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College baseball rankings 2014: Ole Miss takes RPI hit

The Rebs dropped eight spots in the RPI after a 2-2 week.

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Ole Miss baseball grabbed another SEC series last weekend against Arkansas, but thanks to a midweek loss to Southern Miss, the Rebs had a 2-2 week and have lost ground in a couple of the major polls.

Baseball America and Perfect Game each held Ole Miss firm at No. 11, but Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA weren't as kind.

Poll Rank Previous
Baseball America 11 11
Collegiate Baseball 13 10
NCBWA 16 15
Perfect Game 11 11
USA Today Coaches' Poll 14 16

Interestingly enough, the Coaches' Poll was the only one to move Ole Miss up. Keep in mind this is the same poll that inexplicably dropped the Rebs three spots last week on the heels of a sweep of a ranked Kentucky team. So pretty much a makeup call it would seem.

As a side note, and to make you dislike USA Today even more, they list us as "Ole Mississippi."

We said last week that the loss to Southern Miss could damage the Rebs' national host resume, and it has to a degree. The official RPI has been released, and it's dropped Ole Miss from No. 4 to No. 12, one spot behind South Carolina. Now that also has something to do with playing an Arkansas team with an RPI of 51 and getting drilled by them on Sunday, but keep in mind that Warren Nolan's RPI predictions dropped us three spots the day after the loss to Southern.

The Gamecocks lost a series to an awful Georgia team over the weekend, providing a golden opportunity for the Rebs to leap ahead in the RPI. The NCAA isn't likely to give a national seed to more than two or three SEC teams, and Florida's all but locked one of them up. That leaves South Carolina as the Rebs' primary competitor. The RPI isn't the end all, be all when it comes to handing out host sites, but considering the Cocks also have the head-to-head advantage, climbing ahead of them in the RPI seems important. If Ole Miss beats USM, they're almost certainly sitting ahead of South Carolina right now.

That said, the Rebs will have a strong case if they can hold onto the SEC West lead, which they took possession of after weekend losses from Alabama and LSU. The winner of the West has received a national seed every year since 2011, and even then Arkansas missed it because they had a 15-15 conference record.