Sugar Bowl 2016: Dissecting Top Storylines for Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma State

This year's Sugar Bowl is expected to generate a ton of firepower, as two of the nation's most offensively productive teams meet when Ole Miss takes on Oklahoma State. 

While not included among this year's College Football Playoff and taking somewhat of a backseat to other New Year's Six games, this year's Sugar Bowl should be one of the most entertaining bowl matchups left given both teams' ability to light up the scoreboard. 

Here is a look at game info for Friday's tilt with a few storylines to ponder.

Date: Friday, January 1

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Mercedes-Benz Superdome (New Orleans)

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Ole Miss in Sugar Bowl for 1st Time in 45 Years

ANONYMOUS/Associated Press

The Sugar Bowl has featured a SEC team 39 times since 1971, but Ole Miss has not been one of those teams.

The annual game in New Orleans generally features some of the nation's best teams—and acted as the national title game periodically—and Ole Miss simply hasn't kept up since its last appearance.

Just four seasons ago, the Rebels were 2-10 and had gone more than a full calendar year without a SEC win, prompting the resignation of head coach Houston Nutt. 

But Nutt's replacement, Hugh Freeze, has revitalized the program into a postseason regular, having played in a bowl game in each of his four seasons, though none nearly as monumental as the Sugar Bowl. 

Under Freeze, Ole Miss is the only team outside reigning national champion Ohio State to defeat almighty Alabama in the past two seasons, having done so twice. 

In that span, the Rebels cracked the Top Three in the Associated Press poll before a skid later in the season. 

Yet the Rebels enter Friday's game having won four of their last five, and a season-ending victory in the program's biggest bowl game in recent memory would certainly send Ole Miss into the offseason with optimistic hopes for 2016. 

Cowboys Still Mum on Starting QB

Brody Schmidt/Associated Press

Oklahoma State starting quarterback Mason Rudolph's status remains in question after suffering a foot injury in the regular-season finale, but the Cowboys are using attrition to their advantage. 

By keeping personnel plans under wrap, Oklahoma State is preventing Ole Miss from fully strategizing a game plan catering to either Rudolph or backup J.W. Walsh.

"It's just exciting to know that we kind of have that edge as far as the secrecy of it," Walsh said, per Kyle Fredrickson of the Oklahoman. "And how coach [Mike] Gundy kind of goes about his business has always been kind of fun. He's always been that way."

Rudolph showed no limitations in practice last week and was without the protective boot he'd been wearing since suffering the injury, per Fredrickson:

Freeze isn't terribly concerned about dual-quarterback game-planning affecting his team's overall approach, per Parrish Alford of the Daily Journal:

"

We'll be ready for both. It's hard to stop those guys. They're very good. Their coaches do a good job preparing them. We've seen both play and have worked against packages with both of them in there.

"

Walsh has seen action, albeit minimal, in all but one game this season, highlighted by his fill-in for Rudolph against Oklahoma in which he completed 25-of-42 passes for 325 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. 

He hasn't been a primary starter since 2013, but he has the experience as a senior to come in and play effectively should the Cowboys need.