Twenty-nine days ago, Lane Kiffin beamed as he sat in front of a microphone in the bowels of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, moments after his Ole Miss team cemented a 34-26 road win against Oklahoma that positioned the Rebels as surefire favorites to make the College Football Playoff.

The grin was coaxed by his own joke about hating the idea that he’s aging, the quip was prompted by a question about a moment Kiffin had on the field after the game in which he chucked his visor in the air in front of a euphoric crowd of Ole Miss fans in the visitor’s section. Kiffin then yelled something unintelligible that created an entire industry’s worth of message board interpreters.

“I don’t like to say I am getting older,” Kiffin said. “Like I told [the team] last night, ‘as I get older, I want to tell you things that I didn’t do, things that I hope you do differently.’”

After the visor hurl, Kiffin apparently called for his team to come out of the locker room and back out onto the field to soak in the moment.

“Just enjoy the moment. These things are hard to do,” Kiffin said. “I didn’t really have a plan. I just told them to go back out there and say thanks to the fans. But also to enjoy the moment. You are at an iconic stadium against a program that has won a million games here. Take in this moment instead of always trying to get to the next thing — which is kind of what I did my whole life. So, I just try to help them with that.”

It was a poignant moment for Kiffin, who had just led Ole Miss to its most consequential road win in a decade. It was also the latest track on an album of Kiffin’s creation.

One month prior to this scene, ESPN’s Ryan McGee released a (very well-done) documentary as part of ESPN’s E60 series titled “The Many Lives of Lane Kiffin”. The widely-viewed film detailed Kiffin’s almost inverted journey as a coach — from being the head coach of the Oakland Raiders at 31 years old, to being fired by USC at age 38, his enrollment in the Nick Saban School of Coaches Rehabilitation, rebuilding his career at Florida Atlantic and returning to the spotlight at Ole Miss — as well as his maturation as a man and a father. The film was in lockstep with a consistent and calculated message Kiffin has emitted over the last three years — that he’s a changed man who has found peace and contentment in his life, as he’s matured through failure.

Now, four weeks later after that moment in Norman, Ole Miss sits at 10-1 on the precipice of the program’s first ever College Football Playoff Berth. But his words ring hollow and his actions don’t match his words. Kiffin has turned a historic season for the Rebels into a sideshow, an ego-fueled circus to satisfy his unquenchable thirst for attention.

“Take in this moment instead of always trying to get to the next thing — which is kind of what I did my whole life. So, I just try to help them with that,” said the man who sent his family to Gainesville and Baton Rouge this week, days after Ole Miss beat Florida to get to 10-1 on the season.

“I want to tell you things that I didn’t do, things that I hope you do differently,’” said the man whose career has been built on a foundation of chaos and messy break-ups. The same man who, just three years ago, torpedoed the end of Ole Miss’ 2022 season because Auburn courted him for its head coaching vacancy.

After a week of the incredibly cringeworthy interviews, hypocritical quotes and cryptic morning devotionals on Twitter designed to stoke conversation to fuel his insatiable appetite to be desired, the incredibly-aloof Kiffin is showing everyone that his perceived metamorphosis as a man comes with caveats, because when it comes to his inability to appreciate the current place he resides in and the people that comprise it, he’s the same person he was 16 years ago when he left Tennessee in messy fashion. He’s the same person that he was 12 years ago when he was fired as USC’s head coach on a tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport after a road loss to Arizona State to fall to 1-3 on the season. The same person who, when he finally did get another head coaching opportunity at Florida Atlantic, couldn’t behave professionally for Alabama and Nick Saban — the man who gave him his first opportunity to rehabilitate his image and career — long enough to remain the offensive coordinator through the Crimson Tide’s national championship run in 2016.

As a decision on his future looms and his chaos-driven circus churns on, it’s worth asking a handful of questions. How did we get here? What happens next?

And perhaps above all else: what is Lane Kiffin actually chasing?

A Stock’s mission is to provide our customers with the power to name their price. Our inventory changes weekly, allowing you to browse products for all occasions. We’ll let you in on our little secret. We buy in bulk from major retailers, which helps us, help you name your price. These items tend to be overstocked, returned, or closeout products.With convenient locations in Tupelo, Memphis, Nashville, East TN, & KY You can buy from A Stock in two separate ways. 1 — A Stock.com / A Stock Bids App. All items online start at just $1. Explore our inventory of items grouped by location and sale events. Each sale has a specific end date and time, so you know exactly when bidding closes. Place your bids on items you want. No shipping or transfers available, all items must be picked up at the specified location.

2 —Bin (In Store) Sales. Fresh inventory weekly. Everything in the bins starts at $7 on Saturday with price reductions daily ending at $.50 per item / fill a bag for $10 on Wednesdays.

The beginning of a strange but productive marriage

On December 8, 2019, a chilly Sunday evening, Lane Kiffin stepped off a University jet at the University-Oxford Airport to a sea of fans gathered on the tarmac. The next day there was a press conference inside the Pavilion, at which Kiffin promised to compete for championships. People drank beer on a Monday and celebrated a hire designed to “make a splash” by Keith Carter’s own admission. At that moment, Ole Miss was a desperate program starving to win again. Desperation often increases the appetite for risk. Carter and Ole Miss took one in hiring Kiffin because it meant accepting his grating, self-centered personality and checkered past. It was an odd marriage, but one that ultimately made sense due to their mutual desperation to win at the highest level.

In terms of on-field results, throughout the entire six-year marriage, both sides have delivered on promises. Kiffin has won at an unprecedented clip. Since Kiffin’s hiring, Ole Miss has won more games than any program in the SEC not named Alabama or Georgia. Kiffin went 10-2 in 2021, earned a Sugar Bowl berth and expedited Ole Miss’ return to prominence. After the 2021 season, the Florida and LSU jobs opened. Kiffin wasn’t considered a serious candidate for either vacancy — mostly due to that aforementioned grating personality and checkered past, the very same traits that Ole Miss was willing to deal with — but that doesn’t mean Kiffin wasn’t interested. He would’ve crawled across glass for either job, mostly because Kiffin has always viewed himself as better than Ole Miss, despite the Rebels giving him the opportunity and resources to revive his image and career — and yes, I know Arkansas was a suitor for Kiffin in 2021, but look at their administration (Hunter Yurachek, yikes), how it has handled NIL and its schedules over the last six years and tell me with a straight face that Twitter-Man Kiffin would’ve had the same level of prosperity.

2022 was a pivotal moment of growth for Kiffin, Ole Miss

The success of the 2021 season, coupled with Kiffin acting like a remotely normal human for 24 months and, at least publicly, not looking for the next exit ramp, brought with it other suitors. Ole Miss started the 2022 season 8-1. On November 12, Kiffin blew a 10-point lead to Alabama at home for the team’s second loss of the season — a gut-wrenching defeat to a man, Nick Saban, Kiffin became obsessed with beating in his early years in Oxford. Thirteen days prior to this loss, Auburn fired Bryan Harsin.

Seemingly unable to get over the Alabama defeat, the emotionally and socially-handicapped Kiffin decided that flirting with becoming Auburn’s next head coach — a program that’s proven to be utterly dysfunctional and fading toward irrelevance in the NIL era — was more important than the final two games of Ole Miss’ 2022 season. The temporary dopamine hit Kiffin got from someone new to flirt with took priority over on-field results and his current job. Despite Kiffin begging the public to believe he’s somehow changed and matured, the same tired, chaotic saga is predictably unfolding again.

The Rebels got boat-raced at Arkansas that next week and then lost at home to a Mississippi State team it had no business losing to, and limped to an 8-5 finish. After a melodramatic and eventful Thanksgiving week that now looks tame in comparison to this current saga he’s stirred, Kiffin elected to stay at Ole Miss and not go work for a former Mississippi State baseball coach/AD Jon Cohen, who fell upward into the Auburn AD job and basically described NIL as unsustainable, similar to the tech idiots in the 1990s who described the internet as a fad. Despite Kiffin’s melodramatic bullshit that left the program in limbo, Ole Miss welcomed him back with open arms.

The 2022 Auburn saga ignited the Ole Miss fanbase. Donations to the Grove Collective — an entity that’s been on the cutting edge of this new frontier of college athletics — flooded in. Ole Miss put its money where its mouth was and invested like a big-time program. Kiffin deserves credit for holding Ole Miss’ feet to the proverbial fire in terms of investing in the program at a top-of-the-SEC level. But is hardly the sole reason for the rise of Ole Miss’ football program.

The Ole Miss administration and its fans deserve a lot of credit for positioning the Rebels to thrive in this modern era, not just in football, but in all sports. The work of Keith Carter, William Liston, Walker Jones, Denson Hollis, Zach Scruggs and so many others in founding the Grove Collective, structuring it properly to ensure its long-term prosperity and continuing to adapt to an unprecedented era of college sports, is the single biggest driving force of the rise of the football program, despite Kiffin getting the lion’s share of the credit. Kiffin is the single biggest beneficiary of the Ole Miss administration operating more shrewdly than the rest of the country since July 1, 2021, when NIL became permissible. He’s also benefited from a ridiculously light schedule the past two seasons.

Kiffin is a really good football coach. And to his ever-lasting credit, he’s mostly capitalized on the infrastructure and resources Ole Miss has given him. An Egg Bowl win on Friday would mark 50 wins in five years. That doesn’t happen without Kiffin. It also doesn’t happen without the aforementioned alignment and innovation from the Ole Miss administration. One side seemingly understands and appreciates that. Kiffin does not.

The Cowboy Country Club is the NEWEST member of the Rippee Writes family. The Cowboy Country Club is a brand that was founded on the basis of building a community that you can not only feel proud to be a part of, but also one that you can make yours. Go to CowboyCountryClub.com and go buy the best merch on the market. Use the promo code “HottyToddy20” for a discount just for being a subscriber to Rippee Writes.

Real expectations came in 2024, and Kiffin shrank

Seemingly validated as a program after fending off Auburn — a program traditionally viewed as higher in the SEC pecking order prior to this NIL era that fans and media members alike struggle to calibrate their expectations to — Ole Miss capitalized on the momentum of Kiffin staying and went 11-2 in 2023, beat Penn State in the Peach Bowl and then put together the best transfer portal class in college football that offseason to set up a 2024 season that was unprecedented in terms of expectations. Ole Miss was a preseason top-10 team and, on paper, was a favorite to make the newly-expanded College Football Playoff.

Kiffin proceeded to lose at home, as three-score favorites, to a Kentucky team that went 4-8 (1-7), then lost to a mediocre LSU team in a game in which Ole Miss trailed for zero seconds, and capped off the gag job by again losing as double-digit favorites to an average Florida team (as the Rebels came off a bye week!) and squandered a golden opportunity to make the College Football Playoff. Not to mention, Kiffin spent half the season gaslighting the fanbase about the nonsensical usage of running backs, which culminated in the loss to Florida in which Ole Miss ran the football 35 times and only 10 carries went to players who were listed as a running back on the official roster.

The only person to blame for Ole Miss’ failure to make the 2024 College Football Playoff is Lane Kiffin, unless of course you ask Lane Kiffin, who is seemingly allergic to any form of accountability or introspection.

Watson Turnipseed is a proud Rippee Writes sponsor. Have you been injured in a car accident or at work? Have the insurance companies denied your claim? Get more than one call with Watson Turnipseed. Call 504-636-8217

The surprising success of the 2025 season has inconvenienced Kiffin

Simply put, one of the many reasons this situation has devolved into a farce is simply due to how this 2025 Ole Miss team has defied any sort of realistic preseason expectation.

Think about what the discussion was surrounding this team in July. Austin Simmons, a prodigy of his father’s creation, was the heir-apparent to Jaxson Dart. Despite having an even more favorable schedule than 2024, one that included eight home games, this was viewed as a transition year for Ole Miss as it ushered in a young, talented new quarterback and developed other younger players at other positions on the roster. No one in their right mind could have possibly predicted that Simmons would play seven quarters of football this year and that Ole Miss would ride a former Division II quarterback to a 10-1 record.

In a normal world, we’d be lauding this as Kiffin’s best coaching job since he’s been in Oxford — which it is.

But why aren’t we doing that? Is it perhaps because the head coach himself never believed this to be possible? And now that this impossibility has become a reality, the selfish and aloof enigma that is Lane Kiffin would rather wash his hands of a team, a program and a school that has answered the call at every turn, rather than see it through? His behavior certainly seems to suggest that.

That is perhaps the most damning portion of this entire saga. Kiffin didn’t think Ole Miss would be here, and now that Ole Miss is on the verge of being one of 12 teams capable of competing for a national championship, Kiffin can’t as easily move on to the perceived greener pastures he’s spent the last three years telling all of you he no longer views as greener.

This is what Ole Miss signed up for when it hired Kiffin

This is what you sign up for when you hire Lane Kiffin. Despite his self-serving media tour begging you to believe he’s a different person, this is who he his and who he has always been. When Kiffin flirted with Auburn in 2022, I wrote a story declaring that Ole Miss is paying the Lane Kiffin Tax. Ole Miss is still paying that tax today as its 10-1 regular season becomes secondary to Kiffin’s ego and addiction to attention.

The Lane Kiffin tax is the nomadic existence that is his entire career. Ole Miss is his longest career stop. This is a man that seemingly thrives on chaos. It’s the Twitter persona not matching his actual personality. It’s the inability to show any form of appreciation to the people and place in which he currently resides. Again, despite what he’s begging the public to believe, his behavior shows he’s the same man. Kiffin didn’t get fired on a tarmac at LAX solely because of a loss to Arizona State to fall to 1-3, he got left on a tarmac because USC was tired of dealing with Lane Kiffin, the grating personality, the narcissism and aloofness that has bubbled to the surface over the last week in Oxford.

Kiffin thought that he could coach this Ole Miss team through the playoff without committing to the program, and then leave for an in-conference foe and everything would be sunshine and roses. He thinks Ole Miss should be thankful for every hour and second he graces its program with his presence, you, the Ole Miss fan, are simply incapable of understanding the genius of a 47-year-old man who spent the night before Thanksgiving in 2022 trolling all of you and tweeting his dog. The fact that Kiffin thought he could coach in the Playoff and then leave underscores the remarkable aloofness and inability to understand social cues and perception that’s troubled him his entire career.

Once he made this obvious discovery, he made a hilariously tone deaf attempt to do his version of damage control. On Tuesday morning, Kiffin appeared on the Pat McAfee show. The 20-minute interview was inauthentic and difficult to watch.

“It was great to get that Saturday night SEC win. Our crowd and our fans were electric,” said the man who, just four days prior, when asked about the crowd at the Florida game being a Blue Blood-like environment, used the moment to take a shot at the fanbase by responding “were you here last week?” referring to the fact that Ole Miss did not have a sellout for a noon kick against the Citadel.

McAfee is a wildly successful modern media figure. He is not a journalist and would likely happily admit that. The decision for Kiffin to go on that show, where he knows he won’t get pressed on anything at all, was calculated. McAfee would welcome the Unabomber on his show to tell his side of the story on mailboxes and technology if it meant more views for his show.

Then, the next day, on Wednesday, Kiffin had his appearance on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference, where he was peppered with questions by actual reporters, which led to several awkward exchanges.

“I’m saying the same thing for six years. I’m not talking about speaking on other jobs. I’m focused on this one,” said a man two days removed from sending members of his family to Baton Rouge and Gainesville.

“Somehow it got spun really negatively. I said it before. If programs want your coach, okay, that should be looked at as an amazing thing and a great thing by your fans. So programs want your coach because you’re 10-1 and whatever. We’ve run three 10-win seasons in a row, which has never been done in Ole Miss before,” Kiffin said. “Is that a good thing that other programs want your coach because your program’s experienced success it’s never had? Or would you rather be 5-6 or 6-5 or something right now and no one wants your coach? I would look at it from that perspective.”

You hear that, you, the Ole Miss fan? It’s a good thing that your head coach won’t commit to remaining with the program that’s 10-1 with a chance to win a National Title. You should shut up and enjoy it while the head coach figures out the best way to leave a place he sees as beneath him.

Again, this is what Ole Miss signed up for when it hired Lane Kiffin. He’s a man who has made a career of being a nomad and has refused to show any appreciation to his current employer. That’s all fine, but it’s more difficult to digest when the man you hired feigns a newfound sense of appreciation for his life and the opportunity he’s been given, only to torpedo the best season in modern history the moment someone else shows him attention.

Think about the absurdity of all of this for a second: the week of the Florida game, Kiffin granted an interview to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger — who, for my money, is the most talented writer and reporter currently covering college football — who wrote a story last week titled “College football’s most-coveted coach has found a home at Ole Miss. But is Oxford enough for Lane Kiffin?”

In the story, Kiffin called his life “like a movie”. Six days later, after beating Florida, he sent his family to Gainesville and Baton Rouge to explore a new future. Kiffin will piss on your head and tell you it’s raining, and you’ll like it, too, because he’s better than Ole Miss and better than all of you.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Kiffin now has a decision to make: Am I willing to be a villain again?

Continuing the embarrassing behavior that made the last week such a vapid cry for attention, as Ole Miss entered a bye week before it goes to Starkville for the most consequential Egg Bowl in Ole Miss history, what did Kiffin do? He called his recruiting staff off the road to return to Ole Miss for a previously unplanned Friday practice that left coaches and players in a state of confusion, multiple sources confirmed to Rippee Writes.

After the bizarre, unscheduled practice entering an otherwise routine bye week, Kiffin met with Athletics Director Keith Carter on Friday. I have no idea what happened in that meeting but it led to Carter, who is a smart man, and a shrewd operator, to put out this bizarre statement that Kiffin’s future will be decided after the Egg Bowl.

Again, think about the absurdity of all of this: entering a bye week before Ole Miss goes to Starkville to cement a playoff berth and cap off the best regular season in modern history, the AD had to put out a statement about the head coach’s future and asked everyone not to lose sight of what is most important — winning the game and punching a ticket to compete for a national title. The irony in all of this is that the only person who lost sight of this abundantly obvious fact is the head coach.

According to multiple sources, the parting message Kiffin left his team with on Friday before entering the bye week was to eliminate “any distractions.” One can only wonder how that message resonated with his locker room as they spent the weekend opening social media and turning on their TV to discussions regarding Kiffin’s future.

After last Saturday’s win over Florida, Kiffin was asked about his future at Ole Miss.

“To even talk about it would be so disrespectful to our players and how they played today,” said the man who spent the week doing damage control after sending his family to scope out his potential future. Which is more disrespectful? Turning a 10-1 season the players have spent the last nine months working their asses off in favor of more attention to the supposed adult running the program, or is it more disrespectful to honestly answer a question in a press conference? The world may never know.

So, what is to be made of all of this? This is purely my opinion, but I believe Lane Kiffin wants to be the next head coach at LSU. I think the unexpected success of the 2025 season has inconvenienced this desire and he’s currently grappling with this question: will he actually leave a playoff team to take another job, in the same conference, and is a bitter rival?

To say that it would be an unpopular decision would be an understatement. The fact that he seemingly doesn’t want to be at Ole Miss and is willing to tank a chance at competing for a national championship is bewildering. Trying to understand the enigma that is Kiffin leads to the final question I asked.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

What is Lane Kiffin actually chasing?

Ole Miss has given Kiffin every possible tool he’s asked for to win at a high level. Since Kiffin’s arrival in Oxford, the rules and economics of college football have changed. Hell, Ole Miss is perhaps the best example of the change in college football over the last four years.

Due to NIL and the transfer portal, Blue Blood programs can no longer hoard talent, like Saban did in the peak of the Alabama dynasty. Top-level prospects aren’t going to wait multiple years to get onto the field at Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State or wherever else, when they can go get paid elsewhere and get on the field immediately. The average margin of victory in SEC games has essentially been cut in half over the last eight years, and has shrunk by nearly six points since NIL became legal. That’s not a coincidence, it’s a data-backed trend.

In this modern era where parity reigns supreme, what matters most? Fan investment in terms of consistent NIL, administration alignment, elite coaching and talent evaluation. Ole Miss checks all of those boxes. Are there built-in advantages at the traditional blue blood jobs like LSU and Florida? Sure, but those intangible and unquantifiable advantages seem to be less important in this modern era.

Is he chasing winning at the highest level? Because leaving a playoff team to go start over somewhere else is the antithesis of wanting to win at the highest level.

Is he chasing a traditional blue blood job? Maybe. But the short-sighted nature of that line of thinking is that whatever program he romanticizes that isn’t Ole Miss will put up with the bizarre, narcissistic bullshit that comes with hiring Lane Kiffin. Imagine Kiffin being 4-3 in year three at LSU and tweeting a photo of Mike the Tiger laying in his cage with some fortune cookie-like quote about blocking out distractions. I am sure that will go over very well.

Is he chasing the ability to be loved and appreciated as himself? Ole Miss has allowed Kiffin to be weird, selfish and has stroked his ego at all costs. Hell, the man bought a dog and it became the de facto mascot of the school. The assumption that Kiffin’s idiosyncrasies and grating personality would be as accepted elsewhere is silly.

Perhaps he’s chasing something that doesn’t exist. Lane Kiffin might be perpetually longing for the next thing he doesn’t have.

Or, maybe, he’s not chasing anything at all. Maybe he’s trying to out-run his own insecurities as a coach — the ones that squandered a national title-level roster in 2024.

Maybe he’s trying to outrun the version of himself that he’s spent the last three years telling the public he’s left in the past. Maybe Lane Kiffin is chasing a version of himself he’s not capable of becoming.

Subscribe now

Ole Miss hosts Arkansas on Saturday night at 6 p.m. as the Rebels continue an eventful month of September and try to improve to 2-0 in SEC play. Here are five things I am thinking about before kickoff.

The Cowboy Country Club is the NEWEST member of the Rippee Writes family. The Cowboy Country Club is a brand that was founded on the basis of building a community that you can not only feel proud to be a part of, but also one that you can make yours. Go to CowboyCountryClub.com and go buy the best merch on the market. Use the promo code “HottyToddy20” for a discount just for being a subscriber to Rippee Writes.

1. Who plays quarterback for Ole Miss?

The most pressing issue Ole Miss faces entering this game is the health of quarterback Austin Simmons. The redshirt sophomore injured his ankle in the fourth quarter of the win at Kentucky. Simmons popped up on Wednesday’s initial injury report as ‘probable’ and then was removed altogether from Thursday’s updated report. I likely don’t need to remind most of you that Lane Kiffin hates this mandated injury reporting system and does not take it seriously at all. Last year, he’d have 30 players on it one week and two the next week. Given the lack of regulation and penalties in place for not putting out accurate injury information, this report is a perfect vehicle for Kiffin to use to troll a required exercise that he detests, rather than give an accurate update.

