New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day have become the biggest days of the bowl season, especially in the new era of the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six bowl games.

But there was once a time when the Christmas season played a pivotal role in the annual bowl season as well.

No SEC team has played in a bowl game before Christmas day since the year 2000 (the SEC’s earlier bowl game in 2014 is on Dec. 27). But 17 years ago, the Ole Miss Rebels played in the SEC’s best pre-Christmas bowl game of the last 2o years, and that game marked a turning point for the Rebels program.

Ole Miss had just endured some heavy NCAA sanctions, losing a plethora of scholarships while suffering a postseason ban in 1995-96 and a television ban in 1995. Most programs would have been crippled by these sanctions, but the Rebels made their triumphant return to the postseason just one year later in 1997.

The Rebels closed the regular season with a 7-4 record thanks to a last-second 15-14 win over Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, and earned themselves an invite to the Motor City Bowl in the process.

Ole Miss remains the only SEC team to ever play in the Motor City Bowl. It faced-off with an emerging Marshall program in its first year as a Division IA program (now known as the FBS). The Thundering Herd were led by star wideout Randy Moss (perhaps you’ve heard of him?) and there was plenty at stake for both sides.

The Rebels were hoping to leave put recent troubles behind them once and for all with a critical bowl win; Marshall was hoping to prove it belonged in Division IA with a bowl win of its own.

Ole Miss trailed 31-27 with fewer than three minutes remaining, needing a score on its final drive of the season to secure a bowl victory. Just as they had done in their Egg Bowl victory, the Rebels marched down the field and moved themselves into the red zone with less than a minute remaining on the clock.

They turned to freshman tailback Deuce McAllister, who ran for 71 yards on just eight carries that day, to punch in the game-winning score. McAllister used his athleticism to leap over the line of scrimmage near the end zone, extending the ball away from his body in pursuit of the goal line.

His extension no doubt left Ole Miss fans uneasy, but the Marshall defense couldn’t knock the ball loose before the ball crossed the plane for the game-winning score.

Ole Miss went on to win 34-31, capping an 8-4 season. The Rebels ran off six straight winning seasons following the bowl victory from 1998-2003, and it is 8-1 bowl games since defeating Marshall to close the ’97 season.

Here are a few highlights from the game:

Merry Christmas, SDS readers. Enjoy the bowl season.