No. 9 Ole Miss floats into The Swamp with playoffs mindset

Four two-loss Southeastern Conference teams are packed into a five-team logjam in the latest College Football Playoff projections released Tuesday.No. 9 Ole Miss is one of those teams and Rebels coach Lane Kiffin is among the coaches that have figured this part out: It’s better to not be part of the SEC title game than lose in it and miss the 12-team playoff field.But first, Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2 SEC) attempts to bolster its positioning when it visits Florida (5-5, 3-4) on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.A Rebels’ victory keeps the team in the SEC championship game mix. Also entering the weekend with two losses are SEC foes No. 7 Alabama, No. 10 Georgia and No. 11 Tennessee. No. 3 Texas has lost just once.The winner of the SEC title game gets a first-round bye. But that’s not the part that concerns Kiffin.”You know, the reward to get a bye versus the risk to get knocked out completely, I mean, that’s a really big risk just to get a bye,” Kiffin said. “So I think it’s ended up being a very unique situation of all postseason sports. The way that system is set up there and how you could go to (the SEC championship game) and get knocked out (of the CFP race). If you don’t go, you’re in.”Ole Miss has won three straight games, including a solid 28-10 home victory over Georgia on Nov. 9. The Rebels had a bye last weekend.Rebels star quarterback Jaxson Dart has thrown for 3,409 yards, 22 touchdowns and just four interceptions this season. He’s also expected to have top target Tre Harris back in the fold.Harris missed the past three games due to a back injury. He has accumulated 59 receptions for 987 yards and six scores.”Really excited to get the best receiver in the country back,” Kiffin said of Harris.Jordan Watkins, who has caught a team-best seven touchdown passes, says every contest is in a playoff game for the Rebels.”If we lose, we’re not in playoff contention, so knowing that, we have to win in every game from here on out,” Watkins said. “You can see that as far as how well we’re playing.”The Rebels close the regular season at home against Mississippi State on Nov. 29.

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