But that is expected to change this year as Ole Miss is considered a lock to face Oklahoma State in the 2016 Sugar Bowl, a New Year’s Day bowl game.
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Despite the long histories for both programs, this will be just the third meeting between the two teams.
Ole Miss is headed to the Sugar Bowl.
That order stayed intact with the Gators’ loss to Alabama in the SEC championship game. A win over TCU had Oklahoma State feeling good, but the Cowboys were blown out by both the Bears and the Sooners, ending their chance to make the Playoff. “Oklahoma State is an outstanding team and we have a great challenge in front of us, but I know Rebel Nation will come in force and provide us tremendous support as they have in every bowl game”. That team defeated St. Mary’s 33-13.
Ole Miss has played in the Sugar Bowl eight times, its first visit in 1953 a 24-7 loss to Georgia Tech.
Florida (10-3) beat Ole Miss (9-3) by a final score of 38-10.
If the SEC champion is part of the four-team college football playoff – as Alabama will be – the Sugar Bowl is contractually bound to take the conference team that is ranked next highest by the playoff committee.
Hugh Freeze becomes first Ole Miss coach not named John Vaught to lead the Rebels to the Sugar Bowl.
The Sugar Bowl gets the highest ranked teams from the SEC and Big XII conferences that are not in the NCAA football final four. Seven of the Rebels’ last 10 postseason outings have come against teams now in the Big 12. The two teams previously met at the Cotton Bowl after the 2003 season and after the 2009 campaign.
Schools that are now in the SEC have registered an all-time mark of 34-41-1 (.453) in the Sugar Bowl, while this will be the 20th appearance in the game by a current member of the Big 12, with an overall record of 12-7 (.632). “New Orleans will be painted Red and Blue!”
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Ole Miss is 10-2 in its last 12 bowl games, including a streak of six straight victories from 2002 to 2013. Now known as the Sugar Bowl Committee, the organization remains a voluntary group whose members serve without remuneration. Through over 50 annual activities, the organization supports and honors over 25,000 student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
