With an important regular-season finale ending a short week, Mississippi has watched its dreams shift from national success to perhaps something it certainly did not want on Thanksgiving weekend:

No. 15 Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3) suffered a heartbreaking 24-17 defeat at Florida last weekend, seemingly ending the Rebels’ chances at a berth in the expanded 12-team playoff. Immediately after the game, head coach Lane Kiffin intimated that a third loss was essentially the final nail in his team’s coffin;