The Ole Miss Rebels and the Texas Tech Red Raiders have verbally agreed to a 2018 football game in Houston, according to a report by ESPN.
Texas Tech, Ole Miss have agreed to open 2018 season in Houston, sources told @ESPN
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 11, 2016
The AdvoCare Texas Kickoff game would be played on the opening weekend of the 2018 season on Saturday, Sept. 1 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Texas Tech would be the first announced non-conference game for the Ole Miss Rebels for the 2018 season. It would also satisfy their strength of schedule mandate, which stipulates that each SEC team play at least one non-conference game against a Power Five team every season.
The Big 12 also has a similar strength of schedule requirement, and Ole Miss would fulfill that requirement for the Red Raiders.
Texas Tech is currently scheduled to open the 2018 season at home against Missouri State and hosts Houston two weeks later on Sept. 15. In order to play Ole Miss, the Red Raiders will likely move the Missouri State game to Sept. 8 or 22.
Ole Miss and Texas Tech first met in 1986 and have squared off five times. The Rebels won the most recent meeting 47-34 in the 2009 Cotton Bowl to take a 3-2 lead in the series.
Ole Miss is also slated to face Baylor in Houston to open the season in 2020, although that game has not officially been announced yet.
Football Schedules
Another neutral-site game. I got to be honest, I’m sick of this stuff, especially from the SEC, who seems to be the biggest user/abuser of these match-ups. Why can’t you just play a home-and-home match-up? That’s what college football is all about. Are you that desperate to have an easier win by avoiding a road game? I know Texas Tech is also to blame, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they couldn’t get a home-and-home with Ole Miss.
Isn’t this better than Ole Miss vs. Lamar or Texas Texas Tech vs. Alcorn State? Man take what you can get.
Maverick,
You may of not noticed but the game is in TEXAS. How is it easier win for Ole Miss playing in the state of Texas against Texas Tech? Now that is home field advantage for the Red Raiders, just another excuse to bash the SEC for no reason & of course blame it on the Rebels (sneaking suspicion)……come on, really?
Day, sir, what you don’t seem to understand is that the state of Texas is gigantic. While it may be the same state that TTU is in, Houston is still over 8 hours away from Lubbock and only 30-45 minutes closer than Oxford. Houston is not exactly a TTU hotbed, it goes TAMU, UT, UH, and then everyone else.
Shep,
I understand how big the state of Texas is, my point is pointing the falseness of making comments like ” Are you that desperate to have an easier win by avoiding a road game? ” How is that an easier win?
“Another neutral-site game. I got to be honest, I’m sick of this stuff, especially from the SEC, who seems to be the biggest user/abuser of these match-ups”
There are 20 neutral site games this year, SEC has 7 of them, one reason is because how popular the SEC is in football but the other neutral site games have nothing to do with SEC, so just don’t watch them I guess.
Why can’t you just play a home-and-home match-up?
Because there is a lot of money in neutral site games plus they’re are easier to schedule & bring fans that pay money to come see them. Big cities love them!
Plus the same people that complain about not having H/n/H don’t even go both games so what’s the point of complaining about an event you are not even going to participate in?
” I know Texas Tech is also to blame, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they couldn’t get a home-and-home with Ole Miss.”
lol…..I luv this one because it says, well, the SEC has a sneaking way of making these games happen. Like TT was going to say NO to a large pay check. Or the city of Houston said, “no, we don’t want more money poring into our city but we will take it if we have too.”
The deal is TT & Ole Miss have a chance to make a lot of money no matter where the game is played, btw, Ole Miss is playing in Orlando this year against FSU, I have heard no complaints from any Rebel fans about having to drive or fly to Florida where they will be out numbered by Seminole fans. Ole Miss is just happy to be there & will enjoy the paycheck plus should have fun in Orlando & who knows, may pick up a win as well.
Good luck.
These “neutral” site games would not be a problem is you played either A.) another power 5 game, or B.) Another conference game.
However, you would rather play Little Sister of the Poor 3 times a year.
Don’t lump all SEC schools together. Auburn is doing a neutral site game with Oregon but they have home and homes with Clemson, Cal and Penn State scheduled.
Auburn could have chosen to do a home-and-home with Oregon in 2018-19 but took the easy way out, avoiding playing a home-and-home in Autzen. Just like Texas A&M and Georgia did. At least Auburn didn’t cancel on Oregon. So Auburn is still in search of a P5 OOC game in 2018. Who are the Tigers going to schedule? Not many choices left out there.
Auburn took the easy road out? Yet the’re are still traveling to California & Pennsylvania , that is not an easy road
So down to Auburn, Vandy and Arkansas as the three final P5 programs, with openings on their 2018 schedule, who have yet to schedule a OOC game versus another P5 program in 2018. So are these three going to schedule each other as non-conference games as Wake Forest and North Carolina have done for 2019? Or just schedule ULL and obtain a waiver from the SEC.
Well, Arkansas was set until Michigan dropped us a month ago.
Auburn & Vandy will play each other in a “non”conference game. Arkansas will get a waiver since Michigan dumped them so late (they play both in the regular season so the non-conference conference game wouldn’t work for them)
As a lifelong Rebel fan I have been waiting 40 years for us to play a PAC 12 or BIG 10 team. Ole Miss has done the BIG 12 to death between home and home series with TX Tech, MO, and TX as well as bowl games against OK, OK State, Texas Tech, & TCU. Not to mention Nebraska when they were in the BIG 12. There must be some hidden rule in our athletic department prohibiting us from playing schools on the west coast. Non-conference home and home series are what makes college football great. We should be playing USC, UCLA, Ohio State, or Michigan State in home and home series. I’m a big fan of Ross Bjork but he totally dropped the ball on this neutral site game with TX Tech
I’m right there with you, Mitch. Who wouldn’t love to see those home and home match-ups? USC played home and homes with Arkansas and Auburn in the 2000s. Those were great games. (But maybe the fact that we dominated each match-up while going 4-0 is why you don’t do schedule teams like us anymore.) However, I think the SEC AD’s, Coaches and the SEC Commissioner care more about the easiest path to the College Football Playoff rather than having the most fair and balanced path to the CFP… And people wonder why fans chant “SEC Bias.”
