Penn State, Ole Miss try to add luster to their seasons in Peach Bowl

Dec. 29—ATLANTA — The hump for each Peach Bowl participant might as well be Mount McKinley.

No. 11 Ole Miss has reached 10 wins in two of the last three seasons, but has gone 0-5 against Alabama and Georgia in the Southeastern Conference.

No. 10 Penn State has reached double-digit victories five times in the last eight seasons, but has gone 4-12 against Michigan and Ohio State during that stretch.

“We embrace the expectations,” Nittany Lions coach James Franklin said Friday. “But we take a lot of pride in the consistency (we’ve had) and how we’ve been able to play over the majority of our time at Penn State.

“I think sometimes people take that for granted and don’t realize how challenging that is in today’s college football.”

Penn State (10-2) and Ole Miss (10-2) have a chance to make history when they meet in the 56th Peach Bowl Saturday at noon (TV-ESPN) before a sellout crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Lions can become the sixth team with five or more 11-win seasons since 2016, joining Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Clemson. They also can become the first school to win every bowl in the New Year’s Six in their first Peach Bowl appearance.

The Rebels are looking for their first 11-win season and only their second top-10 final ranking since 1969. Yet they and the rest of the SEC have been overshadowed by Georgia and Alabama.

“I don’t think many people have gotten over that hump,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “I know that we get criticized when we don’t get over the Alabama and Georgia hump, but really outside of the one LSU year (2019), I don’t know many people who have.

“We’ll just continue to work at it.”

Kiffin’s fourth team at Ole Miss has a mind-boggling 50 transfers on its roster, including quarterback Jaxson Dart, who began his career at USC in 2021. Dart has completed 65.4% of his passes for…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/penn-state-ole-miss-try-045000743.html

Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.

Publish date : 2023-12-30 04:50:00

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