Personally, I do not put much stock in Simmons being removed from the injury report. Multiple people with knowledge of the situation told Rippee Writes that Simmons was very limited in practice all week and that there is a serious chance that the Rebels might be forced to turn to back-up Trinidad Chambliss — a senior transfer from DII Ferris State, where he won a national title. If that is indeed the case, how different will the Ole Miss offense look on Saturday? Perhaps we got a small taste of it when Chambliss led a scoring drive late in the fourth quarter in last week’s win at Kentucky to essentially ice game, but that was more of a four-minute offense situation in which the Rebels were trying to gain first downs running the football and were battling the clock as much as they were trying to score.

If Simmons is able to play, he will obviously be compromised. It’s worth wondering how different the offense will look with a hobbled Simmons. It is interesting to me that Kiffin said, point blank, during preseason camp, that the staff did not anticipate using Simmons in the running game much at all. After two weeks and one real SEC test, that is proving to be an inaccurate prediction. Several designed runs for Simmons have been called in the season’s first eight quarters. What changed? Is it due to poor offensive line play? A lack of running back depth behind Lacy? I am curious as to why Simmons carried the ball eight times against Kentucky (not all designed runs). And I wonder how much he will be used in the running game going forward, particularly considering he is already battling an injury because of his usage carrying the football.

I do not know what to make of all of this in terms of who starts on Saturday against the Razorbacks. Maybe it’s Kiffin being coy and throwing what he thinks is a smoke screen. I have reason to believe that is not the case. My guess is that it will be a game-time decision. Simmons will go through warm-ups, get shot up with Toradol or whatever the hell it is they gave Jaxson Dart during last year’s Georgia game, and the staff will decide who gives Ole Miss the best chance to win from there. It will be interesting to see who runs out for the first series.

Watson Turnipseed is a proud Rippee Writes sponsor. Have you been injured in a car accident or at work? Have the insurance companies denied your claim? Get more than one call with Watson Turnipseed. Call 504-636-8217

2. The offensive line

This will likely be a mainstay in this content item throughout the year until this unit proves it can be an above average SEC offensive line. Ole Miss struggled on the interior offensive line for the second straight game in the win over Kentucky. The Rebels did rush for 220 yards on 4.6 yards per carry, which is a positive sign. Kewan Lacy offers a level of explosiveness that Ole Miss simply did not have in the offensive backfield last year — even with the Ulysses Bentley saga. But a bad snap set the forces in motion for one of Simmons’ two interceptions and the Wildcats were able to consistently pressure Simmons, particularly early in the game.

Arkansas is not a good SEC defense. In fact, it could end up being one of the worst three defenses in the SEC by season’s end. Arkansas has several newcomers on its defensive line and the linebacking corps is pretty solid. The secondary is where the Razorbacks are likely to face challenges on defense this year. With that said, Ole Miss has had offensive line issues against the likes of Georgia State and a Kentucky team that could end up being the worst team in the conference. The offensive line will need to fare better to help whoever is at quarterback for the Rebels on Saturday.

3. Can the Rebels lean on the defense for a win?

I thought the Ole Miss defense was good, not great, against Kentucky. There were mistakes, and the Rebels allowed 20 points against a pretty putrid Wildcats offense, but when it mattered most and when the game hung in the balance, the defense got back-to-back stops to seal the win.

The test the Ole Miss defense will face on Saturday will be fairly unique in terms of anything Pete Golding’s defense has seen over the last year. Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green is a 6-foot-6, athletic quarterback who is a much better runner than he is a thrower of the football. Ole Miss did not get a full dosage of Green in the Rebels’ blowout win in Fayetteville last fall. Green was injured that week and split time with Malachi Singleton (who has since transferred to Purdue). Green is a dynamic running threat. The Ole Miss defense didn’t face a lot of mobile quarterbacks last season. The Rebels fared pretty well against D.J. Lagway — Lagway’s legs were not the reason Florida won that game. South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers rushed 15 times for 55 yards against Ole Miss in Columbia last season, which is a fairly significant output when you factor in the six sacks (and the loss of yardage that comes with it) he absorbed. But aside from one long run in the 30-yard range, I don’t remember Sellers killing Ole Miss with his feet in a game the Rebels won 27-3, but I could be mistaken.

Arkansas might finish in the bottom third of the SEC this year, but it won’t be because of their offense. Offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino has produced highly-productive offenses at every single stop of his career over the last 20 years and the Razorback offense will be a significant challenge for Golding’s defense.

Whether it’s a compromised Simmons or Chambliss at quarterback, Ole Miss is going to need its defense to play very well in order to win this football game. Golding is as good as anyone in the sport when it comes to week-to-week schematics. I am fascinated to see how he tries to contain Green, how he uses Suntarine Perkins, and what the defense front looks like on a down-by-down basis in this game.

With Ole Miss’ uncertainty at quarterback, here’s a simplistic lens through which to view this game: If Arkansas scores more than 25 points, the Rebels could be in trouble. If Arkansas scores fewer than 20 points, Ole Miss is likely going to win this game. That is just my opinion, and I am often wrong. Golding’s defense played at a Playoff-caliber level every week last season. It’s the offense that kept Ole Miss out of the inaugural 12-team invitational. On Saturday, Ole Miss may have to lean on its defense again to beat Arkansas.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

4. The receiving corps

This is less about the receivers being a key to this game and more so about me being interested in how Ole Miss disperses the football to what appears to be a deep receiver room with diverse skill sets. Tre Wallace and Deuce Alexander each caught four passes last weekend and carried the bulk of the yardage production. Ole Miss only completed a total of 13 passes in the game. I am curious to see what this looks like on Saturday. I am told Arkansas transfer tight end Luke Hasz practiced this week. He was touted to be a key part of this passing game. Does he play? And if so, what is his role?

We haven’t seen much from the veteran of this pass-catching unit, Cayden Lee, so far this year. I don’t think that really means a whole lot. We are only talking about four real quarters of football so far this season. You can’t gauge much of anything about this team from the Rebels destroying Georgia State on Labor Day weekend. Is this a game in which Lee becomes the reliable option for a back-up QB in Chambliss or a hobbled Simmons? Ole Miss didn’t push the football down the field much against Kentucky. Most of the completions it executed were within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage and the chunk plays came from Wallace and Alexander’s ability to make their primary defenders miss tackles and dart upfield.

Again, I am not citing the receiving unit as a key to Ole Miss winning this game. I think the Rebels have a deep and talented receiving corps. I am just curious to gain another four-quarter sample size of what that group looks like.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

5. Is Ole Miss capable of winning in a Vintage Kiffin style

This is likely a bad headline, but I couldn’t come up with anything better despite trying. What I mean is that with the uncertainty Ole Miss has at quarterback, is this offense capable of running for 250-plus yards, leaning on a bad Arkansas defense, controlling the tempo of the game and winning at its own pace?

Lacy gives Ole Miss an element of explosiveness that it has not had since Quinshon Judkins — while that name is probably a sore subject among fans, and I am certainly not comparing the two running backs, it's simply the truth. I am far less confident in what Ole Miss has behind Lacy than I ever was with what Ole Miss had behind Judkins (Zach Evans and Bentley), but assuming Lacy is the bell cow, remains healthy and gets the majority of the carries in this game, is this offense, and particularly this offensive line — for one game at least— capable of running the football at the level that the 2021 and 2022 offenses did on a regular basis. It seems like Ole Miss could use a vintage offensive performance — like LSU in 2021 (249 yards rushing), Texas A&M in 2022 (390 yards rushing), or Tennessee 2021 (279 yards rushing) — to win a game with a compromised (or back-up quarterback).

For that to be the case, the interior of the offensive line must be better. I have doubts as to whether this subpar offensive line unit is capable of producing such an output, but it certainly feels like the Rebels could use it against a pesky but capable Arkansas team in a series that always seems to get weird.

To conclude, if Ole Miss wishes to be even a remotely serious threat to make the College Football Playoff, it must win this game — somehow, some way. There is no realistic path to this team playing meaningful football in the month of November with a loss to Arkansas on its resume. How this game plays out is as big of a mystery to me as any game in the Kiffin era. But, like most of you, I am incredibly eager to find out. We’ll have more on Sunday. Thanks for reading.

Subscribe now

Ole Miss kicked off its season with a 63-7 thrashing of Georgia Southern.

I did not figure we would learn a ton about an Ole Miss team that I feel is more of an unknown commodity than any team in the Kiffin era, other than his first one ( that weird, COVID-riddled 2020 season), but here are a handful of observations I had from the win.

Simmons’ career begins in earnest

Austin Simmons waited two years for this. On Saturday, he took the field for his first collegiate start. It’s now his team and he’s the face of this program. Simmons is a remarkable talent. I did a story on him this summer that you can read here. In reporting that story, I spoke to several of Austin’s family members, coaches and even his childhood tutor. His father is a former collegiate athlete and is a high school football coach. His mother is a first generation Bahamian immigrant who works as an admissions counselor for a college. His entire life to this point has been structured by two pillars: sports and an expedited education track. Austin was home-schooled from the time he was in eighth grade. He graduated high school two years early. His father has been the architect of his athletic life since Austin could walk, and now, he’s an SEC quarterback on the precipice of stardom.

Simmons’ debut went about how I expected. The arm talent is clearly elite. When scouts and evaluators use the phrase “the ball just looks different coming out of his hand,” think of Simmons, because he is a textbook example of what that phrase means. That was clearly on display on Saturday. He also made mistakes. He threw two interceptions. One was a poor decision on a throw into the end zone. The other one wasn’t really his fault as he was ambushed by defensive linemen that breached the interior of Ole Miss’ offensive line, hit him and affected the throw. Those two things. decision-making and protection will tell the tale of Simmons’ 2025 season — and Ole Miss’ for that matter.

If Ole Miss can protect Simmons, he will thrive. If Simmons can limit poor decisions, the offense will thrive. It reminds me of Jaxson Dart’s 2022 season at Ole Miss. Most fans rightfully remember Dart as a poised decision-maker who was tough as hell and the leader of the team. But if you think back to the 2022 season, Dart’s first full year as a starter at the collegiate level, he made a handful of head-scratching decisions throwing the football in most games. It’s natural for any young, inexperienced quarterback. There will be growing pains with Simmons, too. How quickly he is able to learn how to mitigate them will drastically shape the trajectory of Ole Miss’ season.

One thing that stuck out to me about Simmons is that he’s clearly up to the challenge from a mental standpoint. He made a bad throw on that interception, but it wasn’t due to trepidation or a lack of poise, but rather being too aggressive. He is clearly ready for this moment and prepared to take on this role. I talked to Simmons a couple of weeks before that story was published. I asked him about that drive against Georgia last November, when he replaced an injured Jaxson Dart, led the team on a touchdown drive that shifted the momentum of that game — a drive that really kickstarted the hype surrounding him entering this year. I asked him if he was nervous in that moment. He scoffed at the notion and told me that he’s never been nervous before a sporting event in his life. The matter-of-fact manner that he discussed that drive and how he simply did his job the way he was supposed to do it was pretty remarkable for someone who lacked experience. What he certainly does not lack is confidence.

In my opinion, the first throw Simmons made after the end zone interception (the one that was a poor decision on his part) is emblematic of his confidence.

He threw a perfect football to Penn State transfer Trey Wallace down the far sideline. Simmons finished with a line of 20-31 for 341 yards, three touchdowns and the two interceptions. It’s tough to definitively analyze a quarterback after one game against an inferior opponent, but on a Saturday in which young, inexperienced quarterbacks across the country struggled in their debuts, Simmons certainly looked the part.

The offensive line, yet again, appears to be a potential liability

The Ole Miss offensive line did not have a great day on Saturday, particularly the interior offensive line. Simmons was sacked just one time, a number that would have likely been higher if not for Simmons’ mobility. Georgia State registered four quarterback hurries.

The Simmons interception that was not his fault didn’t come as result of a blitz or a pass rusher on the edge getting to Simmons, right guard Patrick Kutas got beat so badly, an interior defensive lineman hit Simmons before he released the football — a scenario that is not exactly common as far as a pass rush and turnovers are concerned. There is a reason that, generally speaking, defensive tackles don’t register high sack numbers. It’s usually the defensive ends and edge players that get to the quarterback. Lane Kiffin had an interesting quote about this play.

“Yeah, that one wasn’t his fault,” Kiffin said. “The right guard gets beat. They’re in a blown coverage and we are going to score a 70-yard touchdown walking into the end zone, yet the guy that blows the coverage is who picks it off.”

The right guard Kiffin is referring to is Arkansas transfer Patrick Kutas, who Ole Miss signed with the hope that he would improve an offensive line that is the most glaring reason that an uber-talented 2024 Rebels team did not make the college football playoff. Georgia State sent pressure into the interior of Ole Miss’ offensive line and had great success in doing so.

Ole Miss started Brycen Sanders at center, Charlotte transfer P.J. Wilkins at left guard, Diego Pounds at left tackle and Jaydin Williams at right tackle.

I am not at all a savant on offensive line play, and I always hesitate to give opinions/criticize specific positions on performance because there is so much that goes into it that I don’t understand. With that said, to me, it seemed like Kutas and Wilkins really struggled at the two guard spots, and that while Sanders seemingly played fine, the ineptitude on either side of him made his life harder — again, just my uneducated opinion.

Entering the season, the offensive line was seemingly the biggest concern surrounding this Ole Miss team (much like last year). Also like last year, Ole Miss is dealing with some injuries that occurred before the season. UAB transfer Delano Townsend and Maryland transfer Terez Davis did not play in the game and it’s been widely speculated that both are dealing with injuries, though it doesn’t sound like either guy is expected to miss the entirety of the season. So, in fairness, Ole Miss is not dealing with a full deck on the offensive line.

One of the concerning aspects of the offensive line, in my opinion, is that we watched a similar script last year. To refresh your memory, last year, the Rebels dealt with injuries to Caleb Warren and (USM transfer) Gerquan Scott in the preseason, then veteran Jeremy James got injured week one. Losing three key contributors before week two is a tough pill for any team to swallow. The alarming lesson we learned last year is that, even when those guys got healthy, a fragile Ole Miss offensive line didn’t actually get any better. It got worse. And two of the three aforementioned injured players never made their way back to significant playing time. So, while the fact that Ole Miss is yet again without two players on the offensive line, that it believes can help them win football games, I have a hard time believing their return will be some drastic difference-making factor in the unit’s performance, mostly based on prior history.

The last thing I would like to harp on when it comes to the offensive line is the strategy of building it. To preface that, let’s remember that it’s only week one. This unit could absolutely just need some time to gel and could become a serviceable offensive line. But after a season in which a generationally-talented Ole Miss team missed the 12-team College Football Playoff largely due to ineptitude on the offensive line, the program’s strategy in rectifying the issue is bizarre to me. Lane Kiffin has a pretty damn good track record of hiring assistant coaches. His batting average is pretty high. He’s never shown much hesitation in changing coaching staff members to improve a specific aspect of his program. But after last year’s offensive line debacle, he elected to retain offensive line coach John Garrison. Ole Miss then brought in five transfer linemen: Kutas, Davis, Townsend, Wilkins and (Auburn transfer) Percy Lewis.

It seems clear they are going to rely on four of those five to be significant contributors. What is puzzling about this strategy to me is that it is identical to the strategy that led to the 2024 debacle — except with lesser players. Prior to the 2024 season, Ole Miss paid top dollar for the pair of Washington transfers, Julius Buelow and Nate Kalepo — a pair seen as the cream of the crop of the available offensive line portal talent, as well as Pounds (North Carolina). The results were horrific. Yet, Ole Miss seemingly changed nothing about how they approached rectifying the issue this offseason. Same coach, same concept of portaling together an offensive line. Obviously, there are a variety of factors in all of this that I am not privy to, but generally speaking, it looks like doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result — which is the definition of insanity.

Poor offensive line play is an epidemic across Power Four College Football. On the Rippee Writes podcast, I did opponent previews with all eight SEC opponents Ole Miss plays this year — every single writer, with the exception of Florida beat writer Graham Hall, identified offensive line play as a cause for concern for the programs they cover. It’s not a coincidence. NIL and the transfer portal have created an ecosystem of rapid roster turnover and 50-plus newcomers on a team becoming the norm. The offensive line is really the only position group in football that is not conducive to that. High school recruiting matters. Development matters. It’s the only position group in which plug-and-play out of high school is nearly impossible. Offensive linemen enter a college program out of high school and need to gain muscle mass and weight, and the adjustment to SEC defensive lines compared to high school defensive lines is likely the largest gap to cover compared to any other position group in the sport.

Unless Devin Harper, a talented true freshman Ole Miss signed out of Calvary Baptist HS in Shreveport, Louisiana, plays this year — Sanders is the only offensive lineman that will contribute to this team that the program signed out of high school. To use a term I was known for in my radio days: that seems suboptimal.

I don’t blame Ole Miss for going out and signing more portal guys to fix it. If the staff doesn’t believe it has enough developed high school prospects on the roster that are ready to play, then I suppose the portal is the only option. I just know that the offensive line appears to be a problem yet again, and Ole Miss seemingly didn’t alter its approach at all in terms of fixing it, which is puzzling.

Again, it’s one game. If the offensive line plays well over the next four games and the Rebels are 5-0 after a win over LSU entering the month of October, I will happily admit I was wrong in my concern, but for now, the offensive line looks like the position group that will hold this team back more so than any other area — and it’s the second year in a row that appears to be the case.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

The Rebels are clearly more talented at running back

Missouri transfer Kewan Lacy ran the football 16 times, earned 108 yards and scored three touchdowns in the win over Georgia State. Rehashing last year’s running back debacle will likely make most of my readers want to drive into oncoming traffic, so I will spare you the misfortune of recapping that saga, but the point is that Lacy looked like an above average SEC running back. Just ask Lane Kiffin.

“I’ll just tell you how it is. We did not have that last year,” Kiffin said. “It is really good to have that That’s how he practices. He’s got a really unique skill set of speed and power. When a guy can break and not get caught, it makes it a lot easier not to call more plays afterward. That was good to see.”

I have no clue what Kiffin is referencing here, or whether or not it’s a shot at Ulysses Bentley or any of the personnel last year, but clearly he trusts Lacy more than any running back he had on the roster a year ago. It’s also hilariously ironic that Georgia State’s leading rusher in this game was Rashad Amos, but enough about that.

LSU transfer Logan Diggs was the only other ball carrier to get extensive action in the game. Diggs transferred to Ole Miss from LSU last year, but missed the entirety of the season due to a leg injury he suffered in LSU’s bowl game the previous year. Diggs played in the Gator Bowl win over Duke. I didn’t really know what to make of it, and if I am being completely honest, I didn’t have much of an opinion on his seven-carry, 91-yard output in this game. What I do know is that having a serviceable SEC running back behind Lacy will be a significant advantage for Ole Miss and I am curious to see what Diggs’ workload looks like over the next two weeks as the Rebels play Kentucky and Arkansas.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

The pass-catching options are interesting

Describing Ole Miss’ pass-catching corps as ‘interesting’ in the header feels like a bit of a cop out. I would like to declare that the Rebels’ receivers are better and the unit is deeper than it was in 2024, but I think I need to see more. With that said, Ole Miss has a diverse and talented group of targets. Penn State transfer Trey Wallace caught five balls for 130 yards and a touchdown. Dae’Quan Wright reminded the public that he had one hell of year last season and is a really good tight end. We didn’t see a ton of Oklahoma State transfer De’Zhaun Stribling in the opener. He caught three passes for 55 yards. I make nothing of that. It’s the season opener. The staff raved about this guy in the offseason. He will be a significant factor in this offense. Veteran Cayden Lee registered two catches in this game. We all know what Lee is and what he brings to the offense, I only mention it to reiterate that judging receiving corps production after a game is silly.

Alabama transfer Caleb Odom is a physical freak and an intriguing storyline as far as how Ole Miss uses him. I am very bullish on this pass-catching corps and think it will end up yielding a much better result than the whole ‘force feed Tre Harris when things get tight’ offense of last year.

Ole Miss having Pete Golding as DC is such an undervalued advantage

Ole Miss put out a press release before the season that Pete Golding signed a contract extension that will make him the highest paid assistant in college football. This shouldn’t be a surprise. Golding has been excellent since he’s been at Ole Miss.

Ole Miss had one of the best defenses in college football last year. It was certainly not the reason the Rebels failed to make the Playoff. Ole Miss lost a lot off of that defense a year ago, which is interesting. I’ll ask, you, the reader, a question: did you hear more this offseason about Ole Miss’ potential issues on offense or defense? Personally, I heard more about the offensive line, a new quarterback and an unknown receiving corps. While valid concerns, this defense lost a boatload of talent. Why was that not more of a storyline (again, maybe it was. This is all subjective), but I think part of it is due to the track record Golding has built. He’s recruited incredibly well. Ole Miss lost Walter Nolen, J.J Pegues and Jared Ivey off the defensive line. But uber-talented prospects like Will Echoles and Kam Franklin were waiting in the wings. Golding signed LSU transfer Da’Shawn Womack, who looked dominant in the season opener.

Linebacker transfers Tahj Chambers (Missouri State) Jaden Yates (Marshall) played a lot — a combined 59 snaps — and add to a group headlined by T.J. Dottery, and (in whatever form they choose to use him) Suntarine Perkins. Chucky Mullins Award-winner Tyler Banks only got 18 snaps in the game. I am not saying anything should be made of that, it’s just indicative of Golding’s trust in the newcomers.

I could write 5,000 words on the secondary alone and what it has to replace from last year, and I likely will cover the secondary more in the coming days, but I suppose my point is that Golding, in my opinion, has proven himself to be an elite talent evaluator and a tremendous defensive coordinator. He also seems completely content in his current job and is not looking to leave for another, for a myriad of reasons.

I am going to write about this later in the week, but after watching a preseason camp load of player interviews, the way the players describe Golding is sort of fascinating to me. Each player interviewed said some variation of “the guy is a schematic genius. I don’t worry about where he moves me or what I am asked to do because I know that guy only puts players in positions in which their strengths will be maximized.”

