It all comes down to this. One more game for the Ole Miss Rebels to win to advance to play for a National Championship for the first time since the 1962 season. Thursday night will be the fourth meeting between the Hurricanes and the Rebels, with the Hurricanes holding a 2-1 series advantage. The last meeting was back in 1951, when Miami took down Ole Miss 20-7. 

For the Rebels, Thursday night will be the first-ever appearance in the Fiesta Bowl, and it seems as if half the state of Mississippi is making the trip out west to take on the Fiesta Bowl as they try to push their Rebels past the finish line by at the very least earning a trip to the National Championship game. Ole Miss fans took over the Superdome last weekend as the Rebels took down the mighty Georgia Bulldogs 39-34 to advance to the College Football Playoff Semifinal round against the Hurricanes of Miami. 

As for the Miami Hurricanes, the path to the Fiesta Bowl has been similar to that of Ole Miss, where they had to beat Texas A&M in the first round of the College Football Playoff before taking down Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl to earn their trip to the College Football Semifinal round. Thursday night will be the fifth time in program history that Miami has played in the Fiesta Bowl, with the latest coming in 2003 when they lost to Ohio State in the BCS Championship game. Although this will be the 5th appearance in the Fiesta Bowl, Miami has never won the bowl, dating back to their first appearance in 1985. 

Miami has a familiar face for Ole Miss folks, leading the charge at quarterback with Carson Beck leading the charge for the Hurricanes. Beck has been playing his best ball since November. In his last game against Ohio State, Beck threw for 138 yards with one touchdown, but did what he had to keep Miami playing football into the month of January. Miami also has a mean defensive line that reminds folks of the glory days of Miami football when they were big and fast on the defensive line. They might not be Georgia, but Miami brings its own challenges that Ole Miss must address to have a chance at winning. 

With that being said, it’s one of those games that feels like Ole Miss has too much talent on the offensive side of the ball, with Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy leading the show. Things might become difficult for the Miami defense as the Rebels will look to establish a lead early, setting the tone for the rest of the game. If not, Ole Miss has already come back by double digits once and can do it again. 

Out of the four remaining, there are two teams that seem to be destined to win a National Championship: one is the Indiana Hoosiers, who play Oregon on Friday night, and the other is Coach Pete Golding and the Ole Miss Rebels. Either can be beaten, but heading into the College Football Semifinal round, those two seem like the two to beat. 

Ole Miss and Miami will get underway at 6:30 p.m. Central Thursday night on ESPN.