There is a saying that you shouldn't lose hope until the fat lady starts singing. She is right there backstage, warming up her vocal cords in Oxford.
The NCAA released its Sweet 16 list right as we're about to dive headfirst into the March Madness, and the favorites held serve as Ole Miss was nowhere to be found.
Ole Miss's next-to-impossible Sweet 16 path
A nine-game losing streak and 16 loss season makes it pretty obvious.
Now to the question that seems almost rhetorical: Can the Rebels still make it to the Sweet 16?
They don't just need to win; they need a divine intervention, but there is a way.
Keeping the optimism alive after nine consecutive losses, Ole Miss needs a blowout over LSU next. A win good enough to show that they can leapfrog teams like Missouri or Vanderbilt to get a better draw at the SEC tournament ticket.
Making it to the SEC Tournament sounds just as impossible for now, but it's March Madness we're talking about. Winning there sounds even more of a pipedream.
While they haven't managed to win even one game out of their previous nine, they need a 5-game winning streak against the absolute titans of the conference.
Winning the tournament sounds like the only possible way left for them to get an automatic invite to March Madness, regardless of their regular-season record.
And all of this would still likely get them the #16 seed at most.
From there, they’d have to knock off a #1 seed (something that has only happened twice in history) and then win a second-round game to reach the Sweet 16.
In all, the Rebels' path forward is statistically dead, and only a providential lightning strike in Nashville can make it happen.
If it does happen, though, it will be one of the greatest timelines in the college football books.