That is, of course, not a real direct quote and a generalization of about a dozen players, but the general theme is not inaccurate. Golding seems to have a knack for establishing something with his players that is increasingly hard to achieve in this modern era in which the transfer portal and NIL give players an infinite amount of others options — trust. Golding’s player’s seem to totally trust him. That, to me, is as invaluable as anything else in this modern era of college sports.

A thank you to the readers

I have a lot more I would like to get into about this Ole Miss Football team and there is a lot more that I could have covered in week one. But at the risk of making this, a 10,000 word manifesto, that is all for now.

I want to take a moment to thank each of you out there (who clearly read to the end!) for reading and supporting this newsletter. I have not been very consistent in producing content in the last 9-12 months for a myriad of reasons, but consider this newsletter as a relaunch of what will be a regular content item in your inboxes. I want this to be something people look forward to reading and that would all be futile without your subscription and support. So, cheers to the next iteration of a great thing and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a loyal reader. You’ll hear from Rippee Writes again here real soon.

Subscribe now

Fewer than five days after Ole Miss Basketball’s season ended in Atlanta, after the Rebels’ fell 73-70 to Michigan State in what was just the second Sweet 16 appearance in program history, the much-maligned basketball program received a jolt of validation that arguably rivals the significance of its appearance in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ole Miss Athletics publicly announced that Chris Beard agreed to a contract extension that will keep him in Oxford for the foreseeable future. This announcement, of course, was calculated and hardly unprompted.

On Tuesday, Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams left the Texas Cult of Scientology to accept the same role at Maryland. Williams is a career nomad who never sticks around at a program for more than five-to-seven years. It’s a smart strategy. He’s a good basketball coach and he leaves before the mob of critics ever form and ignite their torches. But the move was still seen as somewhat shocking in the college basketball world. Why is that? It’s a fascinating question to ponder.

A New Frontier

In the world of college athletics, Texas and Texas A&M are seen as the closest thing to the Saudi Public Investment Fund as anything that exists within the ecosystem, and with good reason, too. Both are massive public institutions in one of the richest states in the country, with uber-wealthy alumni bases that supply a seemingly bottomless amount of funds to ensure the success of the sports teams.

On July 1, 2021, the perpetually short-sighted NCAA introduced new bylaws that allowed athletes to profit off of their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). Though none of the bureaucratic empty-suited morons involved in that decision making process knew at it at the time, it essentially ended one era of history and birthed another. College sports as we knew it ended that day. The anti-American farce of a concept that was amateurism was finally (legally) dead and a completely lawless economy, that previously existed as a shadowy black market, became mainstream. Everything you knew or assumed about college sports became moot that day, whether you knew it or not.

Like any other undiscovered frontier in human history, a new landscape presents great opportunity: it allows the adaptable and opportunistic to thrive and essentially forces the passive and bewildered to flounder.

There has never been a clearer line of demarcation in college athletics, and it’s signified by quality of leadership. If you have smart leaders, anyone can thrive. If you have morons in charge, your ship will sink. It’s never been more matter of fact in a constantly changing landscape that requires foresight and adaptation. History, tradition, and the nonsensical label of being a ‘blue-blood,’ have repeatedly proven to be outdated labels that can best be described as utter bullshit in this new era.

Ole Miss has tremendous leadership. It is thriving in this modern era. As we’ve covered extensively both in this space and on RebelGrove.com, Ole Miss’ collective, the Grove Collective, is the gold standard. And it’s because Ole Miss acted while most stood idly by (click the link to read how and why). The decision to act fast, form the Grove Collective (the correct way, as in not a 501C3) is still paying dividends to this day, including this development of retaining Beard.

So, in this NIL era, where money can be thrown at athletes openly, instead of in McDonald’s bags in cash in a Wal-Mart parking lot (shoutout Jeremy Pruitt), why hasn’t one of the richest schools in the country (A&M) thrived?

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Dysfunction Breeds Chaos

Williams is a Texas native. He’s made four Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight in his career. He took an ACC program with little basketball history, Virginia Tech, to the Sweet 16 before he left for A&M. Though he’s a career nomad, many figured he’d finally made his way back home in College Station, and wouldn’t leave. But he did. And it’s not just the fact that he left, it’s who he left for.

Maryland’s job was open because its coach, former Seton Hall head coach and now-Villanova head coach, Kevin Willard, left in disgust. This story did not get a ton of national media attention, but it is truly one of the wildest things I have ever seen in college sports. Willard took the Maryland gig after 13 years at Seton Hall. He got the Terps to the Round of 32 in his first year, missed the tournament last year and made the Sweet 16 this year before he left, and it wasn’t without a flare for the dramatics.

On March 17, Villanova fired head coach Kyle Neptune. Villanova is a proud basketball program. Neptune had a near impossible job: to follow Jay Wright, who won two national championships and was arguably the greatest active coach in the sport when he left. Neptune failed mightily and his firing was deserved. Villanova is an A-class basketball job. Willard’s name was immediately tied to the opening. Willard seemingly had things rolling at Maryland, you’d figure he’d dispel the rumors or leverage them into a pay raise and an NIL budget increase before announcing he loves being at Maryland? Yeah, not even close.

On the eve of the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Willard used his NCAA-mandated press conference to call his outgoing AD a cheap-ass, declare that he screwed up handling NIL and then publicly confirmed the AD was leaving to go to SMU. For context, Maryland’s AD is a guy named Damon Evans. It had been long-rumored that he was a favorite to land the SMU AD job, but nothing had been publicly reported or confirmed. His subordinate basically broke the news for him to force his hand.

Think about that for a second: Many of you reading out there likely have bosses. What if you had a public press conference in which you basically said “yeah, my boss is a moron that screwed us, oh and by the way, he’s leaving the company soon.” — it’s truly one of the wildest things I have ever seen in college athletics. I can’t believe this did not become more of a national story. If you don’t believe me, watch the video above.

Anyway, the point of me mentioning that is this: Buzz Williams just left Texas A&M to take THAT job. Williams just took a gig with no athletic director (so, no boss until a new boss that didn’t hire you is in place), very clear NIL dysfunction and a desperate admin. Why would he do that? Buzz is not dumb. I have a theory: Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts is arguably the dumbest human being in major college athletics, who keeps inexplicably falling upward into better jobs — much like Ross Bjork. I don’t get this whole empty-suit AD thing. Maybe I am just dumb, but it seemingly never works out well — and is spreading his toxic stupidity into one of the largest athletic brands in the country. You think I am being too hard on the guy? Read this story about what he did to Nebraska-Omaha’s athletics department before falling upward into the Nebraska AD job, and then get back to me.

Make no mistake about it: Williams left to get away from Alberts. Last summer, Texas A&M made the national title series in college baseball against Tennessee. The Aggies lost that series to Tennessee. Head coach Jim Schlossnagle then left College Station to become the head coach at Texas, a bitter rival. You think Schlossnagle left because he felt under-supported or that the money was lacking (at A&M of all places!) ?. Of course not. He left because he realized his boss was a moron.

And while I am speculating here, I have to figure Williams and Schlossnagle left the cash cow that is Texas A&M because they realized that money without organization and infrastructure is fairly worthless. A&M might have more money than anyone in this ecosystem. But without the proper organizations in place, without the proper infrastructure to deliver that money to elite-level athletes in an ethical and responsible way, then what good is the money?

Multiple sources told Rippee Writes and RebelGrove (predominantly Chase Parham) on Wednesday that Texas A&M could not provide Beard with a definite number regarding an NIL budget for the 2025-26 season, and that it was a significant factor in Beard’s decision.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

When I interviewed Walker Jones (a man who deserves a statue along with William Liston, Matt McDonald, David Nutt, Carter, Glenn Boyce, Denson Hollis and many others) about 18 months ago when reporting on the story about how the Grove Collective was founded, Jones explained that this collective (a new term at the time), could help Ole Miss fight a resources battle. Jones likened it to his time spent at Under Armour, when the company was in its infancy while fighting behemoths like Adidas and Nike for market share. He said that Ole Miss needed to be “organized, disciplined, and make one dollar spend like three.” He truly believed Ole Miss could alter the power structure in college sports by being more organized than anyone else.

Well, as it turns out he was 100 percent correct, and Wednesday’s development of keeping Beard is a prime example of that. Why did Beard choose to stay at Ole Miss? It’s a job with zero history, zero NBA presence and has been historically (and accurately) regarded as the worst job in the SEC.

Beard stayed because the New Ole Miss is not the Old Ole Miss. The idea that Ole Miss is still a bad basketball job is an outdated and uninformed narrative parroted by the schmucks I used to call colleagues who are more concerned about the media buffet than actually digging into a subject. Ole Miss Basketball pays its coach a top-15 salary. Its assistant coach pool is borderline top-10, its NIL is in the top half of the league and its facilities are A+. Historically speaking, Ole Miss is a tough basketball job. But again, history went out the window that summer day in which the NCAA legalized NIL — by what objective measure is Ole Miss a bad or “tough” basketball job now? It’s not. But it will take a half decade for the national media to catch up because of a lack of intelligence and motivation.

A multi-faceted validation

Ole Miss keeping Chris Beard and fending off Texas A&M is a massive validation for the basketball program. It’s proof of concept and proof of financials that you can win big at Ole Miss, that Ole Miss will support you and that this is no longer a doormat job. Beard is an elite coach, who would have never ended up at Ole Miss in the first place if not for issues in his personal life (I have written extensively about this, so spare me the self-righteous email about me glossing over it). The fact that he stayed, and that he does not view this job as a stepping stone on his rehabilitation tour, but rather a place he can build and win at, is a massive validation for a historically-maligned program.

It’s also proof of a much larger theme: The Ole Miss Rebels are thriving in modern college athletics because of their leadership.

Carter, Boyce, Jones, Hollis, the list goes on-and-on. The NIL era has beamed an intense spotlight on leadership. It has weeded out bad leaders. If a school has smart people and good leaders in charge, it can thrive. If it has incompetent people running the show, it will wither.

This is the New Ole Miss: thriving in a new frontier.

Subscribe now

In the moments after an inexplicable, devastating defeat to Florida, Lane Kiffin played out his usual post-loss routine. He spoke about “analytics”, the opposing team’s quarterback playing well, empty red zone trips and the “ball not bouncing” Ole Miss’ way. On the heels of losing to an unranked Florida team, 24-17, to end any realistic Playoff hopes for arguably the most talented Ole Miss team ever assembled, Kiffin appeared allergic to any form of the introspection he’ll need to channel to learn from this failed season.

“Disappointing outcome today. This was a game with a lot of missed opportunities, going 0-3 in the red zone, get stopped twice on fourth down and lose the turnover margin in a tough place to play, against a team that plays really well when that quarterback plays,” Kiffin said. “Credit to him. He is a really good player that made a lot of great plays in the first half. It’s a disappointing outcome. Sometimes things don’t go your way.”

His last sentence is undoubtedly true, but Ole Miss did very little to will the game in its favor. The Rebels out-gained the Gators by 120 yards. The turnover battle was even until the final three minutes of the game, when Ole Miss already trailed by seven points and was rightfully pressing due to being in a race against the clock and the scoreboard. Dart made a series of poor decisions on the final two drives that resulted in two interceptions to end a game the Rebels should have never been trailing in the first place. Dart’s postgame press conference differed drastically from Kiffin’s. There was no mention of analytics or things just not bouncing their way.

“It was a bad decision by me,” Dart said. “The only thing I can really say is that I am sorry. I am sorry to my teammates. I am sorry to my coaches and I am sorry to the fans. We cannot lose these games. This one is going to hurt for a really long time. All I can really say right now is that I am sorry.”

While Dart isn’t completely blameless for Saturday’s loss, this defeat to Florida — one that followed an eerily similar pattern to Ole Miss’ other two losses — rests at the feet of the coaching staff rather than one player. Yet it was the player with a larger appetite for shouldering responsibility in the postgame. More specifically, a player that Ole Miss would’ve never been in this position without. Dart worked tirelessly to recruit this roster and lead this team to the precipice of a playoff berth. He is an imperfect quarterback, but he is a crucial piece to the rise of Ole Miss, a kid who genuinely cares about this program, this school and this town. Dart may frustrate fans on the field at times, but the opportunity this season presented was never possible without a kid from Kaysville, Utah, who was forced to transfer from USC to no fault of his own, and arrived at Ole Miss in search of stability and acceptance, and ultimately blossomed into a star.

Why is it that a 21-year-old kid was more willing to accept blame than the $9 million man running the program?

The job of a coaching staff is to extract the best version of its team on a weekly basis. The best version of this Ole Miss team pummeled Georgia by three scores. Yet the 2024 season was torpedoed because the Rebels lost as three-score favorites at home to Kentucky, on the road to LSU in a game in which they didn’t trail for a single snap, and then as a double-digit favorite at Florida. Ole Miss lost to three teams with less talent. None of the three opponents performed beyond their talent level when they played Ole Miss. They simply let the Rebels beat themselves, and Ole Miss happily obliged. The coaching staff, specifically the offensive staff, failed this team.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Empty second halves

In the second halves of those three losses (six quarters), Ole Miss scored a grand total of one touchdown — and it came on a 4th & 7 play in the third quarter of the Kentucky game in which Tre Harris caught a pass 10 yards downfield and ran it 38 yards into the end zone. Ole Miss converted 8-of-25 third downs in those six quarters and were outscored a combined 21-3 in the fourth quarter. The offense totaled fewer than 200 yards in the second half in two of those losses. More often than not, when a game was tight at halftime, the Rebels’ offense went into a shell in the final two quarters. The lack of consistency on that side of the football is one of the more puzzling aspects of this season. It’s also inexcusable.

There are many causes for this. Earlier in the season, Ole Miss was far too reliant on Tre Harris in the passing game. In the loss to Kentucky, Harris had 11 catches and accounted for exactly half of the team's total offensive yards. The only other receiver to record a catch in that game was Cayden Lee (2). Caden Prieskorn had one reception. Harris was lost to injury in the second half of the win at South Carolina. Ole Miss scored three points. Harris again exited the game with an injury in the second half of the loss at LSU. Ole Miss kicked three field goals in the second half. When the slightest thing went wrong on the offensive side of the ball, there seemed to be no back-up plan. Ole Miss tried to force-feed Lee the football in the absence of Harris. It failed miserably, and that is not a knock on Lee. His skillset is wildly different from what makes Harris such a dominant presence.

It took the absence of Harris over the next three games for the Rebels to change their approach to the passing game, and the offense ironically functioned more efficiently against Oklahoma, Arkansas and Georgia. If it takes your best player being physically unavailable to pivot to a different strategy, does that not make the coaching staff stubborn by definition? Stubbornness is one of many adjectives I would use to describe this hellacious season from the offense.

Ole Miss also struggled to run the football with any consistency this year. Some of that is due to running back personnel and the failed attempt to replace Quinshon Judkins. Some of it was due to the offensive line struggling all season, particularly in run blocking, despite landing four transfer linemen in the portal in what was supposed to be an effort to upgrade the offensive line. A lack of talent at running back and poor run blocking up front is a recipe for a dysfunctional running game. It’s nearly impossible to win consistently in the SEC without running the football well. An explosive running game has been a core component to Kiffin’s offenses throughout his entire career.

But even with all of that being true, the coaching staff’s puzzling use of the personnel didn’t help rectify the issue, nor did it bring clarity as to what specifically was the root cause of the problem.

Have you been considering buying or selling a home or condo in Oxford?  Don't try to tackle it alone. Let Drew McGehee of Crye-Leike Oxford help you through the process from beginning to end.  Drew is an Ole Miss alum and has lived and worked in the Oxford area his entire life. With a background in both banking and insurance, he has a wealth of knowledge to guide you through the entire process. So don't hesitate, call or text Drew today to get started today.  You can reach him on his cell at 662-380-0314 or call the Crye-Leike Oxford office at 662-234-9868. 

Puzzling handling of the running backs

The Ulysses Bentley IV situation will remain the greatest mystery of the 2024 season. When Judkins elected to hit the portal and go to Ohio State, Ole Miss paid Bentley to return for another season and seemingly felt pretty good about adding pieces around Bentley in the portal. The Rebels brought Henry Parrish back from Miami, added Miami (OH) transfer Rashad Amos, and Georgia State transfer Dominique Thomas. Unless this staff had an alternate plan all along, Bentley was supposed to be a key piece of the running game.

Then, the season arrived. We were all reminded that Parrish, who followed running backs coach Kevin Smith to Ole Miss, then to Miami, and eventually back to Ole Miss, was Smith’s proverbial favorite child. Parrish, an average SEC running back, debuted as the team’s starter. That’s fine, but it was Bentley literally never seeing the field that raised eyebrows as Ole Miss coasted through a joke of a non-conference schedule.

As the running game continued to falter, when asked about Bentley’s scarce usage, Kiffin essentially gaslit the fanbase by saying he’s simply not not as good as Parrish or former walk-on Matt Jones. Even after those two suffered injuries, nothing changed. Jones was unable to play at LSU due to an injury and Bentley had to play out of necessity. He ran for 107 yards on 11 carries, including a 50-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-short down — a scenario the Rebels have notoriously struggled with all season, to the point of allowing a defensive tackle to take a direct snap and have free rein as to which gap to run through.

Kiffin was seen on the sideline shouting something in Smith’s direction after Bentley scored that night. If nothing else, that exchange wasn’t great optics for an already bizarre situation in a season littered with horrible optics. Bentley’s performance at LSU remains the only 100-yard rushing output by an Ole Miss ball carrier in SEC play.

With Parrish lost for the season, Bentley did not receive a carry in Saturday’s loss to Florida. Instead, Ole Miss used wide receiver and punt return specialist Micah Davis at running back. Yes, the coaching staff thought a fifth-string wide receiver and punt-return specialist who transferred to Ole Miss in August, was a better option at running back than Bentley.

The illogical gaslighting campaign continued the day after Saturday’s loss.

“It’s nothing off the field at all. He’s a wonderful kid and does everything we ask of him,” Kiffin said. “We just haven’t been real consistent and productive at that spot this year. Tried something else yesterday. Is what it is. Got a lot of respect for him, really appreciate how he’s handled the situation, but this is what happens in coaching. Everybody doesn’t play. You gotta make hard decisions.”

What is the hard decision? Assuming Bentley’s fully healthy (he’s apparently healthy enough to return kickoffs), he’s somehow all of a sudden not as good as Jones, Thomas and Davis? — a punt-return specialist receiver who once took some carries at the Air Force Academy a few years ago? Sure, piss on the fanbase’s head and tell them it’s raining. That’s not a remotely coherent explanation. It leads one to believe that Kiffin doesn’t think that the fans, many of whom donated money to fund the roster, deserve an explanation. What changed from January to September? What changed in the two weeks since the Georgia win? Bentley got carries in that game. If it’s so bad a receiver has to play running back in the most consequential road game of the season, why did Bentley play against LSU and Georgia? Veteran players like Dart and Jordan Watkins are advocating for Bentley to play on social media. If other players don’t understand the situation, isn’t that somewhat indicative of a problem?

Kiffin is paid $9 million to manage the roster and handle personnel. This isn’t to suggest he should cater to the whims of fans. But Ole Miss just played a game in which it ran the football 35 times and only 10 of those carries went to running backs. At what point does it become obvious the staff lost the plot?

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

The offensive line has also been a mystery

Without adequate run blocking, the question of who runs the football becomes a moot point. The Ole Miss offensive line has struggled to move opposing defensive fronts. This unit was riddled with injuries early in the season. Caleb Warren and Gerquan Scott were injured during preseason camp. Jeremy James got hurt before the season’s second game. Jayden Williams was injured before the Kentucky game. Ole Miss was forced to shuffle some guys around. But Scott is the only one of the four transfers — who were brought in to supposedly upgrade the offensive line — to suffer a significant injury.

James started his 50th consecutive game in the season-opener at guard before his injury. Williams was the starting left tackle before his injury. Warren started 36 games over the previous three seasons. Scott is the only one of the four to return to the field in any significant capacity post-injury. Kiffin said entering the Florida game that the Rebels were fully healthy on the offensive line for the first time all year.

Warren has not played many snaps at all since exiting the injury report. James played sparingly at guard against South Carolina and Florida due to in-game injuries elsewhere. Williams, who wasn’t listed on the injury report last week, did not start at left tackle, but played in short-yardage packages. I am sure there are valid reasons for all of this, and it would be silly for me to act as if I know what Kiffin and his staff should do with their offensive line. It’s just puzzling that three veteran guys (particularly James and Warren, given that Williams’ was still working his way back through the second bye week) haven’t been given much of a look admidst the offensive line’s struggles.

Ole Miss invested in upgrading its offensive line in the offseason, but has seemingly regressed up front instead. It’s another head-scratching chapter in this season.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

This season has been a trainwreck from an optics standpoint

Despite all of the struggles outlined above, Ole Miss still had more than enough talent to beat Kentucky and Florida as double-digit favorites. The Rebels were talented enough to hang onto a four-point halftime lead at LSU. The shellshocked nature of the postgame press conferences following the trio of losses and the lack of substantive answers as to why they fell short has done little to ease the anguish.

The way Kiffin has discussed his team’s flaws in press conferences this year has been dramatically different than a year ago. The Bentley soap opera aside, I’ll revert back to a note I had in a previous newsletter about the way Kiffin discussed the struggles in the running game this year versus in 2023.

Last year, Ole Miss beat a ranked Tulane team on the road in the second week of the season despite running for fewer than 100 yards in the contest — a rare occurrence for a Kiffin offense at the time. That win came on the heels of rushing for only 143 yards in a 73-7 win over Mercer in week one. Kiffin was asked after the Tulane win about the early-season running game struggles.

"Highly concerned," Kiffin said "That’s very unusual for us, not just here, but anywhere. It’s just been a long (time), this job, FAU, Alabama, I don’t remember the inability to run the ball at all. They did a great job, but obviously that has a lot to do with us and that’s everybody. That’s perimeter blocking, linemen execution, running back footwork, everything. It takes everyone to have a good running game. We definitely look to improve there. That’s a major issue and one I don’t think we would’ve guessed."

This year has been a lot more of “It is what it is,” or “yeah, we’ve struggled there and are looking for a spark. Things just haven’t gone our way.”

Other than the loss of Judkins, it doesn’t seem rational to suggest the talent on the offensive line and in the running back room is remarkably worse than it was in 2023. The only stark difference between the two seasons is that this year, Kiffin has seemed flummoxed as to how to fix it. He’s paid handsomely to solve problems like this.

