Matt Barrie explains why Ole Miss-LSU might be the first CFP elimination game of 2024
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Matt Barrie knows it’s still only Week 7, and a lot can happen for No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 13 LSU after they finish playing each other on Saturday night in Baton Rouge.
However, the ESPN college football analyst believes the showdown between the Rebels and Tigers in Death Valley has bigger stakes than a normal game in mid-October. Barrie said Wednesday on the “Always College Football” podcast with Greg McElroy that he thinks this game might be the first College Football Playoff elimination game of the 2024 season.
“I still stand by that (statement). There’s enough football to play your way back into it. But there’s also enough football to where you run out of turns,” said Barrie. “LSU’s loss to USC doesn’t look good anymore … They do have the games on their schedule to get back in it. But this stage of the game, with all these other teams out there, you don’t want to be the first 2-loss team, and the loser of this game is.
“Basically, you just don’t want to be the first big-time school with 2 losses. Because that’s going to come get you in November.”
Ole Miss comes into the game at 5-1, having lost at home to an unranked Kentucky team in Week 5.
Meanwhile, LSU has rebounded with 4 straight wins following a season-opening loss to USC in Las Vegas.
ESPN’s matchup predictor is currently giving Ole Miss a 67.8% chance to prevail in Death Valley.
Time will tell if Barrie’s bold assertion is correct.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