Maverick,
Sure,go back almost 20yrs & complain about how the SEC does not want to play teams like USC (btw Bama plays them in less then a month). I don’t really think the SEC teams are worried about teams like USC these days. The only people that chant SEC bias is people with to much time on their hands, I rather just enjoy the games & once again. Neutral site games are very popular & they just keep building, they have not taken over h/n/h, just added more excitement to the game.
People forget teams like Ohio State canceling a series with Georgia and Tennessee or Michigan who canceled a series with Arkansas.
Happens all the time…
I have a feeling the people who think this is an SEC problem are only allowed to write in crayon and use a kiddie spoon.
Joe,
They don’t forget, they just don’t bring it up & if they have to its all about how the SEC does it all the time & you are correct, it happens all the time among ALL conferences.
Joe and Day,
When the SEC does it, they replace the games with scrub Sunbelt and FCS games. When any other conference does it, they replace the games with another one just like it… Stupid argument.
Maverick,
Not true, Bama cancelled the game with Michigan St & filled it it with USC & FSU.
They play only 1, ONE, JUST ONE Power 5 game!!!! They play just 8 conference games!
Historically, there was great equality in college football up until 2006 when college football expanded from 11 games to 12 games. Whereas the Pac 12 (at the time the Pac 10) expanded to 9 conference games, the other conferences stayed at 8 conferences game. In the case of the SEC, they added an extra cupcake game, which is what no other conference did. (You can make the argument that the ACC did too, but there OOC scheduling is harder. The Big 10 on the other hand had a way stronger OOC schedule). On top of all that, the FCS games, which were not often played before 2006, did not count every year to the bowl requirement. Now it does? Why? There should be no reason why a team that went 2-6 in conference games should go to a bowl game just because they went 4-0 against a very weak OOC schedule.
I’m not trying to hate on the SEC. That’s what I want SEC fans to know. However, I want there to be greater schedule balance in the Power 5 conferences. Yes, I understand that the SEC has been up-and-down better than the ACC and Big 10. But what needs to happen in this CFP era so that we get the right teams in the playoff is each team needs to play:
1.) 10 Power 5 games. (I prefer everyone plays 9 conference games and minimum 1 P5 OOC game.)
2.) A championship game.
Only when each P5 conference is put on equal footing will we truly know who deserves to be in the finals.
P.S. ESPN’s SoS metric is so ridiculous. It’s not an accurate description of toughness of schedule. How can a conference (SEC) that has the easiest OOC schedule (which includes 4 OOC games) have the toughest SoS overall? I know! It’s because they have an all but guaranteed 7 more wins by playing 1 less conference game!
I fully agree that home-and-home games at campus stadiums is what makes college football great.
Mississippi St played Oregon in a home and home series in 2003-02. Bulldogs lost both games. So Rebels don’t want to come to Autzen. Just like the Razorbacks don’t want to come to Autzen, just like…
Where is this “Arkansas doesn’t want to come to Autzen” narrative coming from? We only had openings in 2018-19 come up about a month ago. And afaik, neither AD brought up the idea. Some of us fans did.
So what’s Ol Miss going to do to fill their 2017 schedule opening?
For 2017, seven programs still need to schedule an additional FBS opponent:
Florida St*, Missi, Tulane*, San Jose St, FIU*, ULL and Troy
(*Florida St, Tulane and FIU still have two games to schedule in 2017.)
Of course they ALL want home games.
And Arizona is still without a P5 OOC opponent but appears they have not been attempting to schedule one (Wildcats have been consistently purposely scheduling weak).
In 2017 Fresno St, San Diego St, Hawaii, San Jose St and BYU can all play an extra game (Hawaii exemption). But none wish to, as it would take away their only bye game (a valuable rarity).
So in 2017 maybe end up with:
Tulane@Missi (or in Superdome?)
San Jose St@Arizona
Troy@Florida St
ULL@Florida St
FIU@Florida
Florida doesn’t prefer to play FCS programs and instead typically schedules an additional G5 opponent. And in 2017 I suspect Florida St wants do the same.
Then expect TCU, Arkansas, Kentucky, Miami-FL, Syracuse, Air Force, UNLV, Tulane, and FIU to schedule a game versus a FCS opponent, as they all want home games.
West Michigan, Akron, Ball State, ULM and Coastal Carolina will also likely opt to play FCS opponent as well, as they all want home games.
Let’s be clear, Florida didn’t decide they prefer not to play FCS programs until they lost to Georgia Southern a couple of years ago. Before that they scheduled them yearly like the rest of the SEC.
This is a great match-up & we all should really enjoy it in stead of complaining about would’ve should’ve could’ve about a home n home & what could of been. The deal was made & both these teams will be receiving a nice little pay check. I’m happy for both teams.
Read this article and tell me where I’m wrong that the SEC benefits from playing an 8 game conference schedule compared to a 9 game schedule.
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2014/8/12/5969965/college-football-playoff-strength-of-schedule-conference-8-9-games-pac-12-sec-big-ten-big-acc