On Monday afternoon, he was pressed by Ben Garrett of the Ole Miss Spirit as to why Bentley doesn’t play anymore. Kiffin, seemingly flustered by being challenged on anything at all, cited yards per carry as to why.

Kiffin is not a dumb person. It’s obvious at this point his illogical crusade against Bentley is a cover for some alternative reason that we will likely never learn. The one question I have regarding it, is it the fault of the kid? Or a petty and defiant ego trip from the staff? If the latter is the case, that’s a problem.

It’s not great optics that all of the melodramatic subplots that sprouted throughout this season have been on the offensive side of the football. There have not been any baffling personnel mysteries or tactical errors on the defensive side of the football. Pete Golding’s unit has shown up every week, played at a playoff-caliber level and given Ole Miss a chance to win games. Why is that?

This offense team has not practiced what Kiffin preaches

Kiffin’s slogan since he got to Ole Miss has been “pro mindset.” While I am not sure what that actually means, it is abundantly obvious at this juncture that this team has not adopted a pro mindset. It has become an emotional rollercoaster that has not handled increased expectations well at all.

The core of this 2024 team was formed through an 11-2 campaign in 2023 that saw a resilient group erase fourth-quarter deficits against LSU, Arkansas and Texas A&M. This year’s team hasn’t displayed the same resolve. Why is that the case? Is it the stakes? The wins in 2023 were important, but there wasn’t a looming preseason “playoff or bust” expectation hovering over each game. The team’s postseason hopes did not hang in the balance in any of the aforementioned games in 2023 because there was no realistic expectation of the Rebels making a four-team playoff. Now, when the stakes have risen, this team has mostly shrunk. The offense has looked off, from play calling, to personnel usage and overall production.

A team is often a reflection of its head coach. For as much as Kiffin talks about Nick Saban, Kirby Smart and the time he spent at Alabama, he doesn’t behave in a remotely similar manner to either of those men. And while I realize that is an impossibly high standard to hold him to, he’s the one mentioning it repeatedly. I always found the narrative of “Kiffin can’t win the big game” to be silly and lazy. After this season, a far more accurate narrative is questioning whether a Kiffin-led program can handle business on a week-to-week basis to make it through an SEC schedule with a resumé worthy of making a 12-team play. The Saban model he looks up to was successful because it didn’t lose to teams it was favored over by double digits. Kiffin did that twice in one season.

This season was a failure, but this program is not failing

Two things can be true at once. This season was a failure, but this program is not failing. In fact, it is operating at as high of a level that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. Assuming Ole Miss beats a hapless Mississippi State team on Friday, it will have won 10, 8, 10 and 9 games in the last four seasons. That is one hell of a run. Kiffin deserves immense credit for that. So does the administration and the fanbase that provided him with the necessary resources to accomplish that. High school recruiting has picked up for the Rebels’ 2025 class. Kiffin has mastered the portal better than any other coach in his profession. Assuming the financial resources remain available, he will likely have another good portal class. All of that will be needed for what is a significant roster rebuild entering next season.

The perception of a healthy program should not be diluted by the disappointment of a season that fell short of expectations in excruciating fashion. This is why I never understood the “Last Dance” moniker this team bestowed upon itself after the Peach Bowl win over Penn State last winter. While I realize this was created by guys like Dart, Prieskorn and the aforementioned core from the 2023 team, and that this was quite literally their last ride in college football, I thought it was a calculated error that Kiffin, and/or Ole Miss, didn’t reject that moniker. If this is truly The New Ole Miss and the program has graduated to a different tier in the rigid college football ecosystem, then this season should’ve been just the first of many the Rebels compete for a spot in the expanded playoff, rather than some all or nothing campaign that only magnified the anguish of Saturday’s loss and left many fans wondering where the hell the program goes from here.

If Ole Miss is truly a big boy program now, then the messaging must change. It failed to make the Playoff this year, but it must present itself as capable of regrouping, assessing what went wrong and reloading for another run next year. This is arguably the most consequential offseason in Ole Miss history in that respect.

Before all of that, one more game looms

For as much time as we’ve spent writing the obituary of this 2024 Ole Miss team, the Rebels are not technically eliminated from making the College Football Playoff, though I would describe those odds as miniscule. Regardless, one more game looms against a completely hapless Mississippi State team. While many claim this game doesn’t matter and there is a deflated sense of importance bred by the ‘all or nothing’ expectations perpetuated by this Ole Miss team, this game absolutely matters.

Two years ago, Kiffin torpedoed the end of the 2022 season after losing a heart-breaker to Nick Saban — a man he became borderline obsessed with beating — and allowed Ole Miss to get dismantled by an average Arkansas team and then lost an Egg Bowl at home to a Mississippi State club the Rebels had zero business of losing to. We’ve seen what a distracted and uninterested Kiffin team looks like. I’d argue that you will find out more about the character of a Kiffin-led program, in terms of how committed he is to winning here despite this season’s failure, by how Ole Miss comes out in the Egg Bowl.

It would take a minor miracle for Ole Miss not to win the game outright. The Rebels are 27-point favorites. The Bulldogs are a completely incompetent program not designed for the modern era of college football due to their simple-minded leadership that only cares about keeping Ole Miss at the bottom of the proverbial crab bucket with them to validate their own insecurities. I mean seriously, Mississippi State’s season was made by the Ole Miss loss last week, yet none of them realize what a self-own it is to think: “haw, haw, Ole Miss dared to go try to be good, silly them. They’re just like us. They wasted money on this team.” Most of it can be attributed to their lack of a rudimentary understanding of the modern college football landscape and their cultish atmosphere that forces a brainwashed portion of their media contingent to lie to them about being left behind.

Anyway, all of that aside, this week’s game against a completely feeble in-state rival Ole Miss is on the verge of burying for good in this modern college sports landscape, will be telling about the character of this program, Kiffin’s willingness to motivate his team despite falling short of its goals and the culture he (mostly accurately) proclaims to maintain within his own program.

At the end of the day, this all rests at the feet of Kiffin

Lane Kiffin is an offensive-minded coach. Like any good coach, he gives autonomy to his assistants, lets them do their jobs and stays out of the way. But he is ultimately responsible for the results in the bottom-line business that is college football. From the debacle that is the running backs position and the running game, to the disjointed offense that was the cause of the Rebels being 4-3 in the last seven games, Kiffin must answer for that.

This offseason will be different. It can’t be explained away by saying Kiffin needed more resources or better players. There’s nothing he lacked that prevented him from beating Florida, Kentucky and LSU.

There was nothing preventing Ole Miss from making the college football playoffs other than Ole Miss. The Rebels’ own ineptitude and missteps are what will ultimately cause them to be watching the Playoff from home.

Again, the best version of this team beat Georgia handily and held the fifth best odds to win the national championship just three days ago. Now, Ole Miss is a three-loss team with its Playoff hopes on life support. Examining why anything close to the version of the Rebels that beat Georgia could not be replicated in the three losses will require some introspection from Kiffin. It will require a change in the way he approaches handling heightened expectations, being the hunted instead of the hunter.

How does Ole Miss prevent falling short again in the future? That’s the task of the man running the program. Every coach has flaws. It’s silly and unrealistic to crucify Kiffin for not being flawless in year five of a program he’s taken from a 4-8 punchline to one that people see as a place where winning at an elite level can be accomplished.

This offseason will be about Kiffin’s willingness to look inward. Whether or not he does that remains to be seen. 

Subscribe now

Ole Miss faces its final real test of the regular season on Saturday at Florida. Let’s take a look at what the game means given where the Rebels were slotted in the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, what to watch for in the game and run through another weekend rooting guide.

Ole Miss No. 9 in latest CFP rankings

The latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday evening. Leading up to the release, I had developed the opinion that this iteration of the rankings was the most important one of the season for the Rebels and simultaneously the last one that mattered at all. After a win over Georgia that sent shockwaves across the college football and media landscape, Ole Miss sat idle last week while Georgia and Tennessee, one team ranked ahead and one behind the Rebels, played each other. There was some thought that the Rebels would drop from their No. 11 perch after a week off and a potential Georgia win over the Volunteers that eventually came to fruition. Would the committee leapfrog Georgia over Ole Miss less than two weeks removed from the Rebels dismantling the Bulldogs? Would the committee rank a now two-loss Tennessee behind Ole Miss or bump the Rebels to the bottom of this three-team pecking order?

The significance of last week’s rankings after Ole Miss toppled Georgia and moved up to No. 11 was that, for the moment, the Rebels were the last at-large bid in the Playoff field. While they didn’t completely control their own destiny at the time, it would take some poor fortune for Ole Miss to be left out assuming it won its final two games. The Rebels dropping to 12 or worse in the rankings without playing a game would’ve presented a completely different dynamic: Ole Miss would’ve needed help in the form of upsets to crawl back into the playoff bracket.

All of these worries were quelled by the committee getting it right and keeping Ole Miss ahead of Georgia and dropping Tennessee behind the Rebels. Everything seems to be working in this program’s favor right now. Ole Miss didn’t play a game last week and moved UP two slots in the rankings. Now, all of those other hypotheticals I wasted your time going through are all irrelevant: Ole Miss controls its own destiny to make the College Football playoff. Sitting at No. 9, and the current 10th-seed (please don’t ask me to explain the seeding right now. It’s stupid and confusing but will make sense in the end), if Ole Miss wins its final two games, it will cement a berth in the Playoff and, as it currently stands, has a decent chance to host a first-round game in Oxford.

That’s why I thought this week’s rankings were the most significant as it pertains to Ole Miss. We’d either know that the Rebels controlled their destiny or would need outside help over the final two weeks. The ball is in Ole Miss’ court now to finish the job.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Florida at a glance

Florida is coming off its biggest win of the season after knocking off LSU at home. The Gators have had a strange, trying 2024 season. Before the season began, head coacvh Billy Napier was viewed by most non-local media as a dead man walking and on the hottest seat of any coach in the SEC. The local media told a different (and more accurate) story, that Florida did not really want to fire Napier given his large buyout and the idea of starting over with its third coach in five years. I had Florida’s 247 beat reporter Graham Hall on my podcast in August as part of Rippee Writes’ opponent preview series and he said at the time that six wins, and even five wins depending on optics, would potentially be enough to save Napier’s job. He’s turned out to be correct. Napier will return for a fourth season in 2025, per a statement put out by AD Scott Stricklin a week or so ago.

Florida is currently in the middle of what might be the most difficult schedule stretch I have ever seen in college football. Take a peek at the Gators’ second half of the season (rankings retroactive to time of the game): at No. 9 Tennessee, vs Kentucky, neutral site vs No. 2 Georgia, at No. 5 Texas, vs No. 21 LSU, vs No. 9 Ole Miss, at Florida State. Think about how even more daunting that looked in the preseason when LSU was ranked No. 13 and Florida State was No. 10. It’s truly an insanely difficult stretch of games. Other than Florida State being an abject disaster, it’s still proven to be ridiculously difficult.

The Gators entered the year with veteran QB, Wisconsin-transfer Graham Mertz leading the offense with 5-star true freshman D.J. Lagway behind him. Mertz was concussed in a season-opening blowout loss at home to Miami. Lagway played the next week against Samford and shined. Instead of a desperate head coach sticking with a young quarterback and selling the future to potentially save his own job, Napier started Mertz the next week against Texas A&M, a game the Gators fell behind by three scores early and lost. Mertz tore his ACL in an overtime road loss at Tennessee — a game in which Florida led for most of the way, squandered the lead and tied it with a late touchdown with just 29 seconds remaining. Florida, surprisingly, did not elect to go for two and the win and instead played for overtime and lost. Lagway was thrust into the starting role the next week. The Gators blew out Kentucky at home. Lagway got hurt against Georgia, a game that the Gators again led for a large portion of, and missed the Texas game, and returned last week in the win over LSU.

Apologies for the play-by-play of Florida’s season, but I think it’s important when examining the current state of this Gators team. To its credit, Florida has not quit on Napier and continues to play hard each week. The team clearly has a newfound level of belief with Lagway at quarterback. He’s a wildly talented but raw prospect as a true freshman. He has a cannon of an arm, and, when healthy, can hurt opponents running the football, but makes poor decisions and is turnover-prone. It’s worth noting that Lagway, who is definitely not fully healthy, did not rush the football a single time against LSU. I think you’re going to see a limited version of this uber-talented quarterback on Saturday. I would be surprised if he played any sort of role in the running game and I think he’s going to struggle mightily against this Ole Miss defensive line with his limited mobility.

Beyond that, I really don’t have much more worthy analysis of Florida. The Gators are a below-average offense and are slow on defense despite having some talent. Florida did generate seven sacks against what is supposed to be a fierce LSU offensive line, but there isn’t a single aspect of this Florida team that jumps off the page in terms of being a potential problem for Ole Miss. The Rebels are a vastly better and more talented football team than the Gators. I think Ole Miss wins this game handily and I think this game will follow a similar script to the win at Arkansas in which Ole Miss KO’d its opponent by halftime.

Will this be a cakewalk for Ole Miss? In theory, no. Florida does have talent on its roster, though I think the Gators’ lack of depth, particularly on the defensive side, hasn’t been talked about enough (the Gators’ starting secondary played all 93 snaps against LSU last week). But if Ole Miss shows up focused and ready to play, I really don’t think this game will be a nail-biter. And I don’t know why Ole Miss wouldn’t be locked in. Its entire season is on the line in these final two weeks, which brings me back to a theory I’ve mentioned all year that has seemingly proved to be pretty accurate when prognosticating outcomes: you cannot fake desperation in this week-to-week sport that is college football in 2024. Ole Miss absolutely has to win this football game. Florida does not. The Gators, in all likelihood, will beat a dumpster fire of a Florida State team on the Seminoles’ home field next week to gain bowl eligibility and will seemingly feel good about where the program is headed going into next year with Napier. That’s what made the LSU win so significant for them. Entering the daunting final four-game stretch, Florida needed to beat one of Texas, LSU or Ole Miss to position itself for bowl eligibility entering the Florida State game. The Gators accomplished that last week in a game that I thought was vastly more reflective of LSU’s flaws than Florida being some type of dangerous team finding itself down the stretch. LSU out-gained Florida and possessed the football for over 2/3 of the game. The Tigers gave up too many explosive plays and then seemingly quit on the field in the fourth quarter.

Anyway, I digress. I think this seemingly rejuvenated Ole Miss team handles its business and wins this game convincingly. With that said, I’ll still give you an abbreviated version of five things to watch for in this game because I am a man of the people.

Have you been considering buying or selling a home or condo in Oxford?  Don't try to tackle it alone. Let Drew McGehee of Crye-Leike Oxford help you through the process from beginning to end.  Drew is an Ole Miss alum and has lived and worked in the Oxford area his entire life. With a background in both banking and insurance, he has a wealth of knowledge to guide you through the entire process. So don't hesitate, call or text Drew today to get started today.  You can reach him on his cell at 662-380-0314 or call the Crye-Leike Oxford office at 662-234-9868. 

Five things to Watch

1. Logan Diggs - The LSU transfer running back tore his ACL in the Tigers’ bowl game last January. When he announced his intention to come to Ole Miss, there was some optimism within the program (that has proven to be wishful thinking) that he might be ready to play by October. To partially quote the great Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights, despite advances in modern science and Diggs’ high-level of income, a late-November return seemed much more realistic and aligned with an ACL injury recovery timeline (roughly 10 months). Kiffin said in his Monday press conference that Digg has “done more in practice” than he has all season. Diggs is officially listed as questionable on this week’s injury report. Based on what I have heard, I would be mildly surprised if Diggs played in this game. But, if Ole Miss can get Diggs on the field either this week or the Egg Bowl, that’s a massive boost for a run game that’s been pretty awful this year due to a combination of inadequate personnel at running back and run-blocking struggles on the offensive line.

2. Tre Harris - Harris, who leads the SEC in receiving despite missing the last three-and-a-half games, is supposedly a full go this week, according to Kiffin. I found this to be a little surprising based on what I had heard about the severity of the injury in the week leading up to Georgia. I was told, despite speculation to the contrary at the time, that Harris was not close to playing in the Georgia game. But, the Rebels have had a bye week since, so maybe whatever his injury is/was, has healed. If Harris is back, I am curious to see what the Ole Miss offense looks like. In its early season struggles, a clunky and disjointed offense force-fed Harris the football to the point of him basically being a one-man band in the passing game. Harris’ absence forced this coaching staff to alter its approach to the passing game and the Rebels have seemingly become a better offense as a result. I am obviously not insinuating any sort of Ewing Theory potential here. Ole Miss is better off with Tre Harris healthy and on the field. It’s absurd to suggest otherwise, but I am curious to see how he’s integrated back into this passing game and how that is handled without the Rebels slipping back to the toothless offense they were a few months ago.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

3. The offensive line - Jayden Williams was not listed on this week’s injury report. He has not played since the Wake Forest game due to an injury. Kiffin made a comment in his Monday press conference that his bye week has helped this team immensely from a health standpoint and cited that the offensive line’s two-deep (on the depth chart) was fully healthy for the first time this season. Ole Miss found a decent pass-blocking combination in the wins over Oklahoma, Arkansas and Georgia. I am curious to see if there is any change to the starting five linemen. This staff has been pretty resistant to major change on the offensive line. But if Williams is fully healthy, it would be completely foolish not to play him, so I am curious to see if there is any change to the starting offensive line.

4. Jaxson Dart’s health - Dart rolled his ankle on the first possession against Georgia, went into the locker room, missed a drive, then came back and played well. After the win, Kiffin described Dart’s return as him “undergoing some medical things” before returning, which I can only assume is code for Dart being shot up with enough Toradol to kill a horse and could not feel his foot for the final three quarters of that game. Ankle injuries can be pesky. I don’t think it’ll be some sort of major issue in this game, but I am curious to see if Dart is limited at all two weeks removed from the injury. He’s been a buoy at times for a terrible running game via some designed run concepts. I am curious if Charlie Weis Jr. and Kiffin run Dart much at all and if he’s limited in any capacity.

5. Jorts - It’s November in Florida. Is this jorts thing just a stereotype? Or do these people actually walk into a GAP, buy jean shorts and slap that elastic waistband denim on and get ready for some football? I will be monitoring the crowd’s fashion choices closely. 

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Rooting Guide 2.0

I was surprised at the feedback of last week’s last minute rooting guide. Maybe I was surprised that many of you still read this column, which I am grateful for. So, I supposed I’ll offer another version of it this week. Given what we discussed above about Ole Miss controlling its own destiny, this rooting guide will be a little bit different. It’s more geared toward how the Rebels back-end their way into hosting a playoff game versus what needs to happen to ensure they make the playoff.

No. 5 Indiana at No. 2 Ohio State, 11 AM CT (FOX). Rooting interest: Ohio State by a billion.

I’ll preface this by saying that I think Indiana is an incredible story and part of what makes college football so unique. Curt Cignetti, in his first year at Indiana, has single-handedly changed the trajectory of a football program at a basketball-crazy school. I also think that Indiana is actually a pretty good football team that is not nearly as much of a fraudulent paper Tiger as many in the media make the Hoosiers out to be. With that said, Indiana has played a ridiculously weak schedule, to little fault of its own. The Hoosiers are 10-0, and if they lose to Ohio State, and presumably beat Purdue next week, they’ll have an 11-1 season without beating a single team that received a single VOTE in the AP top 25. If Indiana beats Ohio State, it obviously deserves to be in the Playoff. If the Hoosiers lose, their resumé is so weak that I cannot possibly make an argument that they are definitively one of the best 12 teams in college football, as much as I truly admire the story. I think this is a game in which optics and style points matter. If Ohio State demolishes Indiana, I think there is a case to be made that the Hoosiers drop out of the top-12 entirely. If it’s a close game, then things become more complicated. If the Hoosiers win, then it becomes a super fickle situation that includes a debate about a two-loss Ohio State’s worthiness of an at-large bid. Ole Miss doesn’t need that to happen.

No. 4 Penn State at Minnesota, 2:30 PM CT (CBS). Rooting interest: Minnesota.

Speaking of fraudulent paper Tigers, a one-loss Penn State team being ranked No. 4 is a complete joke. Aside from a 21-7 home win versus a ranked Illinois team, the Nittany Lions’ resumé is completely void of quality. I’ve seen enough of James Franklin in big games to know this team is a pretender. I’ve seen enough of Drew Allar at quarterback to know that this Penn State team could not beat 10 of the actual 12 best teams in college football. Minnesota is a frisky but inconsistent 6-4 team that is definitely capable of beating Penn State. I think a second Penn State loss will warrant a strong argument that it is not worthy of a playoff spot. That would be good news for Ole Miss as it tries to creep up the seeding and rankings into a first-round host spot.

No. 19 Army at No. 6 Notre Dame, 6:00 PM CT (NBC) Rooting interest: America

Much of the same as we discussed last week. Notre Dame is a one-loss team. Its one loss came at home to Northern Illinois — a MAC program. I think that should immediately disqualify the Irish from the playoff. But because they have cool helmets and won a bunch of big games before modern cable TV, we have to pretend that the only major college football program that isn’t in a conference is somehow a real threat to win the national championship. To Notre Dame’s credit, the Irish have played good football lately and are blowing out opponents. Riley Leonard is a veteran quarterback who has played well in the last couple of games and the Notre Dame defense is pretty good. Ole Miss needs them to take a second loss and get booted from the playoff discussion. What better team to do that than the Troops.

No. 7 Alabama at Oklahoma, 6:30 PM CT (ABC). Rooting interest: Oklahoma

Not nearly as significant as I thought this game could be a week ago in terms of Ole Miss’ playoff hopes, but Alabama is ahead of Ole Miss in the rankings and seeding. Oklahoma, a team with a fierce defense, a horrible offense and season that could best be titled as snakebit, is talented enough to give Alabama some trouble. Before you ask, no, I have no clue what this would mean for Ole Miss’ chances to make the SEC Championship game (I am pretty sure Ole Miss doesn’t really want or need to make the SECCG at this point), but I think any SEC team ranked in front of Ole Miss losing is good news for the Rebels.

