SEC · Pete Golding, year 2 (5-1) · Vaught-Hemingway Stadium · 64,038 · 69,083 avg in 2026
LastW 32–24 vs LSU · Sat Sep 19 · Trinidad Chambliss 363 pass yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Nextat Florida · Sat Sep 26 · 3:30 pm ET · Ben Hill Griffin Stadium · Florida by 3 · series 13-13-1 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 22 · through week 3
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 6 | #12 | #61 | -6.5✗ | Louisville (N)Top 25 win | W 41–38 146 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #11 | #180 | -44.5✗ | Charlotte | W 41–9 119 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #13 | #24 | +3✓ | LSUTop 10 win | W 32–24 143 | 3-0 | 1-0 |
| 4 | Sep 26 | #14 | #17 | +3 | @Florida | |||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @Vanderbilt | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | Missouri | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | @Texas | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 31 | Auburn | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 7 | Georgia | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | @Oklahoma | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 21 | Wofford | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 27 | Mississippi State |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 19 | LSU | W 32–24 | 426 | 1 | 29:45 | +0.311 | 43.8% | 144.3% | Most explosive |
| Sep 12 | Charlotte | W 41–9 | 420 | 1 | 22:46 | +0.336 | 63.9% | 104.0% | Season-high EPA/play |
| Sep 6 | Louisville | W 41–38 | 488 | 2 | 29:02 | +0.293 | 46.8% | 131.0% | Season-low EPA/play |
| Season average (3 games) | 445 | 1.3 | +0.313 | 51.5% | 126.4% | ||||
Ole Miss reached its first College Football Playoff and came within four points of the semifinal — then watched Lane Kiffin leave for LSU before the snow had melted, and finished the run anyway.
For decades the fanbase heard that Oxford was a tailgate with a football team attached — a beautiful place that didn't win enough to deserve the Grove. They point now at a 13-2 Playoff team and dare…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 13-2 · last season
✓ measured from 15 games · ranks are among SEC teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Warming. 9-1 over the last 10, and won the last three.
If we get to another football portal window and the marker increases another 50%, 60%, 70%, like we’ve been seeing every year, you’re going to be looking at (rosters costing between $80 million and $90 million) for football
Next Sep 26
vs Florida · away
✓ fact on line · ~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-22
the open questionis this a real, durable shift in the program's tier?
Ole Miss has reached elite-tier consistency — Lane Kiffin's sixth season marks the first time the Rebels have held top-5% power rating for three straight years.
our readfront page
Lane Kiffin's top-3 SEC portal class rebuilds nearly everything at once — 4% of QB production returns, and the market projects a 10.5-win season despite the upheaval.
our readdeveloping
Pete Golding begins his Ole Miss tenure with a 13-2 record and a #6 AP finish, but the program's uneasy fanbase questions if the playoff path can be secured without mimicking Alabama.
our readdeveloping
Pete Golding begins his Ole Miss tenure with a 13-2 record and a #6 AP finish, but the program's uneasy fanbase questions if a new identity can sustain a national.
our readdeveloping
Lane Kiffin's fifth consecutive top-25 portal class rebuilds nearly everything at once — 4% of QB production returns, and the market projects a 7.5-win season despite the upheaval.
our readdeveloping
Pete Golding begins his Ole Miss tenure with a 13-2 winning record, but an off-field feud and uneasy fan belief signal tension beneath the program's SEC success.
our readdeveloping
Lane Kiffin enters his sixth season with a 13-2 record, but the program's uneasy fanbase questions if Ole Miss can sustain its national power status without pretending to be Alabama.
our readdeveloping
Cayden Lee is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
our readbackground
Dae'Quan Wright is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
our readbackground
Kewan Lacy does NOT see a usage spike in garbage time -- his workload holds steady regardless of score.
our readbackground
Kewan Lacy: a short yardage signal screened this season.
our readbackground
Logan Diggs: a closer signal screened this season.
