Magnolia Bowl Rematch? Ole Miss, LSU Paired in Way-Too-Early Playoff Projections

Will the Ole Miss Rebels be College Football Playoff bound in 2024, and could they meet up with a rival along the way?

The 2024 college football season is still months away, but fans are always locked in for a sport that has evolved greatly over the last 10 years.

With multiple transfer windows and the advent of NIL legislation, college football is truly a year-round sport, even if the games themselves are only played from August to January. Late spring and the entirety of summer are spent in "talking season" where analysts give projections and opinions about the season to come, even as rosters are ever-changing thanks to the portal.

In that vein, 247Sports recently released its way-too-early bowl projections for the 2024 season, ranging from the "lesser" bowls all the way to the College Football Playoff.

Where did the Ole Miss Rebels land? If you're a fan of the team in Oxford, you're in luck: Ole Miss is projected to reach the CFP, but its opponent is somewhat of a surprise. You can read an excerpt from the piece below.

Projected matchup: No. 10 LSU at No. 7 Ole Miss

The SEC will be the league with the most playoff bids, but which one of that group will be the last team? Going with LSU, early. The Rebels take the field in September with the most-talented roster in program history. It's playoff or bust in 2024 for Lane Kiffin.

"Playoff or bust" may fit the bill for Kiffin's Rebels this season. There is no doubt that Ole Miss will field a formidable roster in 2024, if the key pieces remain healthy, and after an 11-win campaign in 2023, the expanded playoff field provides a golden opportunity for this team to make history.

Still, can you imagine if this matchup came to pass? Ole Miss and LSU are heated annual rivals in the Magnolia Bowl series, and some of the biggest games in college football history took place between these two programs in the 1950s and 60s. Remember Billy Cannon's punt return for a touchdown? That came from this rivalry.

Granted, any SEC-on-SEC matchup in the playoff would be huge for the conference, but pitting two historical rivals against one another would be must-see television and garner higher stakes than usual. According to these projections, Ole Miss would be expected to advance past LSU to a Peach Bowl meeting against the Georgia Bulldogs, but it would fall short of the semifinals.

Ole Miss and LSU will square off in the regular season on Oct. 12, a game that will take place at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.