No. 15 Texas A&M at Auburn, 6:30 PM CT (ESPN). Rooting interest: Auburn

Similar to the game above, this one is not as significant as I thought it might be a week ago, but A&M still has a shot at making the SEC Championship and earning an automatic bid (which would shrink the field and presumably steal an at-large bid from the SEC), so Reverend Hugh Freeze beating the SEC fanbase most similar to the Church of Scientology would be a de facto win for Ole Miss. I don’t think a two-loss A&M team has much of an argument to make the playoff. Its current ranking reflects that, but the Aggies taking a third loss to remove all doubt (then maybe beating Texas the next week to further the SEC cannibalism??) would be good for the Rebels.

Thanks for reading. We’ll have more coverage after the Florida game. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Tell your friends to subscribe now for half off the original fee of $0.00

Thanks to the Leap Year, Ole Miss has a second well-timed bye weekend before its final two games of the 2024 season. Let’s take a look at where the Rebels sit in the College Football playoff rankings and who you should root for this weekend.

Ole Miss to No. 11 in the CFP rankings

The Rebels jumped five spots to No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings this week after debuting at No. 16 the week prior.

I figured a significant jump was likely, after beating Georgia, particularly because of the dominating fashion in which Ole Miss did it. As far as the favorability of where Ole Miss sits, I think this is as good of a spot as you could’ve possibly asked for post-Georgia with three weeks remaining in the regular season. As it currently stands, and with the way this tournament is structured, Ole Miss is currently the last at-large team in the field. Four automatic bids are awarded to the four Power Four conference champions, seven at-large bids and one bid to the highest ranked Group of Five team (currently Boise State).

Does this make it a mathematical certainty that Ole Miss will make the playoff if it wins out? No, but putting Ole Miss at No. 11 immediately after beating Georgia, particularly since the committee slotted the Bulldogs behind the Rebels, makes it incredibly likely. Would it have been nice for Ole Miss to crack the top ten by jumping either Notre Dame or Alabama? Sure, but it’s tough to gripe about where Ole Miss is situated given its current resumé. I think you could aptly describe the Rebels’ situation as one in which they mostly control their own destiny. Two wins and they are likely in. Not a guarantee, but close to it.

There’s always the possibility the Rebels get jumped while sitting idle this week. Two weeks ago, Texas A&M was demolished by South Carolina and debuted at No. 14 in the rankings. After a bye, the Aggies fell one spot this week due to being jumped by Ole Miss. It’s certainly possible that happens to the Rebels this week, but doesn’t feel nearly as likely given that Ole Miss beat the team directly behind it, two spots behind it is the highest-ranked group of five team in Boise State — whose ranking doesn’t matter a ton as long as the Broncos remain the highest-ranked G5 team — and that the next two teams behind the Rebels (SMU and Texas A&M) don’t play opponents worthy of making a large leap.

I think Ole Miss is also going to greatly benefit from recency bias. It’s clear that, outside of the four automatic bids, there isn’t really a rhyme or reason to the committee’s ranking process. They seem to lap up narratives like a drug and I think Ole Miss’ narrative of being this wildly talented team that has had a resurgence, found the best version of itself and saved its season is going to benefit the Rebels. I think their current ranking is already a reflection of that. Above all else, my confidence in Ole Miss making the playoff if it takes care of business in the final two games, lie in the fact that the committee, while far from perfect and often contradicting itself, does value the eye test above all else. It seems to have a desire to pick the four best teams. While I didn’t agree with the decision at the time, the committee leaving undefeated Florida State out of the four-team playoff last year after the Seminoles lost star quarterback Jordan Travis for the season in their penultimate regular season game tells me they value getting who they view as the *current* best teams in.

While I am glad the playoff expanded and college football took one baby step forward in terms of having a postseason that makes an ounce of sense, I still find this system to mostly be a farce. And while I don’t agree that recency bias should exist and think penalizing teams for losing late in the year versus early is silly, it does matter in reality. And Ole Miss being the hot team down stretch will work to its benefit. Should the Rebels handle business, their last loss will come nearly 60 days prior to the final selection show. With a bye and two games Ole Miss should win handily, the lasting image of this team in the minds of the committee will be pummeling the gold standard of the sport, Georgia, rather than walking off the field in somber defeat at any point in the season’s final month. That matters, even if it shouldn’t in theory.

Now, onto the teams you should root for.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Ole Miss-focused rooting guide: version 1

I have gotten a ton of questions about who to root for this weekend and over the final weeks of the season. Being a man of the people, I took a stab at explaining Ole Miss’ fans rooting interest in the games this weekend. Before we dive into this, I should preface all of this by saying, this is far from an exact science. In a 12-team tournament that includes five automatic bids and seven invitations and more than two dozen teams vying for those spots, it becomes a subjective clusterf*ck. So, if you read any of these opinions and think I picked the wrong team to root for — you could very well be correct. I waffled on at least two of these for most of the week. I just did my best to sift through these and find a logical rooting outcome. Let’s dive in.

No. 3 Texas at Arkansas, 11 AM CT (ABC). Rooting interest: Arkansas

We’ll start with an easy one here. You should root for Arkansas and Sam Pittman to pull the upset here. Why? Texas has had a remarkably weak schedule to this point in the season. The Longhorns being ranked No. 3 in this week’s Playoff ranking became the main gripe of the general public. We’re two weeks into November and the Texas Longhorns have played one road SEC game — and that road game was at Vanderbilt. How is that possible? It’s no fault of the Longhorns. They’re only playing the schedule bestowed upon them. This was the year the Red River Showdown (a neutral site game between Oklahoma and Texas played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas) counted as a road game for the Longhorns. Texas has only played one ranked opponent this year (not totally fair given that Vandy was ranked when it played them, as was Michigan). That opponent was Georgia and the Bulldogs essentially KO’d the Longhorns in one half on their own home field. An early-season win at a highly-ranked Michigan has lost its luster as the Wolverines have floundered to a 5-5 record.

I point all of this out to say that, while Ole Miss would generally like to avoid there being a log jam of 10-2 SEC teams at the end of the year, a Longhorns loss to Arkansas would put Texas at two losses with a game against two-loss Texas A&M still looming in the season’s final week. I also presume a Texas loss would somehow improve Ole Miss’ minuscule chances of making the SEC Championship game, but I am not smart enough to sift through the insane tie-breaker matrix involved with that and I am not sure I can make a convincing argument that Ole Miss even wants to be in the SEC Championship game at this point. With the Rebels having two losses, that’s essentially just one more potential elimination game for a team that’s been playing elimination games for over a month.

Plus, with Texas’ weak schedule and a week of the committee hearing how stupid they are for ranking the Horns that high, I am curious to see how far Texas would fall if it suffered a second loss.

Have you been considering buying or selling a home or condo in Oxford?  Don't try to tackle it alone. Let Drew McGehee of Crye-Leike Oxford help you through the process from beginning to end.  Drew is an Ole Miss alum and has lived and worked in the Oxford area his entire life. With a background in both banking and insurance, he has a wealth of knowledge to guide you through the entire process. So don't hesitate, call or text Drew today to get started today.  You can reach him on his cell at 662-380-0314 or call the Crye-Leike Oxford office at 662-234-9868. 

Virginia at No. 8 Notre Dame, 2:30 PM CT (NBC). Rooting interest: Virginia

I personally find Notre Dame to be incredibly annoying. This isn’t 1975 anymore. Join a conference. Yes, I understand it would work against the Irish’s best interest to do that in football, but we already have enough subjective chaos in this mess of a system. Trying to properly rate a team whose half-century’s old brand is the main reason we continuously talk about them as a power, playing a random hodge-podge of opponents and five ACC opponents per year is just nonsense. You shouldn’t be able to half-ass join a conference. Notre Dame beat Texas A&M in College Station in week 1 and has since beaten a ranked Louisville team and a Navy squad that was ranked at the time of the match-up. But the Irish lost to Northern Illinois at home a week after beating the Aggies. I think losing to a MAC school at home should disqualify you from making the playoff, but to Notre Dame’s credit, it has three pretty good wins. With that said, Notre Dame won’t survive a second loss.

The Irish play Virginia, at USC and a ranked Army team in the final three games. Another Irish loss would significantly benefit Ole Miss because it would eliminate them from playoff consideration. Plus, any team that beats the troops twice and rides a pedestrian schedule to the playoff is downright anti-American.

No. 23 Missouri at No. 21 South Carolina, 3:15 PM CT (SECN). Rooting interest: South Carolina

Missouri is a two loss team that is sort of in the playoff conversation due to a weak schedule, no quality wins, and the eye test consensus being that the Tigers are an average football team. South Carolina, on the other hand, is a three-loss team ranked ahead of Missouri (that should tell you all you need to know about what the committee thinks of Mizzou). The Gamecocks are playing as well as any team in college football and have more than a puncher’s chance of finishing the season 9-3 and being the three-loss team shouting that they belong in the playoff if it’s ‘truly about the 12 best teams’. Due to the way the season has shaken out the flawed scheduling model in the SEC (and other conferences, too), South Carolina has no real shot to make it. But the more the Gamecocks win, the better Ole Miss’ resumé looks. The Rebels stomped the Gamecocks in Columbia. At the time, it was viewed as the Rebels avoiding a land mine. Six weeks later, it is shaping up to look like a quality road win for Ole Miss.

No. 7 Tennessee at No. 12 Georgia, 6:30 PM CT (ABC). Rooting interest: Tennessee

Here’s the one that’s been furiously debated all week. Again, I admit my argument could be wrong and flawed. Ole Miss throttled Georgia, 28-10 last week in a game in which the final score could have likely been more lopsided in Ole Miss’ favor. It’s undoubtedly the best win of the Rebels’ season and is among the best wins among any team in college football. Would you really want to have the quality of that win diluted by Georgia losing another game? If you’d asked me this on Monday, I would have agreed and told you to root for Georgia. But, after the rankings were released on Tuesday evening and Georgia was slotted behind Ole Miss, my thinking changed.

Think about what your expectations were at the beginning of the season: if Ole Miss goes 10-2, presumably with losses at LSU and to Georgia, the Rebels will make the College Football Playoff, right? Hand up, I thought the same thing. But seemingly no one factored in — including the de facto cartel bosses that govern a decentralized sport in desperate need of unified leadership — was the idea that expanding these conferences to 16-plus teams without adding more conference games would create a logjam in the standings with no sufficient way to determine supremacy aside from a multi-tiered tiebreaker system that the legislators likely never thought would go past the second tear when they wrote it. Because of that, I am not sure Ole Miss is realistically in this playoff discussion had it beat Kentucky but lost to LSU and Georgia. Last Saturday’s win gave the Rebels real legitimacy as an elite team that can match up and dominate other teams with elite talent. I am not sure what the public perception of the Rebels would be if they lost to LSU and Georgia and basically had a South Carolina win as the gleaning feather in their cap.

The largest obstacle Ole Miss is currently facing is standing out among five other SEC teams with two conference losses and five SEC teams with two losses overall (not the same five teams). There are a couple very plausible scenarios in which the SEC could end up with a five-way or six-way tie for second place (or even first place!) in the conference by season’s end. So, generally speaking, Ole Miss needs as many teams as humanly possible to suffer a third overall loss or third conference loss to disintegrate this potential logjam.

At this point, you might be thinking ‘didn’t this idiot just argue for Texas to suffer a second loss and join the logjam?’ Yes, I did. But for entirely different reasons. I don’t think Texas’ resumé will hold up with two losses unless it wins the SEC — which it still very well could..? I think? I have never been accused of being smart, and deciphering through all of this makes my head hurt.

To conclude why I picked Tennessee as the team to root for is that, generally speaking, I think Ole Miss needs as many teams as possible to take a third loss and bow out from this circus. I’ll frame it this way: with the games Ole Miss has remaining, considering it is currently the last team in the field as things stand right now, are you more concerned with the teams ahead of the Rebels? Or, are you more concerned with them being jumped by teams behind them? I lean toward the latter, and if Georgia loses a third game, it will be out of the discussion. I think that’s more directly beneficial to Ole Miss than this vague concept that a third Georgia loss will dilute the quality of that win for the Rebels. We all (committee included) saw with our own eyeballs the talent on the field on both sides last Saturday and we saw which team prevailed. Eliminate the logjam by eliminating Georgia.

If you’re reading this thinking Georgia winning helps Ole Miss, you might be right. I don’t think either outcome is overly detrimental to the Rebels at all. I am also just some schmuck with a newsletter that you subscribe to for a $0.00 monthly fee.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

No. 22 LSU at Florida, 2:30 PM CT (ABC). Rooting interest: Florida

LSU is an average football team that was exposed by Alabama last week as such. While the Kentucky loss is the most glaring wart on Ole Miss’ resumé, the loss to the Tigers in Baton Rouge, in the manner that it occurred, is the one that stings a bit more for fans. But, as we discussed earlier above, and earlier this week, the path for Ole Miss to get to the playoff with a 10-2 record likely had to include a win over Georgia, so whatever.

I hate math and hate tiebreakers, but I am told by others in this industry and on the internet that there is a very plausible scenario in which LSU can win out and still make the SEC Championship game. Here’s the full explanation. It’s far from unlikely. While the Rebels lost to the Tigers, I really don’t think it matters if LSU fades down the stretch in terms of weakening Ole Miss’ resumé. I think you need whatever voodoo magic those cajuns can drum up to still make the SEC title game and steal a bid to be eliminated. Think about it from a college basketball standpoint. If you’re a bubble team entering conference tournament week, you’re rooting for one-bid leagues to have the favorite win that league. Like if a ranked Memphis team was still in Conference-USA, you’d want them to win their conference tournament, because you don’t want some random team to upset them, win the tournament, get the automatic bid and that ranked Memphis team to take up an at-large bid. It ‘steals a bid’ and shrinks the field, if that makes any sense. That is what LSU would be doing at this point if it made it to the SEC Championship game and won — stealing a bid and shrinking the field. There’s zero chance LSU would make the playoff unless it wins the SEC.

D.J. Lagway is apparently going to be healthy enough to play in this game, so I suppose there is a small chance?

Kansas at No. 6 BYU, 9:15 CT (ESPN). Rooting interest: Kansas

BYU is undefeated, sits atop the BIG 12 standings and appears to be poised to win the league. Two-loss Colorado sits one game behind them in the BIG 12 standings (5-1). You’re rooting for BYU to take a loss here because if everything remains as it is in the BIG 12 standings, Colorado will face BYU in the conference championship game. If Colorado were to win that, the Buffaloes would receive an automatic bid into the playoff and there would be a furious debate about BYU deserving an at-large bid as a one-loss team that finished the regular season undefeated but lost a de facto bonus game that other one-loss teams did not have to play because they didn’t win their respective leagues. And make no mistake — BYU would have a valid argument. These conference championship games are another weird, somewhat nonsensical element in this broken system as we discussed before.

If BYU entered the BIG 12 championship game as a one-loss team, it would not matter who won that game because, based on how the committee has reflected its views in the rankings, a two-loss BIG 12 team is not getting an at-large bid.

Take this rooting guide as gospel because I am clearly a genius who knows all.

Thank you for reading as always. We’ll have more thoughts on Sunday. 

Subscribe now

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

A rain-soaked Lane Kiffin stood among a sea of fans flooding onto Jerry Hollingsworth Field in the immediate aftermath of Ole Miss toppling Georgia, 28-10, to save the program’s most anticipated football season in a generation. He was interviewed by ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath.

As Kiffin seemingly processed the scope of the moment in real time, he reflected back 364 days prior to November 11, 2024, the night Ole Miss was embarrassed 52-17 by the same Bulldogs program that it defeated on Saturday evening — one that’s become the gold standard in a sport that is historically ruled by an elite few programs with little parity.

“One year ago, we lost to these guys by like 30,” Kiffin said. “We made a decision that we have to go recruit differently. We’ve got to coach differently. We planned for this game for a year. We’ve game-planned all off-season schematically for their defense and their offense.”

That November night in Athens, nearly a calendar year ago to the day, proved to be a pivotal moment for a Kiffin-led program that has been wildly successful in his four full seasons as head coach. The Rebels posted a 34-15 mark in that four-year span, had multiple 10-win seasons and won 11 games and a Peach Bowl in 2023. The Rebels were a solid, consistent program, but when it came to facing the best teams in the SEC, they usually fell short. Ole Miss arrived in Athens last November with an 8-1 record and were the No. 9 team in the country, but was a double-digit underdog to No. 1 Georgia. In theory, Ole Miss was playing for a potential at-large playoff spot in what used to be a four-team College Football Playoff. But as the betting line and general consensus reflected, no one (rightfully) gave Ole Miss much of a chance. The Rebels were promptly throttled by 35 points. Kiffin’s postgame quotes that night were telling.

“We have to recruit at a higher level. I am not blaming anyone. We have to coach better. But at a certain point, the stats are what they are. We have signed one 5-star, they’ve signed 24 or something. Those stats do kind of show up at some point,” Kiffin said after the loss. “So, we need to recruit at a better level and just do a better job recruiting.”

He scoffed at the notions of his team’s potential playoff hopes being dashed after the loss.

“No. That was not a playoff-looking team we put on the field tonight. The last thing I am worried about is us being knocked out of the playoffs. We don’t deserve to be in the playoffs,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin and his staff spent the offseason landing blue-chip talent in the transfer portal — a recruiting avenue no single coach in college football has navigated more effectively than Kiffin — to get bigger, stronger and more athletic at the lines of scrimmage. He saw the seismic gap between his team and the best teams in the sport, as well as the reasons for that gap, and sought to close it.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

This was a program-defining win

Saturday’s 28-10 victory over Georgia was a perception-changing win for Ole Miss football. The Rebels slayed the proverbial giant. The Bulldogs have won two of the last three national championships. Prior to Saturday, Georgia had not lost to an opponent other than Alabama since November 7, 2020 when a Dan Mullen-coached Florida team beat them in Jacksonville. Mullen hasn’t coached a game since 2021 and Georgia beat 52 consecutive non-Alabama opponents.

It was also a multi-faceted validation of a team, a coach and a program.

It’s a proof of concept that Ole Miss, who has been on the forefront of the rapidly-changing NIL landscape, can compete with the best when it is invested. It’s proof of how Kiffin built this talented roster. There was nothing fluky or auspicious about this. Ole Miss pushed Georgia around for four quarters because it was the more physical football team. The Rebels’ defensive line destroyed the Bulldogs’ offensive line. Quarterback Carson Beck was sacked five times. The Ole Miss defense generated nine tackles for loss. The defense leads the country in both categories. Ole Miss has generated 103 tackles for loss this season. The next closest mark is Duke with 85. The Rebels have 46 sacks on the year, six more than the next closest, Boise State.

Georgia Tech transfer Jared Ivey and Florida transfer Princely Umanmielen were complete game-wreckers up front. Both had two sacks. Suntarine Perkins added a sack and was a problematic match-up for Georgia’s tackles for the entirety of the game. Perkins leads the SEC in sacks with 10. Umanmielen is second with 9.5. Ivey ranks fifth in the conference with seven.

“I told our team coming in that I thought this was the most talented team we have played,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “Their defense really affected us through the pass rush.”

Georgia had just one rush for 10 or more yards. Georgia had 69 yards of total offense in the first half and a season-low 245 total yards. After the Bulldogs capitalized on the early interception with a touchdown, they scored just three points the rest of the game.

“I told the guys, they’re not scoring again,” Umanmielen said. “This game doesn’t even need to be close. I don’t think they are on our level.”

A year after realizing that they couldn’t match up physically, the Rebels defeated the Bulldogs using a similar blueprint Georgia has used to ascend to the pinnacle of college football.

The win is also a validation of Kiffin’s overall approach to the transfer portal. It’s been debated how sustainable Kiffin’s heavy reliance on the transfer portal is and whether or not you could actually build a contender with that approach to roster construction. The team on the field on Saturday night looked like it could compete with any team in the country.

“This is why I came here,” Umanmielen said. “To play big time football, to play in big time games and win games like this. This feeling is just unreal.”

It’s a validation of Kiffin’s offensive genius. For as clunky and disjointed as this offense has looked at times this season, Saturday was a schematic masterclass from Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. Ole Miss threw for 263 yards at an average 14.6 yards per completion. Only one other opponent (Alabama) has thrown for more yards and scored more points on the Bulldogs this season. And the Rebels did it without starting running back Henry Parrish Jr. and arguably the top receiver in the country in Tre Harris. Ole Miss had receivers running wide open for most of the afternoon. Harris has now missed three consecutive games since he suffered an injury in the loss to LSU. In his absence, the Rebels have been forced to spread the football around to their other pass-catching weapons and have become a more effective offense as a result. Obviously, Ole Miss is a much better offense with a healthy Harris, but his absence seemingly forced a needed change to the approach to the passing game.

Have you been considering buying or selling a home or condo in Oxford?  Don't try to tackle it alone. Let Drew McGehee of Crye-Leike Oxford help you through the process from beginning to end.  Drew is an Ole Miss alum and has lived and worked in the Oxford area his entire life. With a background in both banking and insurance, he has a wealth of knowledge to guide you through the entire process. So don't hesitate, call or text Drew today to get started today.  You can reach him on his cell at 662-380-0314 or call the Crye-Leike Oxford office at 662-234-9868. 

Ole Miss saved its season with this win

This win was also a validation that this team is indeed as talented as many believed it was in the preseason. The Rebels are now very much back in the mix to earn a berth into the College Football Playoff, a thought that seemed fairly incomprehensible a month ago. Ole Miss lost two games in excruciating fashion to inferior opponents in Kentucky and LSU. The loss to Kentucky is by far the most inexplicable of the two and looked to be the one that everyone would ultimately gaze back on at the end of the year when wondering how this gifted yet confounding team fell woefully short of expectations. The loss in Baton Rouge, a game in which Ole Miss didn’t trail for a single snap, eliminated all margin for error.

“We have to win out,” a shell shocked Jaxson Dart said after the loss. “There’s no other option.”

College football is as week-to-week of a sport as it's ever been. Match-ups and motivation (or lack thereof) have been two driving forces behind the newfound parity in the sport. You can’t really fake desperation, and it’s often the purest form of motivation.

“I told the team after the LSU game that you’re now in the playoffs. You have to win each game from here, so the playoffs start now,” Kiffin said. “Sometimes things happen and you don’t know why. That put our backs against the wall. For a lot of people, when your backs are against the wall, you fight a little differently.”

