Ole Miss Football Unable to Shake Season-Long Trend in Loss to Florida

The Ole Miss Rebels are 0-3 in one-score games following a 24-17 loss in Gainesville.

Nov 23, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin looks on against the Florida Gators during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

The Ole Miss Rebels saw their College Football Playoff hopes take a major hit in a crushing loss to the Florida Gators on Saturday, and the Rebels were unable to shake a 2024 trend that is a reversal of fortunes from last fall.

The Rebels are now 0-3 in one-score games this season, losing those games by a total of 13 points. If you're an Ole Miss fan, that's a heartbreaking stat that tells the story of 2024.

"I mean it’s football, and that happens," Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said postgame on Saturday. "You know, the year before, most of the close ones, it was the opposite, right? All the close ones went our way. So, sometimes the ball bounces that way."

Sometimes the ball does bounce the other way, like in the Kentucky game where the Rebels forced a fumble on the goal line just for a Wildcat to grab it out of mid air and waltz in for a score.

It really is a tale of two seasons where the Rebels won all of their one-score games in 2023 and would've made the 12-team playoff, had that format been in place. In 2024, they are winless in those contests and on the outside looking in, needing a miracle to get back into the picture with one regular season game remaining.

Ole Miss takes on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the Egg Bowl on Friday to try and move to 9-3. Kickoff at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on ABC.