Over the last three years, the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama have stood atop the college football landscape not only holstering the national championship trophy high above their heads, but they have also looked down upon the other teams that make up the Southeastern Conference. The SEC program that comes the closest in wins to those two powerhouses is the University of Mississippi.
To clarify, Ole Miss is leaps and bounds behind the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide in the win column but is closer than any other team in the conference nonetheless. Head coach Lane Kiffin enters his fourth campaign in Oxford and quite possibly has, on paper at least, his most talented team from top to bottom.
The biggest question facing the Rebels is on offense. Junior QB Jaxson Dart is expected to claim the starting job but will have a fight on his hand as he tries to fend off transfer portal additions Spencer Sanders from Oklahoma State and Walker Howard from LSU. The potent Ole Miss offense averaged nearly 500 yards a game and returns most stars outside of the wide receiver position. Kiffin, who loves to fish in the transfer portal, snatched up Tre Harris out of Louisiana Tech and UTSA’s Zakhari Franklin to replace Malik Heath and Jonathan Mingo who were both lost to the NFL.
As the Rebels plug in their new pieces on the ends, they will have to rely on All-SEC running back Quinshon Judkins. The sophomore RB tallied over 1500 yards on the ground with 16 touchdowns and another portal transfer in Ulysses Bentley from SMU gives Ole Miss the one-two punch that can take the load off Dart or whoever is running the offense. Ole Miss also features a veteran heavy offensive line that will make plenty of room for the run game to break through as well as keep the QB standing upright.
Ole Miss started the season 7-1 but once the meat of their conference schedule kicked in, their success immediately crumbled. A large part of their failures was due to their defense as it surrendered 35 points a game in its last 7 contests of the season. The results of the defense’s poor play prompted Kiffin to look to his old stomping grounds for a fix. Kiffin brought in Peter Golding from Alabama to be his new defensive coordinator and the pair quickly went to work to patch the holes in the defense.
The Rebels added Louisville linebacker Monty Montgomery as well as true freshman and five-star linebacker Suntarine Perkins to its depth charts. The pair along with senior Khari Coleman should be able to find themselves in the opposing backfield a lot this season. Ole Miss also added some other key parts on defense including cornerback Zamari Walton (Georgia Tech), safety John Saunders Jr. (Miami University) and Teja Young (Florida Atlantic) in hopes of correcting the mistakes made in the second half of the season.
The key to the Rebels having success starts and ends with the run game. Ole Miss was third nationally running the ball and was 8-0 when the team averaged over 4.6 yards-per-carry a game but unfortunately was 0-for when they did not. The Kiffin coached offense loves to play fast and loose but will need to be smarter on their play calling to make sure to give the newly patched defense time to jell.
The schedule does not allow Ole Miss to make many mistakes early and still expect to have a great season. The Rebels face a nationally ranked FCS team from Mercer to kick off the season before heading to New Orleans to face last year’s Cotton Bowl winner Tulane. After a home game against Georgia Tech its a murderers row for the Rebels with games against Alabama and LSU in back-to-back weeks. There is a bit but not much of a breather the next three weeks with Arkansas, Auburn, and Vanderbilt before facing Texas A&M in Oxford and hitting the road to Georgia and Mississippi State to end the season with a Louisiana-Monroe matchup jammed between them.
For the Rebels to get back to a 10-win season they will have to win a game or two that they are not expected to. Can they? Yes. Will they? That will truly depend on the defense. Ole Miss can run the ball against anybody and has a talented enough offense to score at will for the most part but if the defense cannot get off the field, it will not matter how many points they put on the scoreboard.
It seems that 8-4 is more than likely where the Rebels will land this season matching last year’s win total. Ifthey can steal one of their big road games (Tulane, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State) than there is an outside chance of a double-digit win season.
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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