For the second time in three weeks, Head Coach Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels woke up on Sunday on the sour side of the pillow after dropping another Southeastern Conference game. This time, it was likely the nail in the coffin to keep the Rebels out of the 2024 College Football Playoff. With all the money spent on NIL, combined with the success in the transfer portal, the 2024 season was the year for Ole Miss that everything was in place to not only reach the College Football Playoff but to compete for the Southeastern Conference Championship and even a National Championship. Midway through October, the Ole Miss Football program is in a position where the Rebels face the harsh reality that the Playoffs are out; it now becomes a gut-check time for the program.

Often, teams with this much hype heading into the season that don’t deliver tend to fall by the wayside once stuff hits the fan. At this point, with guys crying in the press conferences, the same mistakes are being made, and it feels like there are too many guys who want solo stats but don’t have what it takes to bring that killer attitude to make Ole Miss Football into the great program needed to take things to the next level.

You can have all the talent in the world, but if that talent plays differently than one for the front of the uniform rather than working toward solo stats, that doesn’t help the program’s overall objective of taking Ole Miss to the next level. Something is missing from the 2024 Ole Miss Football team, which has left the Rebels in a less-than-ideal position as they head into the bye week.

Sure, Ole Miss played a weak schedule to open the season, which led to the loss to Kentucky two weeks ago, but that was then; this is now. After the loss to Kentucky, Ole Miss fans saw Jaxson Dart emotional, promising that it would not happen again this season. Yet here we are again two weeks later on a Sunday, and there’s another loss for Ole Miss that leaves even more questions than answers. Ole Miss has a bye week, but if you’re Ole Miss, you can hit the reset button and get guys healthy as they prepare to play for the Ole Miss brand.

The legacy of the 2024 Ole Miss Rebels Football team will depend on how they respond to adversity and finish the season. With the College Football Playoffs out and an SEC Championship out of the picture, the college football history books will remember this season by how they finished the disappointments of the 2024 season. When the end goal is no longer obtainable, protecting the pride you have in the Ole Miss Football brand is all that matters: earning a postseason bowl game, beating Mississippi State, and continue laying the groundwork for the future of Ole Miss Football under Head Coach Lane Kiffin.

It all comes down to wanting to play for Ole Miss or folding in because things have not gone as planned. There’s still a lot to play for if you’re Ole Miss, but the Rebels are going to need to reach down deep and decide as one unit that is playing for the University Of Mississippi is a privilege that many from around the world would do anything to do. Something has to change; continue to make excuses while focusing on being flashy, or gut-check this thing and play for Ole Miss, bringing change and resulting in a better chapter of the story of the 2024 Ole Miss Football book.

Following the bye week, Ole Miss will return to the friendly confines of Vaught Hemingway Stadium, where they welcome the Sooners of Oklahoma to town before heading to Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks.

Photo Credits- Ole Miss Football on X