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OXFORD, Miss. -- There was no hangover.

Now, as crazy as it sounds, Ole Miss can't afford a letdown.

No. 25 Ole Miss whipped No. 17 LSU Saturday in Oxford, 38-17, to improve to 8-3 overall and 5-2 in the Southeastern Conference. It's as improbable as "Spectre" winning the Oscar for best motion picture, but Ole Miss enters the final weekend with a chance at a berth in the SEC Championship Game.

The Rebels would need Auburn to beat Alabama and then win at Mississippi State.

Again, it's highly unlikely, but there's technically a chance.

It's a tremendous credit to Ole Miss that it answered the bell in such resounding fashion Saturday. Just two weeks ago, the Rebels had their heart broken on a goofy fourth-and-25 lateral that ultimately led to Arkansas' winning score in overtime. The loss all but handed the SEC West to Alabama and knocked the Rebels off the fringes of the national title race.

It was the type of loss that could have crushed a team's psyche at the same time that it broke its heart.

"It stinks, but we had to get past it," Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly said.

"I couldn't be more proud," Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said.

Ole Miss apparently dominated the open date. The Rebels put the clamps on Leonard Fournette for the most part, abused and further exposed Brandon Harris and destroyed LSU's defense on Saturday, dominating from start to finish. It was, at least in this columnist's opinion, Ole Miss' most solid overall team outing of the season.

On to Starkville and on to the reality that Ole Miss has been in this very spot several times before. The Rebels beat LSU in Oxford in 2009 and couldn't win in Starkville. Again in 2013, Ole Miss beat LSU in Oxford but couldn't finish the Bulldogs in Starkville a week later.

No matter what happens in Auburn on Saturday, this year's Egg Bowl is a huge opportunity for Ole Miss. A win would give Ole Miss a 9-3 mark for the season, including a 6-2 SEC slate. By any measure, that's success, even if it's tinted with the painful knowledge that the Rebel were oh so close to something special.

A win in Starkville virtually assures, at worst, a New Year's Day game for the Rebels in Orlando or Tampa. Given what's happening with Ole Miss' recruiting _ three of the nation's top three prospects were in Oxford Saturday _ the momentum for Freeze's program would be palpable.

"It means everything," Ole Miss defensive back Mike Hilton said. "Everyone knows how important the Egg Bowl is. They're going to come in with a chip on their shoulder. We're going to come in with a chip on our shoulder. It's going to be a fight. We'll see how it turns out."

Make no mistake, an Egg Bowl loss isn't a program-breaker of anything of that nature. An 8-4 season isn't tearing a recruiting class apart and could still mean a trip to the Sunshine State to ring in 2016.

However, the difference between a win in Starkville and a loss to the Bulldogs encompasses one remarkably wide gulf. There will be a lot of talk this week about the Egg Bowl being a home-team game, meaning the home team is at a distinct advantage.

Recent numbers back that up, but Freeze wasn't conceding anything based on locale late Saturday.

"I don't know that I feel that way right now because I've only been in three of them," Freeze said. "The one when we were down there before, I thought we just should have won if we'd played well. I guess the stats say otherwise. We missed two field goals, turned it over and then fumbled it going in and still had a chance to win it there. I don't know that had anything to do with being on the road but maybe it does. Talk to me next week and I might feel differently."

Ole Miss should beat Mississippi State. The Rebels are slightly better on both sides of the football. If both teams show up with their A-games, Ole Miss is superior - not by much, but by enough.

Ole Miss knows that. They'll have to overcome noise and an angry crowd to prove it. They'll also have to avoid a letdown out of their control if Alabama handles business on the Plains hours before kickoff.

The Rebels know the formula for making next Saturday a perfect finale to a season of huge highs and deep lows. They used it against LSU Saturday afternoon. Now they have to repeat it one more time.