Outside of the Lane Kiffin drama, last season was about as memorable as it comes for the Ole Miss Rebels, as they were within a game of reaching a trip to Miami to take on the Indiana Hoosiers in the National Championship. In a season that gave the Rebels their first home playoff game, an Egg Bowl, and two wins in the College Football Playoff, the Rebels now face the first full year of the Pete Golding Era with a lot of mometum and excitement surrounding the program itself. 

Once the Kiffin drama was over, the narrative around the country shifted to Ole Miss not being good enough with the former Head Coach to have success in the College Football Playoffs; some even argued to keep the Rebels out of it altogether, but Coach Golding and the remaining staff rallied the Rebels to play their best ball of the season and rattled off two wins in the Playoffs coming within four points of playing for a National Championship. With the first full season of the Pete Golding era on the horizon, the expectations for Ole Miss to carry the torch into the 2026 season are there, but the reality might be somewhere in the middle for the Rebels this season, as they have the talent to finish in the top half of the Southeastern Conference, but as we’ve seen in years past, often fans get a taste of success and then have unreasonable expecations for the next season. 

With the mometum from last season as the guide, let’s take a quick look at the expectations, both reasonable and lofty, that fans like to set before a season. 

Starting on the offensive side of the ball with the return of Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy. Two guys who were both pursued by LSU and others for their talents decided to make a triumphant return to Oxford for another season to lead the Rebels back to the College Football Playoffs. Sure, in football, you need more than two guys on offense to make a difference, but luckily for the Rebels, these two guys are the bread and butter of what worked so well last year. Elsewhere around the offense, the Rebels return three guys on the offensive line in Delano Townsend, Brycen Sanders, and Patrick Kutas. Trinidad and Kewan Lacy will both have three of the guys back from last season who provided protection up front, but will now lack veteran playmakers at wide receiver. Although not a consistent starter last season, Deuce Alecander is back for the Rebels, while the focus shifts to the potential of Caleb Cunningham being the next great Ole Miss receiver. 

On the defensive side, Ole Miss has five guys returning with Kam Franklin and Will Echoles on the defensive line, Suntarine Perkins in the middle at linebacker, and Antonio Kite and Jaylon Braxton. Out of those, the nuclei of the defensive unit this year for the Rebels will start up front with Kam Franklin and Will Echoles, two Mississippi boys who showed a lot of promise in 2025 for the Rebels, while Suntarine Perkins holds down the middle at linebacker. Perkins finished the season last year with 10.5 sacks before being moved off the ball. Other names to keep an eye on for this Ole Miss defense will be the Northwest Community College transfer Keaton Thomas, Michai Boireau from Florida, and Sharif Denson at Safety, who comes to Oxford via the portal from Gainesville, where he had 97 tackles last season. 

Staying on the topic of the roster, Ole Miss will have both Lucas Carneiro and Oscar Bird returning this fall to lead the Rebels’ special teams unit. Lucas Carniedo made a name for himself last season, etching his name into the upper half of the placekickers to ever play for the Rebels. Just last season, Carneiro drilled 31 field goals, including the game-winner over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, which sent Ole Miss to the Fiesta Bowl. 

As far as the schedule goes, everyone in the country has September 19th circled for the Rebels as LSU Head Coach Lane Kiffin makes his hostile return to Vaught Hemingway to lineup across the field from his former team for the first time since taking the job at LSU. Although that game is massive and has major postseason implications, the Rebels open the season in Nashville with a game against Louisville, then following the showdown with LSU, the Rebels hit the road in back-to-back games with Florida and Vanderbilt, two trap games per se if the Rebels aren’t careful. Then the back half of the schedule gets even harder as Ole Miss will go to Texas and Oklahoma, while hosting Auburn and Georgia before closing out the conference slate on Black Friday with the Egg Bowl. Before we discuss a reasonable record for Ole Miss to have a successful season, that game on September 19th with LSU can’t simply be one played off emotions, because, as we’ve seen in the past, when you circle just one game, the letdown afterward is a very possible outcome. Take care of business against LSU without losing your head, then the real mometum shifts to navigating the nine-game conference slate. At the end of the season, a successful season for Ole Miss this year, given the schedule, would be 8-4, with five conference wins and three non-conference wins. Anything past eight wins this season with that schedule should be celebrated for generations to come. With that said, there’s a world where, if Ole Miss can get to 9-3 with the strength of schedule it has, Ole Miss could find itself back in the College Football Playoffs. Reasonably speaking, though, 8-4 is the likely path for Ole Miss this season. 

Ole Miss opens the season on Sunday night, September 6th, in Nashville against Louisville at Nissan Stadium. 

Photo Credits- Ole Miss football on X