With its season on the brink of failure, Ole Miss notched its best win of the season, against the toughest opponent on its schedule, in a game it absolutely had to win. It certainly didn’t have to be this way for the Rebels, but maybe the bumpy road to Saturday’s triumph was ultimately the needed path. A large chunk of this team’s core was formed through an 11-win campaign in 2023 that saw them win several one-score games and overcome a few second-half deficits — like erasing a nine-point deficit against LSU in the final eight minutes of the game. For the entirety of the offseason, Ole Miss was praised as a legitimate contender for both the talent it returned and the talent it added. The Rebels were not tested through the season’s first four games due to a weak non-conference schedule. When (mostly self-inflicted) adversity arrived, this team didn’t respond well. It seemed to be what the 2024 Ole Miss Rebels might ultimately be remembered for. Saturday was a different story.

The first nine snaps of this game could not have possibly gone any worse for Ole Miss. Dart was swallowed by Georgia’s defensive line on the first three plays, threw an interception on third down and then limped to the locker room with an ankle injury as Georgia took advantage of a 21-yard short field and scored a touchdown. Ole Miss didn’t blink. Redshirt freshman Austin Simmons led the offense down the field for a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that drastically altered the momentum of a game that could’ve quickly spiraled for the Rebels.

“He changed the momentum of the game,” Dart said. “He is one hell of a player, and for him to come in and manufacture a drive that resulted in a touchdown, that really sparked our team.”

In both of its losses this year, Ole Miss led entering the fourth quarter, only to surrender the lead and come up short in the games’ most crucial plays and drives. On Saturday, the Rebels slammed the door on Georgia. The Bulldogs did not score a touchdown in the second half and did not score a point in the fourth quarter.

“Georgia is a team that has been down more than we were up on them today and have come back,” Umanmielen said. “We knew we had to keep our foot on their necks and not give them any room to breathe, and we did that.”

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

Ole Miss is within striking distance of earning a playoff berth

As significant as this win was, Ole Miss is still far from a lock to make the college football playoff. The two losses still eliminate any margin for error for the Rebels in the final two games of the season — a road test at Florida after the bye week and a home game against a hapless Mississippi State team the day after Thanksgiving. Ole Miss cannot afford to lose either game.

Whether or not a 10-2 record will be enough for the Rebels to get into the playoff is still uncertain. Ole Miss moved up to No. 10 in the AP poll, one slot ahead of Georgia. On Tuesday, the second edition of the College Football Playoff rankings will be released. The Rebels debuted at No. 16 in the initial rankings last week. I think a significant climb up the rankings after a win of this caliber is likely. I think that if Ole Miss wins its final two games, it will get into the playoff. Entering the season, most assumed a 10-2 record would be more than enough to get into the playoff. Strangely enough, with the way this season has played out, I am not sure that notion would’ve ended up being true without one of the ten wins being Georgia. I don’t think Ole Miss would have a good enough resumé to get in without a quality win like this one.

Ole Miss will also be a favorable team from an optics and narrative standpoint. The Rebels are playing their best football at the end of the season. The convincing manner in which they demolished Georgia removed any discussion of it being a fluke. Maybe it’s fitting that beating Georgia — the same program that, one year ago, showed Ole Miss just how far it had to go to compete with the top teams in the sport — was the requirement to rectify two bad losses to get its season back on track. Fitting, that the manner in which the Rebels won — being the more physical team and dominating the lines of scrimmage, just like Georgia did to them in 2023 — is what might ultimately convince the selection committee that Ole Miss is undoubtedly one of the 12 best teams in college football.

At the end of his on-field interview with McGrath, Kiffin got emotional when asked about the toughness and resiliency of Dart. He was asked again in his postgame press conferencee. Kiffin has stated repeatedly that Dart did more than any single other active player to help recruit this offseason’s portal haul that allowed Ole Miss to assemble a championship-caliber roster.

" Jaxson had just walked by on the last play and said ‘love you, coach.’ He’s just an awesome kid,” Kiffin said. “It’s a cool group of kids. He led this thing, in getting this all together, getting all of these guys together, almost like a coach. For him to deliver a gritty performance like this, it was just awesome to watch.”

Dart and Kiffin’s relationship has evolved in Dart’s three years at Ole Miss and now appears to be stronger than ever, but certainly didn’t get to that point without rocky moments. The team those two spent so much time and energy assembling has also had its own trials and tribulations. But it’s an Ole Miss team that appears to be finding the best version of itself at the right time and still has everything left to play for.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

In the final minutes of the first half, Ole Miss looked like it was ready to throw in the towel on the 2024 season. The Rebels gifted a hapless Oklahoma team a 14-10 halftime lead and seemed lifeless as another game was on the verge of getting away from them.

Instead, Jaxson Dart said the team had a ‘look in the mirror’ moment in the halftime locker room. Ole Miss scored two third-quarter touchdowns, the defense pitched a shutout in the second half and the Rebels put the game away. I suppose what you take from this game depends on the outlook you prefer to have. There was plenty of bad but also a lot of good. I am not sure any of it makes me feel much different about what this team is and might become over the final four games, but the Rebels didn’t wilt, and there’s something to be said for that. Let’s take a look at both the good and the bad in alternating fashion.

Good: offensive plan without Tre Harris

Ole Miss was without its top receiver Tre Harris in this game. I thought the way the Rebels adapted was great. Ole Miss used a lot of two-tight end personnel, utilized both Caden Prieskorn and Dae’Quan Wright effectively as both pass-catchers and run-blockers. Ole Miss opened the game with a 75-yard touchdown drive. Prieskorn and Wright each caught a pass that accounted for 51 of those yards. The offense struggled to run the ball against a good Oklahoma rush defense, but this offense looked different, in a good way, without its top receiver.

Have you been considering buying or selling a home or condo in Oxford?  Don't try to tackle it alone. Let Drew McGehee of Crye-Leike Oxford help you through the process from beginning to end.  Drew is an Ole Miss alum and has lived and worked in the Oxford area his entire life. With a background in both banking and insurance, he has a wealth of knowledge to guide you through the entire process. So don't hesitate, call or text Drew today to get started today.  You can reach him on his cell at 662-380-0314 or call the Crye-Leike Oxford office at 662-234-9868. 

Bad: Ole Miss still can’t run the ball effectively

Nothing looked different in the running game this week. Henry Parrish Jr. got the bulk of the carries and Ulysses Bentley IV got a few in the absence of an injured Matt Jones. The presence of two tight ends on the field did not appear to do much to help this struggling rushing attack. The Rebels ran the ball 31 times for 69 yards. Parrish ran it 15 times for 44 yards. Bentley had five carries for five yards. Ole Miss was bad in-short yardage situations again — to the point of drastically changing the game late in the first half due to a bad play call that almost felt like an admission from the coaching staff that it doesn’t believe Ole Miss can consistently get 3-6 feet when it needs to.

I do not know what Ole Miss can do to improve its running game. It appears uncreative, but I don’t know enough about scheme to tell you which run concepts should be used instead. It appears the staff is hell-bent on keeping the running back rotation the same (I am curious to see what happens when Jones comes back from injury), but this offense is going to be limited without an effective and explosive running game.

Good: Jaxson Dart

Dart got off to a sluggish start but ended up playing a pretty effective game. He was 22-30 for 311 yards and a touchdown. Dart spread the ball around to the two tight ends, Cayden Lee, Juice Wells and Jordan Watkins. Prieskorn led with five receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown. Lee and Watkins had four catches. Wright and Wells had three catches. All five names mentioned had at least four targets. Prieskorn led with eight targets.

The passing game’s effectiveness is the single biggest reason Ole Miss moved the ball and won the game. Dart deserves a lot of credit for that. He made a hell of a throw to Micah Davis on a crucial third down conversion in the second half. The touchdown to Prieskorn was a good throw to capitalize on a great play call. He didn’t turn the ball over. Dart was really efficient in this game.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

Bad: finishing the half

I am not even sure the above title completely articulates what I am inferring, but for the second consecutive game, Ole Miss’ poor play toward the end of the first half altered the score in the opponent's favor and dramatically shifted the momentum of the game.

With 6:03 remaining in the half, the Ole Miss offense began a drive in Oklahoma territory thanks to one hell of a play from Jared Ivey that forced a fumble he also recovered. With 2:47 remaining, Ole Miss faced a 4th & 1 from the Oklahoma five-yard line. At this point, The Rebels had out-gained the Sooners 164 to 143 and were 15 feet away from taking a 17-7 lead. A field goal attempt would-have in, in all likelihood, made it a 13-7 lead with just over two minutes left in the half. The fourth down attempt was blown up and Oklahoma proceeded to march 92 yards down the field for a touchdown to take a 14-10 lead into halftime.

I didn’t think the Rebels played a particularly crisp half of football in the first two quarters of this game, but given how the game had played out in the first 27-plus minutes of the first half, It was wild to me that Ole Miss somehow trailed at halftime.

In the loss to LSU, the Rebels led 17-7 with just under two minutes remaining in the first half, gave up a field goal, then immediately fumbled on their next offensive possession and yielded another field goal to enter the locker room only leading 17-13. I think this issue stems from a multitude of things, but Ole Miss has done itself no favors at the end of halves over the last two games. It greatly affected the eventual outcome of the LSU game and, at the time, I thought the end-of-half swing against the Sooners might be the final straw for Ole Miss.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Good: defensive adjustments

The Ole Miss defense has been tremendous for most of this season. In the first half of this game, the Rebels committed far too many stupid penalties that extended drives for an Oklahoma offense missing its top five receivers, multiple linemen (the Sooners lost their left tackle in this game, too) and is led by a young but talented quarterback. Jackson Arnold hurt Ole Miss with his feet in the first half. Oklahoma ran for 125 yards in the first half as the Rebels were seemingly not as aggressive in sending pressure at Arnold, which aided him in the passing game too.

The second half was a different story. Arnold was sacked six times in the second half (nine total for the game), Oklahoma rushed for just 22 yards with 94 yards of total offense and scored zero points. Ole Miss clamped down on the Sooners by getting to Arnold more frequently in the second half. Suntarine Perkins had three sacks in this game. J.J Pegues and Princely Umanmielen had two. Oh, and the Rebels were without Walter Nolen in the second half, who left the game with an injury.

This defense was once again really good.

Bad: short-yardage situations on offense

This ties into the finishing halves note above. The Rebels simply aren’t good in short-yardage situations. It’s a reflection of the offensive line’s inability to get a push up front and consistently run block. I am not sure if there is a solution to this. I think this offensive line and running game sort of is what it is at this point, but a pair of failed fourth down conversion attempts in the first half kept Oklahoma in the game.

The fake sweep to Pegues, toss to Wells on the short side of the field at the end of the second quarter was brutal. Ole Miss called timeout before that snap to regroup, too. It’s indicative of the offense’s inability to convert short-yardage situations and the staff’s lack of solutions to solve the problem. Maybe there are some ways Ole Miss can get creative with its play calling to boost its running game as a whole. I am not really sure there is much the staff can do to fix the short-yardage struggles.

It makes me wonder if Kiffin will change how aggressive he is on fourth downs, particularly in field goal range. I don’t have the numbers to fully defend that assertion, but it has felt like that has been the case to some degree. Caden Davis already has 18 field goal attempts on the season. He only had 20 total in the 2023 regular season. With as good as the Ole Miss defense has been, despite how frustrating these short-yardage situations must be for Kiffin — one of the most aggressive coaches in college football — I wonder if we see an even more conservative approach over these last four games when it comes to going for it versus taking the points.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Good: pass protection

The coaching staff seemed pleased with the way the offensive line pass protected in this game. Ole Miss made a small tweak on the offensive line with Gerquan Scott playing right guard and Julius Buelow sliding out to right tackle in place of Micah Pettus. While this offensive line continues to struggle in the running game, an improvement in pass pro is certainly a positive development. I doubt it’s a coincidence that Dart also had one of his most effective games of the year throwing the ball.

After a bye week to work any of the previously injured offensive linemen back into the rotation (mostly Jeremy James and Caleb Warren), it seems apparent that the coaching staff is sticking with the same 5-6 guys up front. I am not sure what the one small adjustment of Pettus being bumped out of the starting five actually means (more on that a second), but this unit pass blocked well against a good defensive line.

Bad: Pettus a late scratch

Veteran right tackle Micah Pettus was not on the injury report last week, yet was a late scratch shortly before kickoff, though he appeared to be dressed out and on the sideline. Kiffin’s description of the situation in his postgame press conference was odd. He initially said that he learned shortly before kickoff that Pettus “said he couldn’t play.” When referencing the situation later on in the press conference, he said Pettus “decided not to play right before the game.”

I don’t really know what to make of this. That is certainly not a typical way for a coach to refer to a potential injury, and Pettus not showing up on the injury report all week seems odd. I have heard that Pettus has been playing through a couple of injuries this season. Pettus has been penalized frequently this year and I also heard he was not running with the first team offense in the two weeks of practice since the LSU game. I don’t really have much else to offer at this point. The whole thing is just odd.

Good: Ole Miss showed resolve

Things seemed pretty bleak at halftime for a team that hasn’t exactly responded well to self-inflicted adversity at other points in the season. Personally, I thought the game, and the season for that matter, was about to go completely sideways. But, to the Rebels' credit, they battled back and took control of the football game in the third quarter with a pair of stops sandwiched between two touchdown drives. If nothing else, that is a positive sign as the team enters the last four games of the season.

I think Ole Miss had only scored one second-half touchdown in SEC play entering this game — the fourth down catch and run from Tre Harris against Kentucky. So, to have two touchdown drives in the third quarter to take control of a game that Ole Miss could not afford to lose, is certainly a positive development.

Dart described the Rebels trailing at halftime as a bit of a gut check moment for the team.

“There was a lot of discussion in the halftime locker room,” Dart said. “A lot of us were pissed off. We felt like we should have been up by a lot more points. It was definitely a look in the mirror moment for us and I was really happy how we came out in the second half. I love how we came out and scored in the second half.”

I don’t think anything that happened in this game drastically changed my opinion of Ole Miss. I think the Rebels are a team with a limited offense due to a nonexistent running game and a struggling offensive line. I think that has put a lower ceiling on this season than originally anticipated. I don’t know how the Rebels will beat a team like Georgia without better offensive line play and better production from the running backs. But, for now, Ole Miss survived another week and now faces a road test at Arkansas. A win will at least get the Rebels to the Georgia game with a chance prove they can beat the best teams in college football and make a potential case for a College Football Playoff berth. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge for this team to win in Fayetteville.

In a must-win situation against Oklahoma, Ole Miss responded well to adversity. If nothing else, it sounds as if this team still believes it can right the ship.

“Coach Kiffin mentioned it, we are two plays away from being the number one team in the country,” Dart said. “We have a big challenge coming up this week and we need to continue to stack these (wins).”

Ole Miss hosts its first home game in nearly a month on Saturday as the Rebels welcome a battered and pedestrian Oklahoma team.

Ole Miss is coming off a much-needed bye week after a gut-wrenching defeat at LSU — a game in which there was not a single snap taken in which Ole Miss trailed.

For Ole Miss, these final five games offer a sliver of a chance to right the ship and cement the season as a success. These five games will also determine the degree of disappointment this much anticipated season will be remembered for. The Rebels are talented enough to beat every opponent on their schedule. They’ll likely be favored in four of the final five games, but Ole Miss has not done anything to prove it is anything other than a talented collection of front-runners that can’t finish games and wilts at the first sign of self-inflicted adversity.

If Ole Miss is able to turn its season around, this team is going to have to look different than it did in the first seven games. Let’s examine a few areas that might see some change.

1. Running back personnel use

In a lot of ways, this season has felt like one long, miserable broken record. I try not to bore the people who read this column. As each week passes, I sometimes feel guilty for harping on the same things repeatedly, but I don’t know what else to write about when it comes to this stubborn, confounding team.

Let’s be brutally honest about what we witnessed and confirmed two weeks ago in Baton Rouge when it comes to the running game: complete coaching malpractice. An injury to former walk-on Matt Jones forced this coaching staff to play Ulysses Bentley meaningful snaps for the first time this season. Bentley broke off a 50-yard touchdown run on a 4th & 1 in the second quarter — a scenario the Rebels have been horrible at converting when using a traditional running back this season. Bentley ran for 108 yards on 11 touches at 9.7 yards per rush. In 2023, Bentley was a great compliment to Quinshon Judkins and was thought to be the team’s starting running back entering 2024. Instead, this coaching staff played Henry Parrish — who has followed Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith to Ole Miss, Miami then back to Ole Miss in the last four years — and a 5-foot-7 former walk-on from Jackson Prep, Jones.

When asked about this puzzling decision, Kiffin gaslit the fanbase for not blindly accepting that Bentley was somehow just no longer as good as Parrish or Jones. In Baton Rouge, that was proved to be complete and utter nonsense. This situation is indicative of an insecure and aloof coaching staff who apparently thinks its consumers are morons. In the Monday column following the LSU loss, I buried a stat that I think should get more attention: In three SEC games, Henry Parrish has generated seven runs of eight yards or more. Bentley had six runs of eight yards or more in 11 carries in the LSU game alone. But remember, Bentley is simply not better than Parrish or Jones. Don’t ask why, just trust the 49-year-old man who spends his nights tweeting Taylor Swift lyrics and his loose cannon of a running backs coach to make decisions like this. You fans need to just keep footing the bill for the payroll and stop asking questions.

Be that as it may, Bentley simply must be involved in this offense. Ole Miss hasn’t run the football consistently against any defense with a pulse. While I am no schematic expert and will not pretend to bullshit you on why the Rebels’ offense as a whole has faltered in SEC play, I believe the single biggest reason for the struggling offense is the inability to run the football. More specifically, the generate explosive running plays has handicapped this offense. Before this running backs situation devolved into the farce that it currently is, I was pretty accepting of Kevin Smith’s favorite, Parrish, being the starter because I assumed Bentley would still get a decent amount of carries. What I never understood was Jones playing over Bentley. It is now apparent that both scenarios are patently absurd. Bentley should play over both of them. Bentley must be the focal point of the running game if Ole Miss is going to be better on offense.

I’ll point one more thing out, too, as it relates to the running game. The Rebels added Miami (Ohio) transfer and former South Carolina running back Rashad Amos in the offseason. Amos hasn’t played all year, with the exception of eight carries in mop-up duty. Maybe he’s not an SEC-caliber running back. But at this point, how can we be certain Amos isn’t any good? We’ve never seen him on the field, and the coaches preventing him from being on the field have proven to be completely unreliable narrators of personnel. The same people who watched Bentley run the football in the SEC for two-plus years and randomly decided he was no better than Jones, are the same ones deeming Amos unfit to see the field. Just food for thought.

If Bentley is not a more prominent factor in the running game on Saturday against the Sooners, I will be at a loss for words to describe the stubbornness and incompetence of this coaching staff.

Have you been considering buying or selling a home or condo in Oxford?  Don't try to tackle it alone. Let Drew McGehee of Crye-Leike Oxford help you through the process from beginning to end.  Drew is an Ole Miss alum and has lived and worked in the Oxford area his entire life. With a background in both banking and insurance, he has a wealth of knowledge to guide you through the entire process. So don't hesitate, call or text Drew today to get started today.  You can reach him on his cell at 662-380-0314 or call the Crye-Leike Oxford office at 662-234-9868. 

2. Offensive line rotation

Again, same story, different week. In this case, I very much understand the difficult nature of the situation due to injuries. Ole Miss lost Caleb Warren in August for several weeks. Jeremy James injured his wrist in the season opener and hasn’t played since. Jerquan Scott was the first team center in preseason camp and missed the first two games with an injury. Left tackle Jayden Williams has been out since the Georgia Southern win with a knee injury.

In his Monday press conference after the LSU loss, Kiffin spoke about how the injuries to this unit have made it difficult to find continuity and production on the offensive line. I have been a little puzzled by that in the last three weeks. Scott has been back since the Wake Forest game, Warren has dressed out since the Kentucky loss and James has dressed out the last two games — yet Warren and Scott have played sparingly and James has not played at all. Perhaps all those guys were not completely healthy but available if needed. Maybe Kiffin and the staff wanted to find some semblance of continuity entering SEC play and stuck with the same starting five when healthy. It’s definitely difficult to work an offensive lineman back in from injury in the middle of the season. This is not second guessing Kiffin and the staff, but more so an observation.

Now, after a bye week to get healthy and acclimated, I would be pretty surprised if the offensive line group that started at LSU is identical to the one that runs out for the first series against Oklahoma. For as much that has been made about Bentley and the running backs' usage, the offensive line has only compounded the issues in the running game and with the offense as a whole. The Rebels need to find a more sturdy starting five. I still think they have the talent on the roster to find that combination. I am curious to see how different that looks on Saturday.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

3. Spreading the football to all of Ole Miss’ weapons

I will again reiterate that I am not a schematic expert and don’t have any scheme-specific criticisms as to what the Ole Miss offense should do differently to get its (highly-paid) weapons the football, but what I do know is that the Rebels are not a playoff-caliber football team if they are singularly reliant on Tre Harris being on the field and at peak capacity in order for the offense to be productive. This passing game, through seven weeks, has been the Harris or bust show. Harris is arguably the best receiver in college football. Feeding him the football frequently makes perfect sense. But he’s left the game with an injury in the last two weeks and the Ole Miss offense has been completely toothless without him on the field. This makes little sense considering the team still has Caden Prieskorn, Jordan Watkins, Juice Wells and Cayden Lee.

Lee caught nine passes for 132 yards on 13 targets in the loss to LSU. Ten of those 13 targets came in the second half. Coincidentally, Harris left the game midway through the third quarter with an injury. From the view of an untrained eye, it seemed Harris left the game, Lee assumed the ‘let’s force-feed himthe football’ slot, and it didn’t work out very well. Lee is 5-foot-11, 175 lbs. Harris is 6-foot-3, 210 lbs. Lee is a good college receiver. Harris is a great college receiver. The skill sets that allow them to thrive could not be more different. Harris is a physically-imposing nightmare for opposing defensive backs. Lee is not. The force-feed the football strategy works for one but not the other. Again, there was likely a ton more nuance to the play-calling that night than what I just outlined, but I think the general point is valid: Ole Miss has to get better about distributing the football to all of its weapons — not just Harris.

Maybe the better way to describe it is to be less predictable, diversifying beyond throwing the football to Harris and employing the same three rushing concepts. Point being, Ole Miss has a bunch of talented skill position players that are not being utilized with enough regularity.

