Plantation #14 in playoff rankings.

[starkvegasdawg]

Thought they'd be worse.

[parabrave]

Well when other schools choke that causes them to look better.

[EdwardDrayton]

The CFP rankings at the moment are looking like a huge joke.

[LC Dawg]

I thought they'd be 15 but if SC beats Clemson they'll jump them no matter how bad they beat us. Ole Miss has a path but it's very slim.
Also, Bama better appreciate the preferential treatment because this may be the last year for it.

[KOdawg1]

The path to the playoff is now nearly non-existent for the Rebels.

They'd need Bama (-11.5 vs. Auburn), UGA (-19.5 vs GT), Tennessee (-11 at Vandy), and SMU (-13.5 vs. Cal) all to lose this weekend. They'd also need South Carolina to beat Clemson so they could pass them, but if USCe beats Clemson, they pass OM in all likelihood, so that does them no good.

So long story short, they ain't getting in which will make our beatdown Friday a little more bearable knowing they spent $20M on their most talented roster ever and all it got them was an Outback Bowl appearance full of opt outs.

[Tripp McNeely]

I thought they'd be 15 but if SC beats Clemson they'll jump them no matter how bad they beat us. Ole Miss has a path but it's very slim.
Also, Bama better appreciate the preferential treatment because this may be the last year for it.

Winner of that game is going to be ahead of them no matter what.

[Tripp McNeely]

You also need to remember the hit that their SOS is gonna take just by stepping on the field with us!

[1eyedog]

They are within striking distance.....unfortunaltely. I won’t feel comfortably till the brackets are announced.

[Cooterpoot]

They've got next no shot to make the playoffs now

[Brobi-wan]

They are within striking distance.....unfortunaltely. I won’t feel comfortably till the brackets are announced.

Not even close. It’s not as simple as 1-12 get in. Lot of things need to go right for that to happen. One of those playoff spots will automatically go to a G5 school.

[msstate7]

Not even close. It’s not as simple as 1-12 get in. Lot of things need to go right for that to happen. One of those playoff spots will automatically go to a G5 school.
Boise st, and that's already factored in

[Todd4State]

The path to the playoff is now nearly non-existent for the Rebels.

They'd need Bama (-11.5 vs. Auburn), UGA (-19.5 vs GT), Tennessee (-11 at Vandy), and SMU (-13.5 vs. Cal) all to lose this weekend. They'd also need South Carolina to beat Clemson so they could pass them, but if USCe beats Clemson, they pass OM in all likelihood, so that does them no good.

So long story short, they ain't getting in which will make our beatdown Friday a little more bearable knowing they spent $20M on their most talented roster ever and all it got them was an Outback Bowl appearance full of opt outs.

Also, Arizona State or whoever wins the Big 12 isn't in the top 12 at the moment. And they'll get someone in and that will take up a spot.

But yes, the bigger issue is they are a loser no matter who wins South Carolina/Clemson.

Your post is a good rundown on what they would need to have happen to have a chance. (Cue Dumb and Dumber)

[Todd4State]

Thought they'd be worse.

I was expecting 15. So I can't really say 14 is much of a shock.

[Ranchdawg]

Is ole miss spending 20million this year sustainable year after year after year? This is the base they will have to spend because everything from here on is more expensive. Kiffen going to want more money, staff going to want more and the players are damn not going to Oxford for less than what these current players got. What is crazy they spent all that monies to think they could compete with the blue bloods like Texas, Bama, Ohio State etc. They just about pulled it off! But it is sorta like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football.

[TALL DAWG]

They supposedly spent $14+MM on players and $14+MM on coaches this yr. That's what a connected shark buddy told me. $28+MM just doesn?t buy you happiness at times.

[Walkerhill]

Is ole miss spending 20million this year sustainable year after year after year? This is the base they will have to spend because everything from here on is more expensive. Kiffen going to want more money, staff going to want more and the players are damn not going to Oxford for less than what these current players got. What is crazy they spent all that monies to think they could compete with the blue bloods like Texas, Bama, Ohio State etc. They just about pulled it off! But it is sorta like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football.

There is a lot of money in college football and especially the SEC. In the space of 2 years, Auburn paid over $35M for Malzahn and Harsin to go away. A&M is paying Jimbo over $75M in dead money.

From that view, paying $10+ per year on a roster plus a top coaching staff is a good investment, especially if it prevents that type of unproductive investment and even better forces your rivals into staff turnover.

The risk for a non blue blood like Ole Miss (or us) is if you ever invest big, lose, and then end up with staff turnover on top of large NIL expenditures on top of it you could be killing your program. Is Auburn at risk of this with increase NIL and a coach heading into year 3 with results well below expectations? Who knows?

Think of what $6M of NIL might have done for us vs paying off Arnett and hopefully soon Hutzler to void contracts?

[Walkerhill]

Unfortunately this NIL arms race is only going to get worse. 14M may have bought you an elite roster this year. It will take 20M next year and who knows what the ceiling is in 5 years.

[basedog]

Most schools in the country can't pay NIL money, yes thetop say 20 can but everyone else is iffy. The Ncaa is toast one day with all their crap!

[Todd4State]

Is ole miss spending 20million this year sustainable year after year after year? This is the base they will have to spend because everything from here on is more expensive. Kiffen going to want more money, staff going to want more and the players are damn not going to Oxford for less than what these current players got. What is crazy they spent all that monies to think they could compete with the blue bloods like Texas, Bama, Ohio State etc. They just about pulled it off! But it is sorta like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football.

You know it's funny about Ole Miss. Originally they were bragging about paying 15 million. And then MSU raised that much. And now all of a sudden it was 20 million.

I would imagine that whatever they actually spent is way less than 20 million. Probably closer to the 14 million TALL DAWG reported.

[Todd4State]

They supposedly spent $14+MM on players and $14+MM on coaches this yr. That's what a connected shark buddy told me. $28+MM just doesn?t buy you happiness at times.

That's probably standard operating cost. And of course coaching salaries come from a different budget than NIL and they would probably be paying that anyway.

[MoreCowbell]

They were given every chance, even up to the last week. They have no excuses. They had the door slammed shut in their face 3 times. Hahahahaha

It was the ultimate -we will never be big time- season for them. Has to be just demoralizing. My OM graduate BIL looked like he has not shaved or showered in 2 weeks at Thanksgiving yesterday hahaha