No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 6 TCU Meet in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

Release from Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl:

The first-ever New Year’s Six bowl matchup will see No. 9 Ole Miss take on Big 12 Co-Champion No. 6 TCU in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl as announced by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee today.

The 47th annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host its matchup of two top-10 teams onDec. 31 at 12:30 p.m. ET from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The game will be nationally televised by ESPN.

“We consider it a privilege to host the first New Year’s Six bowl game and we couldn’t think of a better matchup to kick off this new era of post-season college football than the Rebels and Horned Frogs,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl president and CEO. “This is a power-packed game of top-10 teams, and with TCU’s offense and Ole Miss’ defense, we fully expect it to live up to our reputation of tight, thrilling games and open the College Football Playoff era in epic fashion.”

Ole Miss (9-3, 5-3 SEC) will end its season in the Georgia Dome, the same place it started the season, in its first Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl since 1971. The Rebels finished third in the extremely competitive SEC West, after picking up key wins over three teams playing in New Year’s Six bowls, including No. 1 Alabama, No. 7 Mississippi State, and No. 20 Boise State. The Rebels boast the top defense in the nation, holding opponents to an average of 13.8 points per game with Senquez Golson recording nine interceptions to rank second in the country in interceptions.

TCU (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) enters its first Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl with one of the nation’s premiere offenses led by quarterback Trevone Boykin, a 2014 Heisman candidate. Behind an aerial attack that ranks 7th in the nation, the Horned Frogs’ scoring offense averages 46.8 points per game. On the other side of the ball, the defense has held opponents to 20.3 points per game. TCU’s only loss this season came on the road against No. 5 Baylor.

Ole Miss and TCU have met six times with Ole Miss holding a 5-1 series advantage. The two teams first met in 1948 in the Delta Bowl and last played in 1983.