our readbackground
Lane Kiffin's sixth straight top-25 class arrives as Ole Miss rebuilds nearly everything at once — 18% production returning, 2 NFL exits, and a 13-2 season that proves winning without.
our readfront page
Pete Golding begins his Ole Miss tenure with a 13-2 winning record, but the program's uneasy fanbase questions if the NIL-driven roster can sustain SEC success without Alabama's blueprint.
our readfront page
Outcome band · Ole Miss · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Pete Golding took over as Ole Miss's head coach, replacing Lane Kiffin. It is replaces 6-year head coach Lane Kiffin (55-19). It's not the hire that's the story anymore — it's everything it set in motion. The room has bought in, but early believers have been wrong before.
The off-field storyline driving the noise right now. Not analysis — the soap opera, and that's the point.
The 'this hire changes everything' takes -- new-era believers making the case early.
The 'show me the body of work' counter -- resume gaps, scheme fits, and 'not that guy' reads.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
This event was in 31 of 3473 board posts (1%) over the last 60 days — engaged but not consumed. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
The boards ≠ the fanbase: a vocal, self-selected slice.
Ole Miss has climbed into dynasty-caliber territory — into the top 8% of FBS by power rating over the last three seasons, up from the top 15% a year ago. It is a 27-9 record over the last three regular seasons. A real, measurable rise in the model. The room has caught up; now the schedule has to agree.
The 'resurgence is real' read: the numbers are starting to back the hype.
The 'wait and see' counter -- power shifts often get overread before the season proves them.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
Fan mood index · most recent r/cfb data
More in this tab
Ole Miss is the program that finally figured out how to win the SEC by not pretending to be Alabama.
The program ledger
since 2025Ole Miss sues LSU DE
Ole Miss taking LSU's DE to court before the top-10 kickoff says the Rebels aren't treating tampering rules as optional anymore — this is a program that thinks it belongs at the table and is willing to litigate to prove it.
Ole Miss sues LSU defensive end
The Kiffin divorce is officially in litigation — suing your former coach's new employer over a defensive end is a power move that says Ole Miss isn't done fighting that breakup.
Swinney denies Kiffin tampering report
Swinney crying tampering while Ole Miss juggles IOL pressure and a roster still digesting two draft exits — Kiffin's program is moving pieces and Clemson's coach doesn't like the noise it's making.
Win total: 7.5 → 8.5 (▲1)
The 7.5 to 8.5 move confirmed what was already public — the market repriced after the news landed.
Ole Miss DL enters portal after gaining eligibility
DL depth takes a hit right as Echoles and Thomas are drawing Bednarik attention — Pete Golding can't afford roster bleed up front when the SEC schedule doesn't care about your portal class rank.
Ole Miss athletes gain eligibility year
Extra eligibility across the roster hits different when your IOL depth is already under pressure — Kiffin's #22 class gets a year of insurance that a two-draft-loss roster genuinely needs.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
MS leads the 2026 class with 9 commits. National footprint reaching 8 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
86 signees across 12 states, 2023-2026. MS leads the pull.
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Ole Miss player grew up 297 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 116 of 123 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top community posts · last 12 months · r/cfb
Fan confidence a bit lower than recent years
29th percentile among FBS programs
68 of 68 AP voters have them ranked, AP ballot, week 3 (2026) — from #4, Murray Evans (Lawton Constitution), to #13, Jon Wilner (San Jose Mercury News).
Individual AP Top 25 ballots, AP ballot, week 3, 2026 — 68 voters tracked.
Cashing in at a normal clip: 20% of disrupted passes intercepted, close to ~19% league-wide.
2 interceptions of 10 disrupted passes (8 deflected, 2 intercepted), 2026 only.
The flags haven't favored them: 21 penalties committed vs. 23 drawn on opponents, 34 yards behind.
189 penalty yards committed vs. 155 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Ole Miss · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026