Ole Miss selected to play in Sugar Bowl

OXFORD — Ole Miss football's reward for a 10-win season will be oh-so sweet.

No. 8 Ole Miss (10-2, 6-2 SEC) was selected Sunday to face No. 6 Baylor (11-2, 7-2 Big 12) in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 (7:45 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Caesars Superdome. Baylor enters the Sugar Bowl as Big 12 champions, fresh off a win Saturday over Oklahoma State. Ole Miss earns the SEC'S automatic bid into the Sugar Bowl as the highest-rated SEC team outside of the College Football Playoff.

The bowl announcement comes one day after Ole Miss committed to extending coach Lane Kiffin's contract one more year. Details for the new contract have not yet been released.

“We are taking another big step in our growth toward being a championship program by earning a New Year's Six berth in the Allstate Sugar Bowl,” Kiffin said in a school release. “I'm excited for our players to compete in one of the most tradition-rich bowls against a premier program in Baylor. We look forward to representing our university and the Southeastern Conference on this national platform.”

Baylor and Ole Miss have only played once before, the season opener in 1975. This will be Ole Miss' third trip to a New Year's Six bowl game since the format began in 2014 and third game played against a Big 12 foe. The Rebels lost the 2014 Peach Bowl against TCU and won the 2016 Sugar Bowl versus Oklahoma State.

Ole Miss won 10 games in a regular season for the first time in school history in 2021. In the second year under Kiffin, the Rebels ranked No. 18 in the FBS in scoring offense and No. 4 in yards per game and improved dramatically on defense, allowing 25 points per game compared to 38.3 a year ago.

Like Ole Miss, Baylor is in its second year under a new coach. After finishing 2-7 in their first year under coach Dave Aranda, the Bears turned things around. They snagged ranked wins over BYU, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and their two losses, both on the road, came by a combined 12 points.

With this bid, Ole Miss becomes just the fourth team ever to appear in 10 Sugar Bowls, joining Alabama (16), LSU (13) and Georgia (11). The Rebels are 6-3

nsuss@gannett.com

ROGELIO V. SOLIS/AP Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin talks with defensive back Jake Springer following their 31-21 win against Mississippi State on Nov. 25.