OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi team based in Oxford, opened the College Football Playoff chase inside the field, checking in at No. 10 when the selection committee released its first rankings of the season Tuesday.
The Rebels are 6-2 overall and 4-2 in Southeastern Conference play. If the season ended now, they would head to Austin to face No. 7 Texas in the first round, a rematch of the Week 8 game the Longhorns won 34-27. The winner of that game would draw No. 2 Georgia in a quarterfinal.
That projection still has a long way to go. Five more sets of rankings are due before the final release on Dec. 6, and the Rebels have four regular-season games left after losses at Texas and Florida. Their strongest wins so far came against LSU, Louisville and Missouri.
The biggest test of the stretch arrives right away. Georgia, 7-1 and 5-1 in the SEC, visits Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday for a 6:30 p.m. Central kickoff in what shapes up as the last chance for Ole Miss to add a marquee win to its resume.
Head coach Pete Golding said he would not put much stock in the first rankings, noting that last season some teams in the opening release missed the playoff and others climbed in later. His message to the team, he said, is to take things one week at a time.
The 12-team bracket sets aside four spots for the highest-ranked conference champions and a fifth for the top-ranked team outside the Power 4, with seven at-large bids filling out the field. Miami sits at No. 1 in the first rankings. Ole Miss is No. 12 in the coaches poll.
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