CBS tiering remaining games confirms what Ole Miss players and fans have been thinking

After the LSU defeat, Ole Miss fans have known what's at stake heading into these final five games of the season. If they win, they will likely be in the 12-team playoff.

If there was any doubt, a cheat sheet compiled over at CBS has more or less confirmed that to be the case. Using a similar system to college basketball in deciding strength of wins, which then determines post regular season tournament births, suggests Ole Miss winning out gets them in.

Ole Miss has three top-quad games remaining in CBS cheat sheet

Before we understand how the Ole Miss schedule is shaping up using the CBS system, below are four quadrants, each tied to the opponent's difficulty. For example, if you are facing a top-15 opponent at home this weekend, you would be a Quad 1 opponent. If facing an opponent ranked 16 to 40, you would be a Quad 2 opponent.

Quad 1
1-15 home
1-20 neutral
1-25 road

Quad 2
16-40 home
21-45 neutral
26-50 road

Quad 3
41-75 home
46-85 neutral
51-95 road

Quad 4
76-134 (or FCS) home
86-134 neutral
96-134 road

Ole Miss's two losses are very different. The LSU defeat falls into the Quad 1 bracket, with the Tigers ranked in the top 25 and the Rebels losing on the road. Kentucky fell under a Quad 3 loss, with Kentucky ranked at No. 63, and it was a home loss.

This means that Kentucky's loss is a problem using this hypothetical system. Luckily for Ole Miss, they have the chance to rectify that. Saturday's game against Oklahoma and the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State is Quad 3 games right now. In between that, there are three pivotal games for the Rebels if they win the two mentioned.

Arkansas and Florida are road games, which means they fall into Quad 2 games. The Gators are just inside the fresh hold for a Quad 2 game, currently ranked No. 50, so they could be ranked lower with that game in Week 13. The big one between those road games is Georgia at home, guaranteed to be a Quad 1 game.

Georgia is important, but it does not matter if Ole Miss loses any of these last five games. However, despite this being a hypothetical exercise, it still shows that the Rebels have games on the schedule that will be important in deciding who gets a playoff birth. Now Lane Kiffin and his team need to win them all.