would be bigger than Georgia losing to the South Carolina Gamecocks. But like that double-overtime affair in Athens, this is a big rivalry game down south, one that Ole Miss will view as its Super Bowl and one that LSU may just not be all that up for.
The Magnolia Bowl is one of the better rivalry names in the SEC. LSU and Ole Miss have a strong football history with this game still meaning something in that part of the country. While LSU has College Football Playoff aspirations, Ole Miss needs a miracle if the Rebels want to go bowling.
At 4-6, Ole Miss has to beat LSU in Oxford and the archrival Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville to even get to 6-6. While two of the Rebels’ losses were decent ones out of the SEC vs. the Memphis Tigers and the California Golden Bears, they only have SEC wins over dumpster fires in the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Vanderbilt Commodores. Upsetting LSU would be unbelievable.
So how would Ole Miss even end up winning this game? The Rebels would need incredible coaching performances out of head coach Matt Luke, offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez and defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre. If they can keep up with Ed Orgeron, Joe Brady and company, then Ole Miss will have a Hail Mary’s chance in this game, but that might not be enough.
Ole Miss also has to win the turnover battle by at least plus-two, probably plus-three. Burrow will have to play the worst game of his life and running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire will need to fumble the ball as often as Daniel Jones and Jameis Winston do in the NFL. But even still, elite coaching and winning the turnover battle by a wide margin may not even be enough.
The Rebels will probably need a special teams touchdown and a defensive touchdown, as well as be within 10 points of LSU by halftime, preferably leading by two scores themselves. Last and most importantly not least, the Ole Miss crowd must get lubricated enough to convince themselves that they’re in Baton Rouge for a night game at Tiger Stadium. That might do it.
At the end of the day, Ole Miss needs everything to go right for them and conversely, everything to go wrong for LSU to win this game. Nobody outside of the Mid-South thinks this is possible. Then again, nobody outside of the Palmetto State thought South Carolina could beat Georgia Between the Hedges. If the Gamecocks can do the unthinkable, why not the Rebels Saturday night?
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