Fast Five: Rebels head to Tuscaloosa with goals in reach

Ole Miss and Alabama start their weekend series tonight at 6 p.m., looking to set a stand-alone school record for the most wins in the regular season while trying to cement its postseason status as a top-eight seed.

The Rebels (40-13, 16-11) and Crimson Tide (26-27, 7-20) continue its series at 6 p.m. Friday and then finish up at 1 p.m. Saturday. Here are five things you should know prior to first pitch.

While Ole Miss and Alabama can be viewed on SEC Network Plus, SEC Network is providing Bases Loaded coverage all weekend, moving from one game to another depending on drama and postseason implications. That may be a good option for Ole Miss fans because Athens, Georgia, is an important location for Ole Miss this weekend.

Arkansas leads the Rebels by one game in the West, and Georgia is tied with the Rebels for the third-best SEC record. The Hogs and Bulldogs are playing each other, and Ole Miss holds the tiebreaker over both teams when it comes to Hoover positioning. If Ole Miss does one or more games better than Arkansas this weekend, then the Rebels win the West and get the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.

Ole Miss can feel comfortable about not playing until Wednesday in the SEC Tournament if it takes the series against Alabama.

As previously mentioned, the West winner automatically gets the No. 2 seed, and then the two next best records fill in the final two spots for byes. In this scenario, Ole Miss would have at least 18 SEC wins and couldn't be caught by enough teams to have to play on Tuesday.

The only odd scenario disproving this point is if Ole Miss wins two at Alabama, South Carolina sweeps Texas A&M and Arkansas and Georgia only get one game in because of weather, with Georgia winning that one game. Ole Miss would be the No. 5 seed in that scenario, but any other outcome with the Rebels winning at least two games gives them a bye.

The SEC Tournament bracket has single elimination games for the No. 5-No. 12 seeds on Tuesday and then it becomes a double elimination eight-team bracket. The tournament comes back to single elimination games for the semifinals and final.

Alabama is the worst team in the SEC, and if you have to win on the road, the Crimson Tide are the team you want to face. However, Alabama has been swept just once in SEC play, as Auburn routed them three times.

The Tide is 4-8 at home in league play with two-of-three series losses to Georgia and Mississippi State, in addition to a series win over Kentucky. Overall, Alabama is 21-11 in home games.

Alabama has won two series openers in the SEC at home and two middle games in the SEC at home. The Tide is 0-4 in home SEC finales. Meanwhile, Ole Miss is 5-7 in SEC road games, losing series to South Carolina, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt and beating Texas A&M two of three.

Ole Miss allows 4.4 runs per game, but that number has been inflated away from Swayze, where the Rebels are 28-4 this season. The Rebels are allowing 7.1 runs per game away from home in SEC play -- and that's with two of the games shortened because of it being a getaway-day doubleheader in Nashville.

Ole Miss starters have an ERA of more than eight on the road in SEC play this season, and the bullpen SEC ERA is 4.78. Alabama has scored five or more runs in half of its conference games this season.

What happened in previous years doesn't really play a factor in the weekend obviously, but Ole Miss has had difficulty at Alabama when carrying quality teams to Tuscaloosa.

Ole Miss is 1-5 in its last six series at Alabama dating back to 2006, and the Rebels have been ranked each time. The Rebels have won only one series in Tuscaloosa since 2004 (2012) and have lost five of the last six games, suffering a sweep in 2014 and a two of three series loss in 2016.

Jake Walters, who will throw for Alabama on Friday, threw seven shutout innings in a 2-0 Tide win against the Rebels in 2016 -- his most recent start against the Rebels.