Ole Miss vs. LSU: How Ole Miss Loss Reshapes Playoff Picture

Just when you thought Bo Wallace finally laid his "Bad Bo" persona to rest, one play reinforces every doubt anyone ever had about him.

The Ole Miss quarterback threw a game-ending interception in a 10-7 loss to No. 24 LSU in Baton Rouge. As a result, the third-ranked Rebels may have done irreparable damage to their playoff hopes.

The Rebels were in position for freshman kicker Gary Wunderlich to attempt a potential game-tying field goal from 47 yards out. Instead, head coach Hugh Freeze opted to run one more play, and Tigers safety Ronald Martin intercepted a pass thrown by Wallace near the goal line.

Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde offered a withering criticism of Freeze's decision not to kick the field goal with nine seconds left:

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller also wondered why Wallace would try to throw through a window that clearly wasn't there:

Freeze explained the decision after the game, per Mike Sands of WLBT in Jackson, Miss.:

The Rebels aren't completely out of the hunt for the playoff, but they've got a tough road to go. They play No. 5 Auburn next week, and then the huge Egg Bowl battle with the top-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs comes at the end of the regular season.

Those are two major hurdles, so it's hard to consider Ole Miss a lock any more. Looking ahead, these four teams are best positioned to qualify for the playoff.

Seed	Team	Record
1	No. 1 Mississippi State Bulldogs	7-0 (4-0 SEC)
2	No. 2 Florida State Seminoles	7-0 (4-0 ACC)
3	No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide	7-1 (4-1 SEC)
4	No. 10 TCU Horned Frogs	6-1 (3-1 Big 12)

Mississippi State didn't have the most convincing of wins over Kentucky on Saturday. The Wildcats gained 502 yards on the top-ranked Bulldogs in a 45-31 defeat, with quarterback Patrick Towles combining for 466 yards and four touchdowns.

In short, the Bulldogs defense was far from convincing:

Still, Mississippi State is the only unbeaten team in the SEC and more than deserving of the top spot.

Some will be surprised to see the Alabama Crimson Tide ahead of Ole Miss, considering the Rebels beat 'Bama earlier in the year. However, Alabama looks to be the more complete team and a slightly better bet to finish the season with only one loss.

Saturday night fortified every criticism many had of Ole Miss. The Rebels looked sluggish in their wins over Memphis and Tennessee, and that ended up biting them against the Tigers. In addition, Wallace reverted to his old, inconsistent self, finishing 14-of-33 for 176 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

The Ole Miss defense wasn't even that great, surrendering 264 rushing yards to LSU.

You could argue that Auburn might deserve to be in ahead of Alabama. The Georgia Bulldogs are also lurking in the SEC East with only one loss. Either way, it's hard to be too high on the Rebels at the moment.

Of course, with so much time left in the season, it's hard to get too worked up about any playoff projections.

Basically barring some unforeseen catastrophe, two teams are locked into the playoff: the SEC champion and Florida State. Outside of that, it's all up in the air, which leads to two big questions.

The first, will the selection committee send two teams from the same conference?

If you truly want to send the four best teams in the country into the playoff, it makes sense to include a one-loss squads Alabama, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, depending on the situation. Then again, doing that dismisses the idea of deciding it on the field, so maybe it should only be one team per conference.

Then there's the question of whether a one-loss Oregon team deserves a spot ahead of one-loss programs such as Ohio State, Michigan State, TCU and Notre Dame. Each team has plenty of flaws in its resume, and no perfect answer exists.

But that's all a different discussion for a different day. For now, Mississippi State can enjoy being the best team in the state.