Bracketology 2024: Bubble Watch Updates of key teams in early March

Mississippi (20-9) (NET: 78)
2-7 (Q1), 3-2 (Q2), 8-0 (Q3), 7-0 (Q4)

Things are going south for the Rebels. They’ve won just two of their last eight games, and both of those wins came over Missouri, including a road win this past Saturday. There wasn’t anything disappointing in those six losses, just missed opportunities, with five of them by double-digits.

Ole Miss does have a pair of Quad 1 victories, winning at both UCF and Texas A&M. Neither of those wins has aged really well outside of the metrics, and their other good wins in SEC play were home games against Florida and Mississippi State.

There wasn’t much drama in their nonconference schedule, but at least the Rebels don’t have any terrible losses. The Quad 2 defeats came at LSU and recently against South Carolina at home. Neither was great, but neither is a resume killer.

What kills the resume is the overall body of work. The Rebels couldn’t beat any of those ranked teams in the SEC and don’t have another shot before the league tournament, facing Georgia and Texas A&M in the final week. Winning both games is a necessity at this point.

Mississippi State (19-10) (NET: 32)
3-7 (Q1), 4-2 (Q2), 7-0 (Q3), 5-1 (Q4)

Mississippi State hopes to bounce back after a tough week, losing a pair of important games. They lost by two points at home to Kentucky on Tuesday before faltering at Auburn over the weekend, with those two Quad 1 opportunities going by the wayside.

A November win over Washington State aged well and sits at Quad 1. These Bulldogs later looked impressive in home wins over Tennessee and Auburn. They’ve added a few other Quad 2 wins, including bubble teams in Northwestern and Rutgers.

The very noticeable stain on the resume is a Quad 4 loss against Southern from the beginning of December. That kind of defeat really stings for any bubble team. A loss at Georgia Tech currently stands at Quad 2 but was Quad 3 only a few days ago.

Losing those two games last week isn’t ideal, but Mississippi State still has chances to impress. They’ll be at Texas A&M on Wednesday for another Quad 1 chance and get South Carolina at home to finish the regular season. Win those two games and that NET will look pretty great; lose them both and a run in the SEC Tournament might be needed.