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Ole Miss fell short of a first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, but on Sunday, the Rebels learned who their bowl opponent will be. Lane Kiffin’s team will face Duke in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville on Jan. 2.
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Bound!@taxslayerbowl | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/snvhNofPqf
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) December 8, 2024
After a 4-0 start, the Rebels fell to Kentucky, then beat South Carolina before a loss to LSU. They then won their next three, including a victory against Georgia in Oxford, but slipped against Florida before wrapping the season with an Egg Bowl win against Mississippi State. The Rebels ultimately finished No. 14 in the final Playoff rankings.
Duke, in its first season under Manny Diaz, finished 9-3. The Blue Devils started 5-0 but lost at Georgia Tech before beating Florida State for the first time in program history. They then lost back-to-back games against ACC newcomer SMU and Miami before a 3-game win streak against NC State, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.
Ole Miss has a bit of a history in the Gator Bowl: its first appearance was in 1958, a 7-3 win over Florida. In 1971, it fell 35-28 to Auburn, then returned 20 years later to face Michigan, a 35-3 loss.
This is Duke’s first-ever Gator Bowl appearance, as well as the first-ever meeting between the Rebels and Blue Devils on the football field.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