4. Displaying any sort of resolve

Ole Miss has lost two football games in which it was undoubtedly the better team. The Rebels’ inability to finish games has proved to be costly. I realize all of these points written have been about the offense, but I am not sure what I can legitimately criticize the defense for. They’ve performed at a championship-caliber level, and their performance juxtaposed to the offensive ineptitude is likely what makes this season’s failures so difficult for fans to digest.

Between the LSU and Kentucky losses, Ole Miss essentially had five fourth-quarter possessions in which it led the game and could have extended to a multi-score lead with a touchdown. The Rebels generated a grand total of three points out of those five possessions. Some of that is scheme, some of it is personnel — all of which we discussed above. But at the end of the day, some of it is mental toughness. This group has rightfully been criticized as front runners by national media throughout the last month. Ole Miss has done little to shirk those allegations. What was supposed to be an explosive offense, led by one of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football, throwing to a pass-catching corps of highly-paid and talented players, has crumbled in the most consequential snaps and drives.

In the Kiffin era, Ole Miss has regularly been one of the most dynamic offenses in the sport. But this year, when push came to shove, whether it be the final drive against Kentucky or the overtime series against LSU: did any of you watching that game actually believe Ole Miss was going to take the football down the field and score? I sure didn’t.

Will this team, dealt two head-scratching losses in the first seven games, rebound and find a way to become the version of itself everyone hoped they’d be? Or will they continue to falter and allow this much anticipated season to unravel. A year ago, every single time the Rebels gave up a touchdown to trail in the fourth quarter, they answered with a touchdown and won the game. This year has been a drastically different story, for reasons that remain unclear. I don’t anticipate Saturday’s game against the Sooners will be close. But at some point in these final five games, Ole Miss will be in a close game in the fourth quarter, needing to score to win or put away a game. I wonder if the outcome will be any different.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

A look at Oklahoma

The Sooners are 4-3 (1-3). Their lone conference win was a road victory at Auburn in which Hugh Freeze threw up on himself in the fourth quarter and then blamed his quarterback and assistants. Oklahoma is a very lucky fourth quarter on The Plains away from entering this matchup on a four-game losing skid. The Sooners struggle with the concept of the forward pass, cannot block anyone, but have a legitimately good defense that does well to mask the offensive ineptitude. Think of Kentucky with less dynamic receivers and a more inconsistent running game. That is essentially what Oklahoma is. The Sooners' blueprint to win this game will be similar to Kentucky’s — controlling what they hope to be a slow pace, limiting possessions and doing just enough offensively to escape with a win. Here are a few things you should know about the Sooners

1. Injuries have ravaged the offense

Oklahoma has been without its five best receivers for most of the season and is most certainly going to be without four of them in this game (and probably five, in all likelihood). The offensive line has been riddled with injuries as well.

That is a disastrous recipe for an Oklahoma team that’s played two young, inexperienced quarterbacks this year. Think about what Ole Miss would look like if Tre Harris, Cayden Lee, Caden Prieskorn, Juice Wells and Ayden Williams were all injured for every game so far this season? I am not totally sure I could name three more receivers that would play. That’s an impossible thing to overcome. It’s mostly why the Sooners have been so anemic on offense. Oklahoma has scored a total of 12 points in its last two SEC games. This offense cannot move the football with any consistency.

2. The quarterback situation is weird

Last year, Oklahoma went 10-2 with UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel at quarterback. True freshman and 5-star prospect Jackson Arnold was the backup but was viewed as the future of the program. The Sooners sort of shooed Gabriel out the door (he transferred to Oregon) in favor of giving Arnold the reins to the offense. Due to the aforementioned injuries, as well as Arnold’s inexperience and poor decision-making, the Sooners struggled offensively early in the year. In Oklahoma’s first real test of the season, the Sooners fell behind 22-3 to Tennessee at home. Arnold threw a pair of bad interceptions and was benched in the first half and was replaced by Michael Hawkins, a true freshman. This decision was criticized as a panic move and a mishandling of the development of an uber-talented young quarterback.

Hawkins offers more of a running threat than Arnold, but the results were about the same. Oklahoma stole a road game at Auburn due to a late pick six and Hawkins connecting on a deep ball, but was wildly inconsistent and also turned the football over. Oklahoma was destroyed 34-3 by Texas and then spanked by South Carolina at home last week 35-9. Hawkins was benched in the first half of the loss to the Gamecocks and replaced by Arnold.

Oklahoma’s quarterback situation is a mess and has been exacerbated by impatience from the coaching staff, a depleted receiving corps and a bad offensive line. Think about it from this perspective: Oklahoma chose to ride into this season with a former 5-star prospect, inexperienced, true-sophomore at quarterback, hoping he would become a star, yet pulled the plug on him (at least temporarily), less than four full games into the season. If you’re Arnold, regardless of how the rest of the year turns out, why would he be chomping at the bit to return to the program next year? Again, it’s a tough situation that’s been handled by the coaching staff in a very odd fashion.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $25. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

3. Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell fired

Oklahoma fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell after last week’s loss to South Carolina. I don’t pretend to know whether Littrell was great or awful, but given the timing of the move, coupled with Oklahoma’s injury problems on offense, it felt like Littrell was the sacrificial lamb for a season that is devolving into a disaster. Co-offensive coordinator (and former Ole Miss tight ends coach) Joe Jon Finley is the interim OC. Will Oklahoma look any different offensively after a move like this? I doubt it. Arnold appears to be the team’s starting quarterback. His offensive line struggles to protect him and he has no receivers to throw to. I cannot make a rational case for how Oklahoma scores points on Ole Miss, beyond the Rebels’ offense turning the football over a bunch (like Auburn did) and giving the game away.

4. The Oklahoma defense is good

The Sooners are stout on defense despite being a bit injured in the secondary. Base level statistics do not paint an accurate picture of this defense due to how often it has been on the field due to the ineptitude of the Oklahoma offense. Make no mistake: the Sooners front seven is legitimately good and will provide a tough test for an Ole Miss offense that has not proved it can consistently move the football on SEC defenses. If the Sooners hang around in this game, it will be due to Ole Miss playing poorly.

In a way, this is a pretty decent test for Ole Miss to rectify what happened the last time the Rebels at home. This game should not be close. As of this writing, Ole Miss is 20-point favorites over the Sooners. I think this game will be a pretty telling indication in terms of how fans should view the rest of the season. If the Rebels play well, score a bunch of points and put a hapless team away early in the game, there is (at least in theory) reason to believe this team used a much-needed week off to analyze itself and make improvements. If Ole Miss slogs through this game through three quarters and the game hangs in the balance in the fourth, then I think you should likely temper any sort of hope that the Rebels right the ship.

This game will test the mental fortitude of Ole Miss more than anything else. 

Thanks for reading. We’ll have more coverage after the game.

As chants of “L-S-U” echoed through the bowels of Tiger Stadium, Lane Kiffin sat through his postgame press conference with a look of disbelief spread across his face. Kiffin seemed to be searching for answers after a 29-26 overtime loss to LSU that has Ole Miss’ season on the brink of failure. He repeatedly said Ole Miss controlled the game.

“We had the game and we just let it slip away,” Kiffin said. “This is hard. This one will be around forever.”

He said he didn’t feel like the better team won. His point is valid, as the Rebels were handed their second defeat of the year in a game in which they trailed for a total of zero seconds. Kiffin struggled to reconcile where his team sits at the bye week at 5-2 (1-2), and pointed out that Ole Miss gave two football games away.

Nothing he said is untrue. But the message falls on deaf ears in the bottom-line business that is college football, particularly when you examine who is ultimately responsible for Ole Miss losing two games that it led in the fourth quarter, with possession of the football and a chance to go up two scores and put the game away.

This loss followed a similar script to the home loss to Kentucky two weeks prior. The offense sputtered, left points on the board early in the game and were not able to deliver the kill shot when given multiple opportunities to do so. The offensive line struggled to protect Jaxson Dart. The offense went into a shell when Tre Harris got hurt and the running game was uncreative and inconsistent. The defense played well enough to win the game, gave the offense multiple chances to seize control, but ultimately allowed a few back-breaking pass receptions late that led to game-altering scores. Both opponents converted crucial fourth downs late in the game.

Have you been considering buying or selling a home or condo in Oxford?  Don't try to tackle it alone. Let Drew McGehee of Crye-Leike Oxford help you through the process from beginning to end.  Drew is an Ole Miss alum and has lived and worked in the Oxford area his entire life. With a background in both banking and insurance, he has a wealth of knowledge to guide you through the entire process. So don't hesitate, call or text Drew today to get started today.  You can reach him on his cell at 662-380-0314 or call the Crye-Leike Oxford office at 662-234-9868. 

The curious return of Ulysses Bentley IV

Ole Miss actually ran the football better than it did in its previous two SEC games. The Rebels ran it 42 times for 180 yards (36 for 213 with sack yardage removed). Why was that the case? Ole Miss was forced to play seldom-used running back Ulysses Bentley IV due to Matt Jones being unavailable due to injury. Bentley rushed 11 times for 107 yards (9.7 yards per rush) and broke off a 50-yard touchdown on a 4th & 1 play — a scenario that the Rebels have essentially never converted this season when using a traditional running back as the ball carrier — in the second quarter that put Ole Miss ahead 10-0.

It was a welcomed sight for puzzled Ole Miss fans who had been clamoring for Bentley to play. In 2023, he was an effective complement to All-American Quinshon Judkins. When Judkins transferred to Ohio State, it was presumed Bentley would be the starting running back, or at least play a major role in the running game. Ole Miss brought Henry Parrish back to Oxford from Miami, where he’d followed current running backs coach Kevin Smith to in 2022 after following him to Oxford in 2020. Smith spent one year at Miami in 2022 before returning to Kiffin’s staff in 2023. Parrish returned this offseason. Parrish has been the starting running back all season. Until Saturday evening, Bentley barely played and was supposedly beaten out by former walk-on Matt Jones. As the Ole Miss running game sputtered for six weeks, questions about Bentley’s role became more frequent. Kiffin essentially gaslit the fanbase for not blindly accepting that a serviceable, multi-year SEC running back was no longer explosive enough or good enough in pass protection to play meaningful snaps. Saturday night made that notion seem utterly ridiculous. Bentley’s performance was the first time a running back ran for more than 85 yards in an SEC game this season and just the third individual 100-yard rushing performance all year.

After Bentley scored, television cameras caught an excited Kiffin as he turned around and yelled something at Smith. I have no clue what was said, but I would love to find out. Kiffin was asked about it in his Monday press conference and sort of gave a roundabout answer that it was just excitement for Bentley and the adversity he’s overcome. The question left unanswered is why it got to this point in the first place.

Parrish is clearly Smith’s guy. He’s an average SEC running back. If they think he’s the best running back on the team, that is fine. Playing Jones over Bentley, or at the very least not playing Bentley at all until Saturday night, is completely illogical. Bentley didn’t even lead the team in carries in the loss to LSU. Parrish, who is clearly not completely healthy, led with 14 carries for 42 yards. In three SEC games, Parrish has generated seven runs for eight or more yards. Bentley had six runs for eight or more yards in Saturday’s loss.

I don’t pretend to know what Kiffin’s process is as far as personnel decisions. I do know he trusts his staff to do their job and stays out of the way, which, generally speaking, seems like a good management strategy. At the end of the day, this is Kiffin’s program, and he’s the man making $9 million to win football games. Why it took six games, a home loss when the team was three-score favorites, and an injury to try literally anything different in the running game from a personnel standpoint is completely baffling. Is it fair to say Ole Miss beats Kentucky if Bentley plays? That’s probably a little bit of a stretch. But wouldn’t it have been interesting to see what it looked like? What if he hit a home run like the 50-yard touchdown on Saturday night? The other running backs haven’t been able to do that this year. The one running back with breakaway speed was kept on the shelf. Would it have made a difference against the Wildcats? We’ll never know.

Head-scratching decisions seem to be a trend with this year’s team.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

There are personnel decisions that are puzzling

Ole Miss struggled mightily on the offensive line on Saturday night, just as it did in the loss to Kentucky. The Rebels have been injury-riddled on the offense line. They lost Caleb Warren and Gerquan Scott before the season started. Jeremy James hasn’t played since the season opener and Jayden Williams is out for an extended period of time after an injury suffered sometime before the Kentucky game. The running game struggles, as well as the inconsistency of the offense as a whole, is in part due to inconsistent offensive line play. It’s tough to overcome injuries. But what is head scratching is that the Rebels were seemingly healthier on the offensive line on Saturday than they’ve been at any point this year. Scott returned for the Wake Forest game, and has been rotated sparingly at right guard in place of Julius Buelow. Warren has dressed since the Kentucky game, but has only played a few snaps at center against South Carolina after Reece McIntyre got hurt and a few snaps at guard in Saturday’s loss after Nate Kalepo was injured. James has dressed the last two games but has not played at all (as best I can tell).

Maybe none of them are fully healthy yet. But if James is healthy enough to dress out and Warren has played a few snaps the last couple of games, I wonder why the coaching staff has not tried anything different personnel-wise given the offensive line’s struggles? I don’t want to turn this into an exercise of second-guessing Kiffin and his staff at every turn. I’m not remotely qualified to do that. It’s tough to work guys back from injury in the middle of the year, particularly on the lines of scrimmage. Cohesion on the offensive line is crucial, and this unit has already been robbed of time to create cohesion due to early-season injuries. Maybe that’s why Ole Miss has stuck with the same five the last three games, despite James and Warren being two of the most experienced linemen on the team and Scott working as the first team center for most of preseason camp. Perhaps the bye week is an ideal time to make changes and work the others back in. Kiffin alluded to that in his Monday press conference and noted that the injuries have handicapped them. So, again, it’s easy to second-guess everything after losses.

It all just seems puzzling given how badly the unit struggled on Saturday night.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Passing game appears to be Harris or bust

The offense also doesn’t spread the football to its playmakers efficiently at all. Ole Miss is paying Juice Wells and Caden Prieskorn a lot of money and has been unable to get them the football. Prieskorn has three catches for 64 yards in SEC games. He’s been targeted just five times. Wells has only recorded a catch in one conference game. He had three for 97 yards on 10 targets in the win over South Carolina. Wells was targeted just twice against Kentucky. StatBroadcast does not show any targets for him against LSU but I know there was at least one at LSU that he dropped. Cayden Lee has been tremendous when thrown to this year. He had nine catches for 132 yards on 13 targets in the loss to LSU. He recorded just two catches apiece in the South Carolina and Kentucky games on as many targets.

With Lee’s game on Saturday being the lone outlier, it’s pretty much been Tre Harris or bust for this passing offense. And why wouldn’t you get him the football? He’s arguably the best receiver in the country. But he’s also been injury-prone in his short time at Ole Miss. He missed the second half of the South Carolina game. The Rebels scored just three points in the final two quarters as the offense was conservative and tried to run the clock and get out of there with a win after having a three-score lead at halftime. Harris again exited the game around halftime in the loss to LSU. Ole Miss only mustered three field goals in the second half and overtime. Dating back to his time at Alabama, Kiffin has a history of feeding his best weapon, which is great when that pass catcher is available.

Losing a top receiver in a hostile road environment against a ranked team is hardly an easy obstacle to overcome, but it seems apparent that the Rebels’ offense is too-heavily reliant on the availability and production of Harris. They’ve been pretty toothless when he’s not on the field. In past years, the offense struggling when its top target is unavailable has been understandable due to a lack of depth at receiver. This year was supposed to be different, or at least the offseason spending suggested it would be.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

The offense has failed this team

No player or coach on this Ole Miss team could’ve possibly imagined being in the position the Rebels currently find themselves in — a two-loss team in early October with five SEC games still remaining. Dart was speechless in his postgame press conference.

“I don’t know how we lost this game,” he said in response to multiple questions. “I don’t understand how we lost this game.”

There are several factors that have contributed to how Ole Miss got in this precarious place. The offense not producing when it matters most has been the single largest component.

In the loss to Kentucky, Ole Miss twice possessed the football with a 17-13 lead and a chance to either extend the Rebels lead to seven points or seal the game with a touchdown and a multi-score lead. The offense went three-and-out both times.

In the loss to LSU on Saturday, Ole Miss led 20-16 and got the football back with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter. It was the first of three possessions the offense had with a chance to extend the lead to seven points with a field goal, or score a touchdown, earn a multi-score lead and put the game away. Ole Miss threw an interception in plus-territory, punted on its second try and settled for a Caden Davis field goal on the third possession. The defense finally broke on LSU’s final offensive possession and allowed a touchdown that tied the game to force overtime.

While the defense has not been perfect, it has given the offense five chances to essentially ice the game in the final quarter of the Rebels’ two losses, and the offense failed to do so each time. The Ole Miss defense has given up under 400 yards of offense (in regulation) in both losses, holding the two opponents to under 100 yards rushing. The Rebels’ defensive front has been legitimately great this season. The secondary has been mostly sturdy though inconsistent in spurts. This defense was supposed to be the missing piece from past Kiffin teams — the lacking element to compete with the best programs and to pull away quicker from average and lesser opponents. The offense has not held up its end of the bargain.

Dart hasn’t played well enough so far through three SEC games. He appears less decisive than ever, holds the football too long at times and has missed some open receivers on key downs. Whatever your opinion is of Dart as a player, this isn’t the best version of him we’ve seen at Ole Miss, which is odd considering it’s his third year in the same offensive system. That tells me something is off with how this offense is being run or called that is not helping Dart out despite him being far from blameless in the offense’s failures.

Weiss Jr. is often a convenient scapegoat for fans. He’s rarely mentioned when the offense is humming and is the subject of criticism when the offense falters. I don’t know what portion of the blame pie Weiss deserves in all of this because I don’t know enough about the nuances of play calling in an SEC game to even come up with a remotely educated answer as to why this is his fault. What I do know is that this offense, from a play calling standpoint, tends to get stuck in the proverbial mud often and the passing game appears to be less creative than ever. In layman’s terms, a lot of Ole Miss’ plays in a game seem to be slamming a small running back between the tackles for a marginal gain followed by a contested deep ball from Dart. It is of course much more nuanced than that. My point is simply that something seems off. Watch a couple of games from last year that Ole Miss won and tell me if the offense looks remotely the same this year — and this version was supposed to have much better personnel. It just doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Kiffin has been given the resources. He now must find the answers.

Ultimately, all of this rests on Kiffin’s shoulders. He is the supposed offensive savant. Again, he seems to be a coach who trusts his assistants to do their job and stays out of the way. But at a certain point, the head man making $9 million per year is responsible for stepping in. Ole Miss is searching for answers, whether it’s the Bentley mystery, the offense sputtering and the inability to finish games.

Ole Miss’ season is teetering on the brink of abject failure and it’s all due to a pair games the Rebels should have won but completely squandered, mostly due to the ineptitude of the offense. In his normal Monday press conference, Kiffin said his message to the team was that they were two plays away from being undefeated and that they must accept the reality that they aren’t.

“There’s a lot left to play for,” Kiffin said. “I told them they are a really good team that is not finishing like a great team.”

I suppose there is still a path to making the playoff, albeit a slim one. If Ole Miss were to win its final five games and finish with a 10-2 record, the Rebels would certainly be in the conversation to earn an at-large bid into the tournament. But that seems like a foolish conversation at the moment, given the Rebels have at least four capable opponents left and have not proven to be a consistent enough team to five consecutive SEC games. For now, the focus should be inward, fixing the issues that plague this team and remaining engaged despite the team’s goals slipping away. Playoff or not, the next six weeks are crucial to the present and future of the program, even if the core of the team doesn’t have a vested personal interest in that future. The players billed this as ‘The Last Dance,’ for a reason. It’s a byproduct of being a veteran team led by transfers. How engaged is this football team in two weeks when Oklahoma arrives?

Kiffin encouraged the fan base to stick together. He said they’ll assess everything during the bye week because that’s what they do on bye weeks — not just because two games were lost in the final minute.

After Kiffin concluded his presser on Monday, he came back into the room and offered one final thought.

"Someone who's been in here a long time said something to me yesterday, 'make sure you look at it as a positive that our fans are really upset about the game,’ I'm glad we've created a new expectation,” Kiffin said.

That’s all well and good, except those expectations aren’t being met. Ole Miss has won a ton of close, one-score games under Kiffin. Some have wondered if the law of averages would eventually even things out this year. While valid, the resources Ole Miss spent to bolster its roster in the offseason to become a true championship contender was, at least in part, intended to prevent games from being left to chance, to ensure the Rebels played fewer one score games and instead won convincingly with more regularity. Kiffin has won a ton of games at Ole Miss and brought the program to new heights. At every step of the way, he’s been afforded the resources to further the program’s upward trajectory.

The fan base has met the expectations he set for them. They’ve shown up for games. They’ve footed the bill for the team’s payroll and have not received an adequate return on investment. Ole Miss is a team searching for answers. It’s up to Kiffin to find them. 

Subscribe now

Ole Miss is a day away from a massive road game against a pedestrian but capable LSU team looking to validate itself. The Rebels enter this match-up as a fairly beat up roster playing their seventh game in as many weeks, trying to survive one more test before a badly needed bye week of their own. As weary as Ole Miss might be, its greatest and toughest test to this point in the season comes this week.

The loss to Kentucky has rendered a road game at night in Death Valley a de facto must-win. This is a significant moment for a team and a program trying to prove it is a major player in the modern college football landscape. The Rebels’ playoff hopes hinge upon winning this football game.

Here are a few storylines from the week as well as five things to watch when Ole Miss-LSU kicks off on Saturday evening.

What to make of those injury reports

The initial injury report was released on Wednesday evening. Ole Miss had 17 players listed. There are some notable names and statuses to cover here, but I first would like to point out one thing: professional troll Lane Kiffin is very obviously using the injury report as a message for his thoughts on the requirement. Kiffin loves sending messages through indirect mediums. On multiple occasions, he has publicly stated that he does not like the newly-implemented injury report mandate because he didn’t think it was necessary. When Kiffin doesn’t like something, he’s going to let you know in more ways than one.

Last week, Ole Miss listed 25 players on its injury report. Since then, the Rebels played a road game at South Carolina, a contest that featured several Ole Miss injuries (some real, some fake, I presume), yet had eight fewer players listed on this week’s injury report. It doesn’t make sense to me. This is not a criticism of Kiffin as much as it is an observation of something that he clearly doesn’t take seriously. And in fairness, why should he?

