Ole Miss and Wake Forest Agree To Home And Home Series

Two top five powerhouse conferences will square off during the out of conference slate of the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Ole Miss and Wake Forest have agreed to play each other in consecutive years, under traditional home-and-home format, during the aforementioned years a decade from now.  Although the two teams may not annually dominate their conferences, the pair have had periods of excellence, with Ole Miss currently enjoying their rank as the No. 3 team country with the nation’s best defensive unit. The teams aren’t located too far from each other, and should make for an interesting yet tough out of conference matchup, one that will certainly inflate strength of schedule during what are usually “cupcake” weeks.

The two teams have had almost polar opposite 2014 seasons, as the Demon Deacons have struggled to a 2-5 record while the number two-ranked Rebels have shocked the nation by their excellent play.  In recent years, both teams usually finish around .500 with years of elite status mixed in.

The first of the two games will take place in Winston-Salem on September 14, 2024.  Then, Wake Forest will travel to Oxford for the second and final meeting on September 13, 2025.  In the two teams’ long and storied traditions, they have met only twice. Previous encounters took place in 2006 and 2008, with the Demon Deacons winning both contests 27-3 and 30-28 respectively.

Gearing towards the future, other big name, non-conference matchups have been set as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a series of high-powered games against the likes of Texas, Georgia, Ohio State and Texas A&M.

Each contest should hold a major bearing over where teams finish in the rankings and could be a determining factor for the newly minted playoff system. It’s become more imperative for teams to pad their opening games with tougher opponents to impress the voting committee, and Wake and Ole Miss are adhering to that trend adequately.

*Section Photo credit to Wesley Hitt, Getty Images; Featured Photo (above) credit to Daniel Shirey, USA Today Sports

Week 9 Preview: Penn State vs. (13) Ohio State
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