No. 19 Ole Miss watched their College Football Playoff dreams officially vanish on Sunday, falling 24-17 to Oklahoma in a rain-soaked Norman. This loss makes them the latest SEC team to see their postseason hopes disappear, leaving only five teams in the conference with three or fewer losses.
A Wild Finish, But The Clock Beat The Hail Mary
The game itself was a wild one, played a day later than scheduled after a bizarre Friday. Ole Miss couldn’t fly out because their charter plane crew timed out due to an FAA nationwide ground stop. Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny was reportedly not thrilled about the delay, to say the least.
When they finally did kick off, the Rebels found themselves down, but not out, until the very end. After cutting Oklahoma’s lead to seven with a late field goal, Ole Miss pulled off an onside kick recovery with less than a minute left. The stage was set! But without any timeouts, Trinidad Chambliss’ Hail Mary pass into the end zone as time expired fell incomplete, sealing their fate.
Oklahoma’s Masterclass In Time Management
How did Oklahoma get to that point, though? The Sooners didn’t just win, they meticulously chewed up the clock, especially in the second half. They stretched their lead to 14 in the third quarter by simply refusing to give Ole Miss the ball.
Oklahoma opened the second half with a monstrous 12-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that ate up 6:33 off the clock. Ole Miss then got the ball back, ran four offensive plays, and punted. What happened next? More clock domination. Oklahoma embarked on a 14-play, 52-yard drive that, even though it ended in a missed field goal by Tate Sandell, still took nearly eight minutes of game time. By the time Sandell’s kick sailed wide, over 90 seconds had already elapsed in the fourth quarter. Brutal.
Ole Miss did show some life, needing just 97 seconds to cut the lead back to 21-14 on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Chambliss to Caleb Odom. But Oklahoma went right back to its time-of-possession strategy, draining nearly seven more minutes off the clock before Sandell made a field goal to push their lead to 10 points. That’s how you control a game.
SEC Playoff Picture Tightens Dramatically
This wasn’t just a bad weekend for Ole Miss. Week 11 turned into a playoff hope graveyard for several SEC teams on the periphery. Beyond the Rebels, No. 17 South Carolina, No. 21 LSU, and No. 22 Missouri all suffered their fourth loss, effectively knocking them out of serious contention.
Even No. 11 Kentucky took a hit, losing its second straight game to fall to 7-3 overall. With only two weeks left in the regular season, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee are essentially penciled into the College Football Playoff. That leaves Kentucky as the sole remaining SEC dark horse with legitimate postseason hopes among the rest.
Even for the Wildcats, it’s an uphill battle. They’ll probably need some serious help to make the 11-team field. Winning their final two games against Missouri and Louisville likely won’t be enough without some losses from the teams currently ahead of them. So, while Ole Miss’s dreams are done, the fight for those final playoff spots just got even more intense, especially for teams hoping to sneak in. Keep your eyes on those top contenders, and see if Kentucky can pull off a miracle ride in these final few weeks.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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