JACKSON — Houston Nutt admits it's hard to separate the sick feeling left over from Mississippi's 41-27 loss to Mississippi State and the sense of accomplishment the Rebels deserve this season.

Saturday's upset cost Ole Miss second place in the Southeastern Conference Western Division and the league's top non-BCS bowl assignment. It also dropped the Rebels from the AP Top 25 for the third time this season.

Still, the school hasn't had back-to-back seasons of eight or more wins since 1989-90 and will likely play in a January bowl for the second straight year.

Think big picture, the coach says.

"I think there's a lot of things that are good right now and that's what we're feeling when we're talking to our recruits," Nutt said. "Our players are sick. I want them to feel sick because I feel sick over what happened yesterday because we planned on winning that ball game. But I tell you what, I think they're going to look back and you see a Cotton Bowl and then whatever bowl we go to this year back to back. I think it's going to look very good."

The loss likely cost the Rebels (8-4) berths in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., and the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., the heart of one of the nation's most fertile recruiting areas. Those bowls are expected to take LSU and the best available SEC East team.

The next three bowls in the SEC pecking order are the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, which Ole Miss won last January, the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta and the Music City Bowl in Nashville.

While the picture remains murky, the Cotton Bowl tends to take an SEC West team and the Rebels travel so well organizers might invite them back for the bowl's debut in the new Cowboys Stadium.

Along with status, Ole Miss lost money because of the upset. The Rebels now miss out on their share of about $1.25 million, the difference between the Capital One payout of $4.25 million and the $3 million per team for participants in the Cotton and Chick-fil-A bowls.

And there's no sense of certainty going forward. The Rebels will be buffeted on the often complicated permutations bowl committees use to make their choices. The further you go down the pecking order, the more factors like travel distance, historic ticket sales numbers and politicking come into play.

"As far as the scenarios and who would go where, I think everybody's guessing now," Nutt said. "Had we won, it would've been pretty clear cut for us, I think. But now it's a little bit different scenarios and it's just to me a little bit of wasted energy."

That's energy Nutt's not going to spend. Defensive end Kentrell Lockett agrees the time is better spent on other pursuits as final exams approach. Good things are coming no matter what, after all: "We'll play in any bowl we get and be grateful," Lockett said.

The Rebels will take a short break before more than two weeks of offseason workouts begin. Nutt has work to do in recruiting to ensure Ole Miss stays at this unaccustomed level of success.

Ole Miss didn't make it to Atlanta this year for the SEC Championship, as some had predicted, but that doesn't mean Nutt's done trying. Ole Miss can still reach consecutive nine-win seasons for the first time since 1961-62 and that success keeps recruits on the hook.

"You're talking about back-to-back bowl games. That hasn't happened here in a while," Nutt said.

"If you look at eight wins and 4-4 in the conference, a lot of people would want to trade with us. But again we're not satisfied by any means because we want to go to Atlanta one day."