Watching Ole Miss Rebels games last season was a fun experience if you were a neutral party. The Rebels played highly entertaining games. They won 43-37 in Alabama against the Crimson Tide and later lost a wild shootout at home against the Arkansas Razorbacks, a result caused by one of the most incredible and inexplicable plays of the 2015 season. Ole Miss doesn’t really care if it plays entertaining football. The Rebels want to beat Alabama again, but this time, they want to win the SEC West, something they’ve never done in their history. Can they take the next step as a program?
Biggest Team Weakness
The Ole Miss Rebels were vulnerable against offenses with capable lines and above-average quarterbacks. Their defense looked feeble for much of the first half in an upset loss to Florida. That defense was shredded in the second half of the win at Alabama, and it was gouged repeatedly by the Arkansas passing game. Ole Miss looked impotent on defense not just against some of the better teams in the SEC West, but against Memphis, a team the Rebels used to own. Mississippi got blasted off the field in that game, completely outclassed by the Tigers’ Paxton Lynch and his assortment of receivers. Ole Miss has Marquis Haynes to anchor its defensive line, but beyond him, how many high-impact defenders do the Rebels really have? How many people can they count on to stop the opposition in the SEC West? It’s not a comforting thought.
Biggest Team Strength
The Ole Miss Rebels should have a great pitch-and-catch passing game. Chad Kelly, who very realistically could have gone in the second or third round of the 2016 NFL Draft if he had chosen to leave school, decided to stay for one more year in Oxford. That’s huge news, and it’s the only reason why the Rebels are a legitimate pick as a preseason top-15 team. Kelly will be able to throw the ball to a number of quality pass catchers, the best one being veteran tight end Evan Engram. In this modern age of offense, the passing game is more front-and-center than it’s ever been before, and within that reality, offenses generally need tight ends who can run downfield passing routes and stretch defenses. Engram does that extremely well, clearing out the flats and the other shorter areas of the field for the running backs and the wide receivers. Ole Miss will roll up a ton of passing yards this season.
Schedule
The Rebels don’t waste any time testing themselves this season. They play Florida State on Labor Day in a game which will shape the College Football Playoff race and offer an early indication as to whether the Rebels are going to be able to make a New Year’s Six bowl game for the third straight season. That game will be played at what is technically a neutral site, but in Orlando, that’s going to be a partisan Florida State crowd. It doesn’t get much easier as the Rebeles will be hosting the No. 1 team in the nation two weeks later when the Alabama Crimson Tide visit.
In the SEC, the Rebels’ two biggest games are against Alabama and LSU. Last year, the Rebels hosted LSU and visited Bama. This year, it’s the other way around. Beyond that, though, they will have a number of tricky contests. They’ll host Georgia right after hosting Alabama; that could be a tough spot to rebound. They’ll also visit Arkansas this year and Texas A&M. Those two games could be very challenging depending on where those programs are in their rebuild. And the Rebels also finish with Mississippi State, which is a big hurdle. This isn’t an easy schedule by any means.
Outlook
The Ole Miss Rebels have a chance to beat Alabama for the third straight year, something very few teams ever do against Nick Saban’s juggernaut. The game is at home, but Alabama will be bent on getting revenge. A win could make a run at the national title a real possibility, but Ole Miss has not shown it can be relentlessly consistent through the whole season. The LSU game on the road is probably going to be a loss. Ole Miss will fall short again.
Projection: 3rd In SEC West
