The Oklahoma State football team gets a chance to end the year on a high-note in one of the New Year’s Six bowls.
Thanks to a little help from the Texas Longhorns, the Oklahoma State football team will be heading to New Orleans to face the Ole Miss Rebels in the 2016 Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The Sugar Bowl, who hosted a national semi-final game for last season’s College Football playoff, will now host the top non-playoff SEC and Big 12 teams over the next two seasons. With Baylor’s 23-17 loss to Texas today, the Cowboys were able to move up to No. 2 in the conference, due to holding the tiebreaker over TCU, who finished the season No.3. The Rebels’ No.2 spot was solidified with Florida’s 29-15 loss to Alabama in the SEC title game.
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The Cowboys would’ve likely ended up in the Alamo Bowl if not for Baylor’s loss. Moving up to the Sugar Bowl provides a somewhat positive note after ending the season with two big losses at home, so there’s that.
The Rebels finished the regular season 9-3, which included a wins over Alabama, LSU, and Mississippi State, and losses to Florida, Memphis, and Arkansas. Kind of all over the place.
Cincy on the Prowl
Ole Miss poses a difficult matchup for the Cowboys, who would’ve instead faced an offensively-inept Florida team had the Gator pulled the upset off again Alabama. The Rebels have one of the better offenses in the defense-heavy SEC, averaging 515.4 yards per game to go along with 40.0 points, the latter ranking 13th nationally. Junior quarterback Chad Kelly threw for 3,740 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in the regular season.
This will be the third bowl meeting between the two teams since 2004. The Rebels, led by Eli Manning, beat the Pokes 31-28 in the 2004 Cotton Bowl, and 21-7 in the 2010 edition of the Cotton Bowl after a big performance from Dexter McCluster.
According to the Sugar Bowl’s Twitter account, Oklahoma State will be the visitor. Kickoff is set for 7:30pm CST, and the official announcement will be made tomorrow afternoon at 2:00pm CST.