STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Hugh Freeze was “thrilled and excited” Saturday after his Ole Miss team beat instate rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. It was the Rebels' first win in Starkville since 2003, when Eli Manning was the quarterback.
But after the game, Freeze was still thinking about the Arkansas game from three weeks prior and what would’ve happened had Ole Miss won that game.
“If there’s one negative, we’re a 4th-and-25 from going to Atlanta,” Freeze said, referring to the fourth-down conversion by Arkansas in overtime that helped the Razorbacks beat the Rebels 53-52. “Now, we could dwell on that and the ‘what-ifs’ and all of that, but I think it speaks volumes of where we’ve come in just our four years here.
“It kind of stinks, but we’ll go to a great bowl game somewhere.”
Had the Rebels knocked down that lateral from Hunter Henry or tackled Alex Collins short of the first-down marker, it would be Ole Miss -- not Alabama -- playing Florida in the SEC championship game this weekend. It would’ve marked the Rebels' first-ever appearance in the conference title game. Instead, they’ll be watching from home.
“It does [sting],” Ole Miss defensive back Mike Hilton said. “But things happen for a reason. Maybe not this year. Maybe they’ll get it next year. But to end my senior year with these last two wins against LSU and Mississippi State, it’s big for us. Not just for me but for the senior class.”
Depending on the outcome of Saturday’s SEC title game, Ole Miss still has a chance to play in a New Year’s Six bowl, an opportunity Freeze advocated for after last season’s 42-3 loss to TCU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. He wants redemption.
But the goal in August was an SEC championship. And Freeze still believes he has a team talented enough to have done that.
“I wish we were playing [Saturday] in Atlanta,” the fourth-year coach said. “I think we’d win it. That’s what I feel. We’re not, but to say that you have a team that can go and win that conference, I think says what I feel about our guys right now.”
It’s hard to argue against him. Sure, Ole Miss did play Florida earlier in the season and lost 38-10. The Rebels also lost 37-24 to Memphis. But Ole Miss is the only team this season to beat No. 2 Alabama, on the road nonetheless, and the Rebels have looked as good as anybody in the SEC the last two weeks with dominant wins over LSU and Mississippi State.
“We’re pretty good when we focus up and we trust each other to get our jobs done,” Ole Miss wide receiver Damore'ea Stringfellow said. “I feel like we’re the best in the nation when we do that.”
“We’re one of the top [teams] in the nation,” Hilton added. “We feel like we can compete with anybody, play with anybody.”
The future at Ole Miss is full of uncertainty. Hilton, C.J. Johnson, Trae Elston, Jaylen Walton and the other seniors won’t be back next season. Some of the juniors -- like Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil, Laquon Treadwell and Tony Conner -- might declare for the NFL draft.
This season was their chance. But SEC title or no SEC title, this group will still leave a legacy that will impact the program for years to come.
“This group has made us nationally relevant,” Freeze said. “I think that’s going to help us continue to recruit at a high level and bring in kids like Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil and Laquon Treadwell, which, ultimately, you’ve got to have some of those to go to Atlanta. That’s what we want to do, and we were a whisker’s hair from doing that this year.
“But to come from where we did four years ago, I think with this group that is the legacy. They made us relevant. It’s hard for anyone to argue that. Now I think we’re getting close to going beyond that and playing a significant role in who decides this conference.”