As the No. 10 ranked team in the country heading into bowl season in 2023, Penn State played No. 11 Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl and struggled badly in a 38-25 loss in Atlanta. Now, the 8-1 Nittany Lions are projected for a rematch with the Rebels at Beaver Stadium in the first round of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
On Tuesday night the second College Football Playoff rankings of the 12-team era were released and Penn State checked in at No. 4 in the country. However, with the top four seeds going to the four highest-ranked conference champions, the Nittany Lions were slotted for the sixth seed, one spot behind No. 5 Ohio State with Oregon at No. 1, Texas at No. 2, BYU at No. 3, and Miami at No. 4. Coming off a big home win over Georgia, 8-2 Ole Miss jumped from outside of the top 12 to No. 11.
A Peach Bowl rematch could be very bad news for the Nittany Lions. While offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki was not calling plays for Penn State’s ugly loss last December, the offensive personnel was very similar and didn’t have a chance against the Rebels. Allar didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver until the fourth quarter, and that was with KeAndre Lambert-Smith active.
Penn State got worse at wide receiver, replacing Lambert-Smith with Julian Fleming, who has largely struggled in his return to his home state while Ole Miss added plenty of talent on the defensive side of the ball. Lane Kiffin went on a transfer portal spree, adding defensive tackle Walter Nolen from Texas A&M, edge rusher Princely Umanmielen from Florida, and cornerback Trey Amos from Alabama. It would be even tougher for Allar to manufacture offense against the Rebels, even with Kotelnicki in his ear dialing the offense up.
The only silver lining to this possible matchup is that Penn State would be much better equipped to handle Ole Miss’s offense. Kalen King and Johnny Dixon both opted out of the Peach Bowl to prepare for the NFL draft, which left the Nittany Lions completely overmatched in the secondary. Ole Miss wide receiver Tre Harris caught seven passes for 134 yards and tight end Caden Prieskorn finished with 10 grabs for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
That performance forced James Franklin into the portal where he added AJ Harris from Georgia and Jalen Kimber from Florida. Those two former SEC cornerbacks could be up to the challenge more than Daequan Hardy and Cam Miller were.
Ole Miss looked like one of the best teams in the entire country in Week 11, so Penn State fans should hope that the Rebels keep climbing up the CFP rankings and don’t head to Happy Valley in mid-December.