With less than two weeks until the start of the 2025 Ole Miss football season, there’s a silent optimism growing around the program that the 2025 team could very well be the team that takes Ole Miss to the next level by reaching the College Football Playoff. Doing so without the level of money spent on last season’s team would solidify Coach Kiffin as not only a great recruiter but a coach who belongs at the table of the most elite in college football. In many ways, what the class of Jaxson Dart, Caden Prieskorn, and others laid the groundwork for Austin Simmons and company to take the Rebels to the next level this fall. 

Like many, Ole Miss entered the fall with a chip on their shoulder as it looked to avenge the heartbreak of last season with two losses to Florida, and at home against a terrible Kentucky team. Ole Miss missing the playoffs last season could easily be traced back to those two bad losses. For Coach Kiffin and his program this fall, the mantra of reaching the College Football Playoffs remains the same, but the path forward is different. This fall, Ole Miss will likely be overlooked to start the season, but it has early monster chances against Kentucky, Arkansas, Tulane, and even LSU to make a statement that the 2025 Rebels mean business. 

With a favorable Ole Miss schedule with only one true road game where the Rebels will likely be underdogs, the meat of how the season will be remembered happens within the first month when Coach Kiffin and the Rebels face Tulane, Arkansas, and LSU at home, while heading north to the Bluegrass state to see revenge agaisnt a motivated Coach Mark Stoops coached Kentucky team. If Ole Miss can navigate September undefeated, then the buzz around the program immediately shifts to taking care of business by winning the games they’re supposed to win and avoiding any surprising losses in October or November that could derail their College Football Playoff hopes. It might seem impossible to some with the talent they lost, but the path to the College Football Playoff is there for Coach Kiffin and his Rebels as they look to play spoiler this season. 

From a reality perspective, another ten-win season for Coach Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels would prove once again the level of sustained success achieved in Oxford under the current staff’s leadership. College Football Playoffs have always been and always will be the standard to live by, but the level of sustained success that Coach Kiffin and his staff have achieved over the last several years in Oxford is nothing short of amazing. Ole Miss is once again back in the conversation every year, a phenomenon that has only occurred a handful of times, including when Eli Manning was the quarterback for the Rebels and when Archie was running the offense. No matter what happens this season, the spotlight will be on the Rebels as they continue their quest for an elusive College Football Playoff bid. 

Ole Miss opens the season on Saturday night, August 30th, under the bright stadium lights of Vaught Hemingway Stadium as they welcome Georgia State to Oxford. 

Photo Credits- Ole Miss Football on X