They could just as easily refer to Saturday’s Peach Bowl match-up between Penn State and Mississippi (Noon ET; ESPN) as the ‘Poor Cousins Bowl!’ Penn State, of course, has played third fiddle to Michigan and Ohio State in the BIG10 for what seems like forever, at least in Happy Valley, while Ole Miss has had some pretty good teams of late, but who notices in a conference with Alabama and Georgia. The good news for the 10th ranked Lions and #11 Rebels, though, is they’ll actually have a chance to make the playoffs next year when the CFP field expands to 12. While while Ole Miss was one of the surprise teams of the college season, the Rebels don’t necessarily have much in the way of top prospects for the upcoming draft, although they do have a solid veteran ball club with a number of players that should get at least some third-day consideration including QB Jaxson Dart (#2, 6-2, 220), WRs Tre Harris (#9, 6-2, 205), arguably the team’s best prospect who is averaged almost 20 yards a reception this fall, Jordan Watkins (#11, 5-11, 190) and Dayton Wade (#19, 5-9, 175); G/T Jeremy James (#78, 6-4, 305); C Caleb Warren (#54, 6-4, 310); DE Jared Ivey (#15, 6-5, 265), who had 9.5 sacks this season, and DT JJ Pegues (#89, 6-2, 315). There is a pretty good chance, though, that Ole Miss will be a bigger factor at the 2025 draft as the team’s best player is sophomore RB Quinshon Judkins (#4, 5-11, 210) who figures to be a leading prospect next year. In fact, maybe the most intriguing aspect of this game is that it features some of the top young RBs in the country with sophomores Nicholas Singleton (#10, 6-0, 225) and Kaytron Allen (#13, 5-11, 225) carrying the mail for the Nittany Lions. Penn State, though, will be without DE Chop Robinson who opted out, while All-America OT Olu Fashanu (#74, 6-5, 320), a potential top 5-10 candidate for the upcoming draft, is in Atlanta but has not committed to actually suiting up. Same for CB Kalen King (#4, 5-10, 90), who if he plays will be looking for some bounce back outing after struggling at times against some of the better receivers this fall. Rising DE Adisa Isaac (#20, 6-3, 250), who led the team with 7.5 sacks this fall, as well as angular, big-play WR Keandre Lambert-Smith (#1, 6-1, 185), though, will play as will sophomore LB Abdul Carter (#11, 6-3, 250), another top prospect for 2025.