Like pretty much everything else in major college football, the injury report is modeled after the NFL’s. The terminology “out, doubtful, questionable” are carbon-copy terms of an NFL injury report. In the NFL, coaches and franchises are fined heavily for misrepresenting injury report information. Technically, the same framework is in place for SEC programs based on the following criteria:

• Out (i.e., will not play/0% chance to play)

• Doubtful (i.e., unlikely to play/25% chance to play)

• Questionable (i.e., uncertain to play/50% chance to play)

• Probable (i.e., probable to play/75% chance to play).

In general, information in the NFL is more public than it is in the mafia-like environment college football programs cultivate. Who at the SEC determines the validity of those percentages and what does that actually mean? The NFL is a $20 billion entity. Its teams have 53 players on an active roster. The NFL spent $22 million on a farce of an investigation into whether or not Tom Brady and the New England Patriots slightly deflated footballs. Much like programs’ attitudes toward the NCAA, does anyone really believe the SEC actually has the time, resources, energy or interest to effectively police this? Of course not. I am not even insinuating that Kiffin is misrepresenting injury statuses on his report. I am just saying I doubt he takes it too seriously given the lack of realistic repercussions — so you should take it with a grain of salt too.

Thursday night’s updated injury report saw Ole Miss’ number of players listed shrink to 11. Luis Moore was upgraded from questionable to probable, and every single player listed as probable on Wednesday’s report was removed altogether. So, what should you make of this report each week in terms of the accuracy of it? I don’t have a definitive answer. I just focus on who is listed as questionable. From there, your guess is as good as mine as to whether those listed as such end up playing in the game.

Anyway, onto the relevant features of this week’s reports.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

1. Matt Jones is doubtful

I am not going to yet again rehash the running backs situation at Ole Miss. So, apologies to any first time readers. I feel like most of you reading this right now have likely been along for the ride for a while, so I’ll ask this: is Ulysses Bentley finally freed? Is this the week he finally gets meaningful carries in the game? If Jones does not play, I don’t see how any other scenario is possible. Ole Miss can’t make it through this game with solely a banged up Henry Parrish running the football. Kiffin even alluded to Bentley having a prominent role this week in his weekly appearance on RebTalk on Thursday evening.

“Someone else (other than Jones) will get carries,” Kiffin said. “Hopefully we have Bentley and hopefully he'll do really well. It's like some people think I don't want him to do well. I don't care who does well, I just want to win games. If this is his chance and opportunity, I think he'll do really well."

Beyond the absurdity of gaslighting the fanbase for not blindly accepting that the second best running back on the team (behind an All-American in Quinshon Judkins) last year is somehow just a borderline third string player that can’t be trusted, I think Kiffin even mentioning Bentley by name as someone who will get carries in Jones’ absence tells you all you need to know. He’s going to play a role on Saturday.

2. Umanmielen questionable is a positive sign

He missed last week’s game with an undisclosed injury. I was told it was potentially a multi-week injury and that his return would more than likely come after the Rebels’ bye week when they return home to play Oklahoma. Umanmielen remaining as questionable throughout the week seems like good news, assuming this report is somewhat valid. Ole Miss didn’t miss a beat last week in his absence as Suntarine Perkins filled the role and played exceptionally well. With that said, Ole Miss is obviously a better team with Umanmielen healthy and available.

3. What about Tre Harris?

He left last week’s game with what appeared to be some kind of ankle or foot injury. Kiffin said in his Monday press conference that Harris was not close to coming back into the game at South Carolina and that if the LSU game was played (Monday), Harris would not play. I have been told Harris will be healthy enough to play in this game. If true, that’s a massive development for Ole Miss.

4. A Jeremy James return?

James hasn’t played since the season opener due to a hand/wrist injury. He dressed last week but did not play. He’s Ole Miss’ most experienced lineman. With Caleb Warren’s return last week, the Rebels are slowly getting healthier up front despite losing Jayden Williams in the Kentucky game for what sounds like will be several weeks. I am not sure how much, if at all, James will factor into the offensive line rotation this week. But he’s played a ton of SEC football and has game experience at both tackle and guard. James hasn’t played tackle since 2022, but if Diego Pounds or (an already nicked up) Micah Pettus, James’ versatility could potentially be useful.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

A look at LSU

The Tigers are 4-1 and coming off of a bye week. LSU is a prolific passing offense with a bad defense and an inconsistent running game. The Tigers lost their season opener to what appears to be a pedestrian USC team. The next week, LSU led 23-21 against Nicholls State in the third quarter before running away late in the game for a 44-21 victory. The Tigers were extremely lucky to win a road game, 36-33, at South Carolina the next week. The Gamecocks lost starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers in the first half and were the victim of a questionable personal foul call in the fourth quarter that negated a pick six that would’ve basically ice the game. The next week, LSU found itself tied 17-17 at halftime to a terrible UCLA squad, but ultimately won 34-17 and then destroyed South Alabama before the bye week.

This is not a good LSU team. After having one of the nation’s worst defenses in 2023, the Tigers did little to upgrade their personnel and instead banked on an improved defensive coaching staff to solve their defensive woes. The results have been predictably subpar. Last year, its defensive flaws were masked by an incredibly explosive and efficient offense led by 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, who threw the ball to a pair of first round draft picks in Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas Jr.

I never bought into the idea of LSU being good this year. With those three aforementioned offensive weapons gone and a defense that needed a personnel overhaul but didn’t receive one, it made little sense to me how any rational human could make an argument that LSU was a potential playoff team. I have figure that most pro-LSU arguments were rooted in the outdated thinking that plagues college football consumers and is centered around the fact that they wear yellow helmets and pants, play in Death Valley (mostly at night!), launder money from children’s hospitals, eat gumbo while talking with a cool accent and have won a few national titles in the recent past.

With that said, this version of the LSU offense is still humming with Garrett Nussmeier at quarterback. He’s been really good and has talented receivers to throw to like Kyren Lacy. Nussmeier’s tremendous play has led to a minimal drop-off in LSU’s offensive production. He will test the Ole Miss secondary like no one else has to this point in the season.

Ole Miss is a decidedly better and more talented football team than LSU. Most of the commentary you’ve read about the game this week has likely been focused on LSU coming off of a bye and it being a night game in Death Valley. Both of those are valid points. I’ve seen good Ole Miss teams pee down its leg in Baton Rouge and lose despite being the better team. But that’s still not a practical way to analyze this game. Here are a few things you should know about LSU.

1. The Tigers are still searching for consistency in the running game

LSU has averaged just 131 yards rushing per game. The Tigers lost veteran running back John Emery for the season in the loss to USC, which has led them to struggle running the football behind what was touted to be a wildly talented offensive line. The coaching staff vowed to be more physical in the running game this season, but to this point, it simply hasn’t turned out that way to this point.

True freshman Caden Durham got a lot of touches in the South Carolina game and ran for 98 yards on 11 carries. Two weeks later, he ran for 138 yards on seven carries against South Alabama. It sounds like LSU feels as if its found an element of explosiveness it's been lacking (sound familiar?) in Durham and I figure he gets a healthy amount of carries in this game as the Tigers hope he solves their woes in the rushing attack. LSU wants to be more balanced and compliment its passing attack better than it has so far this season and it sounds like Durham’s emergence has led them to believe they are closer to achieving that.

2. Exterior of LSU offensive line is legit

LSU was thought to have the best offensive line in the country entering the season, largely due to left tackle Will Campbell and right tackle Emery Jones being surefire first round draft picks in the 2025 LSU draft. They’re the real deal. The battle between Ole Miss’ pass rushers and these two gifted tackles is going to be one of the most interesting subplots in this game. LSU’s ability to protect Nussmeier, a pure pocket passer, has been instrumental in his success and the overall explosiveness of the Tigers’ passing game. LSU has had some struggles in run blocking, which is where I think Ole Miss can really alter this game with Walter Nolen, but the two cornerstones of the LSU offensive line are as good as you’ll find in college football.

3. LSU receiving corps is injury-riddled

The depth of the Tigers’ receiving corps is impressive. Lacy is by far and away their most polished and productive receiver, but their depth has been eroded by injuries. Kyle Parker is out for this game. Both Chris Hilton and C.J. Daniels are listed as questionable but are unlikely to play. LSU writer Glenn West was on the podcast this week. He explained that though Hilton is listed as questionable, he has yet to play this year as his recovery from an injury has been sluggish. He did not seem optimistic that Daniels would play either. Tight end Mason Taylor has been a key piece in the offense and Aaron Anderson has emerged as a reliable receiver option, in part due to injuries in the receiving corps. This LSU passing offense is dynamic. Nussmeier is a good quarterback and has plenty of weapons to throw to, but the pass catching depth for LSU is slim at this point in the season.

4. LSU defense has been in scheme limbo

I am not sure there has been a stranger career trajectory in recent memory than LSU edge rusher Harold Perkins. He burst onto the scene as a true freshman in 2022, tallying 7.5 sacks and being a core piece of an LSU defense that powered the Tigers to an SEC West title in Brian Kelly’s first year. His three-sack performance in a November road game at Arkansas that year was one of the most impactful and dominating performances from an individual defensive player that I have seen in a while. Last year, the coaching staff tried to mold him into a more traditional interior linebacker role — one that comes with more reads and responsibilities. It did not work out well.

This year, LSU planned to be a fairly traditional 4-2-5 defense with Perkins at the star position, but he again proved he could not quite handle the workload of being a traditional inside linebacker, so LSU shifted back toward a 4-3 scheme with Perkins being more of an edge pass rusher closer to the line of scrimmage. Perkins tore his ACL against UCLA and is out for the year, which led LSU to lean back toward the 4-2-5 scheme. That’s a lot of in-season shuffling.

This LSU defense features some capable pass rushers, competent linebacker play, but is pretty brutal on the back end. The Tigers have allowed the most passing yards per game in the SEC. Perhaps the bye week gave this unit time to find a plan and an identity, but at some point, a lack of talent trumps everything else.

Now that you know a bit more about LSU, here are five things I will be looking for and thinking about at kickoff tomorrow night.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Friday Five: all about the offense

1. the Ole Miss passing game will carry it to a win

One of the reasons last week’s performance felt underwhelming despite blowing out an SEC opponent on the road is the fact that the offense wasn’t sharp. Jaxson Dart missed on a few deep balls. It felt like Ole Miss had multiple chances to turn the game into a lopsided snoozer but couldn’t quite connect on the big play. This LSU secondary is atrocious. The Rebels will win this game with ease if the Dart and the plethora of pass catchers he has to throw finally gel and prove to be as dynamic as most thought they would be entering the season. Ole Miss has struggled to consistently run the football against any opponent with a pulse. I think this has adversely affected the offense as a whole, but it could be masked better if the Rebels were crisper in the vertical passing game. If Ole Miss is effective throwing the football early on in this game, I love its chances to win convincingly.

2. A tall test for the secondary

Conversely, the Ole Miss secondary will face its toughest test by far. Nussmeier and the LSU receivers will tax a secondary that played better last week, but has committed too many penalties this season. Getting Louis Moore back will help. Ole Miss played Jadon Canady more at corner last week and played Yam Banks 56 snaps at safety. I have no clue whether or not that was a matchup specific thing, or if the Rebels found something in the back end of their defense. With as fierce as the Ole Miss front six appear to be, the recipe for the Rebels losing this game is getting shredded by Nusmeier and the LSU receiving corps.

3. The running game

This note should just have a Friday Five slot reserved in perpetuity. As we covered earlier (and really all season), the running game for Ole Miss has been subpar. Jones is unlikely to play. Does Bentley getting carries by default finally elevate this running game? Is the explosiveness he showed in 2022 and 2023 the missing element to getting this running game off the ground? Or do we find out the coaching staff was correct in their reservations about his explosiveness after an offseason toe surgery (in addition to whatever other reservations they have that has led to playing a walk-on in front of him). With Warren and (potentially James) back healthy, at the very least Ole Miss is as well-equipped on the interior offensive line as it has been at any point this year. If the running game continues to struggle on Saturday evening, it will seem clear to me that it is a relatively unfixable issue that this team will simply have to overcome the rest of the way — as inexplicable as that sounds.

4. Pass rush

Ole Miss has been consistently great on the interior on defense. Opponents have struggled running the football against the Rebels. They’ve also consistently put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The LSU tackles will pose the most resistance the defensive line has seen this year. If Ole Miss is able to overcome that and pressure Nussmeier, it is going to win the football game. Nussmeier, by his own admission, is no threat to run the football. He is a pure pocket passer. If the Rebels speed up his internal clock and do not give him ample time to throw, a potent LSU offense becomes somewhat toothless — assuming the secondary is not a total travesty. I will be keeping a close eye on this, particularly early in the football game, as this might be where this game is ultimately decided.

5. Another test of a veteran team’s resolve

Ole Miss is better than LSU. But it’s going into a hostile environment, at night, against a well-rested Tigers squad. Plenty of good Ole Miss teams have gone down to Baton Rouge and succumbed to the environment and lost the game. How does this team, one littered with veterans — and a core that repeatedly talks about culture, resilience and toughness — handle all of that?

This is a massive football game for Ole Miss. If the Rebels win, they enter a bye week as a one-loss team, firmly in the mix for a college football playoff slot and its two toughest remaining games at home. A victory in Baton Rouge would mostly erase the damage of the Kentucky loss. If Ole Miss is defeated by LSU, the path toward earning a College Football playoff berth becomes incredibly murky and somewhat unrealistic. It didn’t have to be this way. Had the Rebels handled business against the Wildcats, this game would be viewed in a much different light. Why? Ole Miss is playing its 7th game in as many weeks, against an LSU team off of a bye. If the Rebels were undefeated, this game would likely be viewed as one in which they could basically put themselves on the fast track toward the playoff, would be in the conversation for winning the SEC, earning a top four seed and a first round bye. The game would be important, but far from a must-win. But that is not the reality the Rebels live in. This game is essentially a must-win.

In one of the most consequential spots in program history, does Ole Miss meet the moment?

Thanks for reading. We’ll have more coverage on Sunday. 

Jaxson Dart couldn’t sleep last Saturday night, as the anguish of a 20-17 defeat to Kentucky dominated his thoughts. He apparently wasn’t the only one. Dart said he and several teammates met up around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, sat around a fire and discussed the position they’d put themselves in.

“I can’t explain how much it hurt last week,” Dart said. “We couldn’t sleep. We had some tough conversations.”

Moments after Ole Miss bounced back with a 27-3 road win at South Carolina, Lane Kiffin offered a similar sentiment. He remarked that the time between the defeat to Kentucky and Saturday’s triumph over the Gamecocks felt longer than a normal game week.

“I thought this was a really hard week,” Kiffin said. “It’s probably the worst feeling we’ve had after a loss and felt like the most amount of days between a game after a loss since we’ve been here. We just handed that thing away. It was so not like how we thought we were going to play. Our guys battled through that this week. They didn’t let it affect a second game.”

This victory expunged a bad taste from Ole Miss’ mouth, and the Rebels earned the win in dominant fashion in a hostile environment against a quality opponent. As Kiffin alluded to, it just felt like a long week for Ole Miss, between the shock of losing its SEC opener and the back-to-back road tests against teams coming off a bye week that loomed. If the RebelGrove message board is any indicator of the fanbase’s collective state of mind, the anticipation leading up to Saturday’s game felt like being in the waiting room for an impending root canal — anxious rather than excited.

In a game that could’ve pushed Ole Miss’ season to the brink of abject disaster, the Rebels leaned on the pillars they spent the offseason fortifying, most notably the defensive front. The defense held the Gamecocks to just 313 yards of offense and 4.1 yards per play. Ole Miss sacked Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers six times and did not allow a touchdown for the third game this season. The defense suffocated the life out of South Carolina’s offense, as well as the crowd. Ole Miss led 24-3 at halftime and the game felt like it was no longer in doubt after two quarters. It wasn’t a perfect offensive performance by any stretch, but the offensive line did enough to allow Dart time to throw down the field, allowed just one sack against the two best edge rushers in the SEC and scored 27 points on the road.

It was apparent that this team’s toughness was going to be tested this week and its initial response was an emphatic one. It was hardly a flawless performance and much tougher tests await, but Ole Miss looked and sounded like a team prepared to right the ship.

“I am really pleased with our players,” Kiffin said. “It’s one thing to win a one-score game that depends on the ball going in or out, but when you come into a really hard place to play, against a team that was up two scores (against LSU) and on its way to being undefeated if not for a fluke penalty… I am just really proud of our coaches and players for how they showed up today.”

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Ole Miss’ defensive front gives Rebels a chance against anyone

“Defense travels” is an old adage in football that Ole Miss is proving to remain timelessly true. The Rebels’ defensive front was dominant in the win over South Carolina. Walter Nolen is an absolute menace on the interior and is one of the most purely talented defensive linemen Ole Miss has had in a long time. South Carolina double-teamed him and it still didn’t matter. He is an elite football player that has drastically changed this defense. Nolen had five tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks (which is a remarkable feat for an interior lineman).

Jared Ivey had two sacks. J.J. Pegues, who is clearly not completely healthy, stuffed the failed fake punt behind the line of scrimmage that flipped momentum early in the game. Princely Umanmielen was ruled out with an injury. Suntarine Perkins filled the void in his absence, totaled 12 tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. Ole Miss was without one of its best defensive lineman and didn’t miss a beat. That’s a sign of real depth.

While Ole Miss is not nearly as deep at the linebacker position, the Rebels have three fast, instinctual players who fly to the football. Chris Paul had three quarterback hurries. T.J. Dottery led the team with 13 tackles, recorded a sack, two tackles for a loss and had a pass break-up. South Carolina had just 125 yards of offense at halftime. The Gamecocks aren’t exactly an explosive offense, but to keep an SEC opponent out of the end zone for an entire game, in their own home stadium, isn’t exactly a common occurrence. When you can limit a team’s rushing attack the way this defense appears to be able to do, coupled with the ability to apply constant pressure to opposing quarterbacks, there are few offenses in college football capable of consistently moving the football down the field despite all of that. It also took the crowd out of the game. Williams-Brice Stadium is a difficult place to play. The game was a sellout. The Juice Wells subplot made the fans even angrier. The defense forced them to sit on their hands for most of the game.

The storyline of the offseason was about how after a blowout loss to Georgia last November, Ole Miss knew it needed to get bigger and more talented on the line of scrimmage in order to compete with the best teams in the sport. The Rebels were successful in adding top-end talent, and, from a defensive standpoint at least, appear to be equipped to match up with any team in college football. Another byproduct of the upgrades is Ole Miss’ ability to take over games against average offenses like you saw on Saturday. That proved to be incredibly valuable for a team on the road coming off of a loss. If the Rebels remain healthy on defense, they will have a shot to beat anyone they play.

Ole Miss cleaned up its defensive penalties

Of the eight accepted penalties against Ole Miss, only two were committed by the defense. One was an offsides late in the game and the other was a pass interference foul on Jaden Canady that negated a John Saunders interception — a call that appeared to be coaxed by a successful flop from the South Carolina receiver. The defense, and particularly the secondary, played a much cleaner game. Kiffin seemed very pleased by this in his postgame press conference.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer noted in his postgame press conference that Ole Miss played differently in coverage than the Gamecocks anticipated. Sellers’ longest completion on the day was just 17 yards and only eight of his 20 completions went for 10 or more yards. I am not going to pretend to be smart enough to bullshit you on what Ole Miss did differently in the secondary that confused South Carolina, but I will offer you one anecdote that might hint at the successful strategy: South Alabama transfer safety Yam Banks has played sparingly so far this year. On Saturday, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF), he played 56 of 79 total defensive snaps. Every other regularly-contributing safety seemingly played a normal snap load. As did corner Trey Amos. So, where was the discrepancy? The other presumed starting corner, Isaiah Hamilton only played 27 snaps. Brandon Turnage only played 18. That math doesn’t make sense. What appears to have happened is that, again, according to PFF, Canady played 63 snaps at corner rather than safety. I don’t know what the significance of this is, whether the Rebels found something on the back end or if this was solely match-up specific. Whatever it was, it worked.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

While far from perfect, the offense did enough

Ole Miss is still clearly trying to find the best version of itself on offense. Saturday was another somewhat disjointed yet productive performance.

The Rebels amassed 425 yards of total offense, 285 of which came through the air. Dart was 14-27 for 285 yards. From watching on TV, it looked like Dart was pretty good over the middle of the field and in the intermediate passing game, but struggled mightily throwing the deep ball. He missed Juice Wells on at least one occasion and missed another couple that could have ballooned the score even further. But despite all of that, the 14 completions went for an average of 20.8 yards per reception. Ole Miss was also without Tre Harris for the final two quarters of the game and the offensive line was trying to block Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart — which is no easy task in pass protection.

Dart’s going to have to play better going forward, beginning next week in Baton Rouge.

The running game looked pretty similar to last week. Ole Miss ran it 41 times for 140 yards at a clip of 3.4 yards per rush. Henry Parrish carried the ball 21 times for 81 yards. Of those 21 carries, only two went for 10 or more yards and only four went for more than five yards. At this point, the staff is hell bent on only playing Parrish and Matt Jones at running back. Parrish got injured for the second consecutive game and is very obviously not completely healthy. He was a game-time decision before kickoff. I have run out of thoughts and opinions as to why Ulysses Bentley does not play. I still firmly believe he’s going to have to play at some point. Giving Parrish, who is not a big running back, 20-plus carries a game, as he continues to get nicked up each week does not seem like a viable long term solution.

With all of that said, the rushing attack was good enough to win the game. I think that was at least partially due to Ole Miss finding success with Dart running the football. He had eight carries for 44 yards (seven for 52 if you remove the one sack he took). Ole Miss tried to run Dart against Kentucky and was not successful. The Rebels had better luck this week.

“He made a couple that led to key conversions, particularly late, which was really good,” Kiffin said. “I know we were up three scores, but it helped sustain drives as we tried to run out the clock and get out of here with a win. Our defense had played a lot. Jaxson made some good runs. A lot of those were called runs, or, the defense is playing the running back and (Dart) has to pull it.”

The offensive line appears to be getting healthier

Caleb Warren dressed for the second week in a row and Jeremy James dressed but did not play. Now that Ole Miss has those two pieces back and is only missing left tackle Jayden Williams (who I believe will be out for several weeks), I am curious to see how, if at all, the offensive line changes next week in Baton Rouge as well as after the bye week. James didn’t play. Warren only played because Reece McIntyre got hurt and missed seven snaps that required Warren to fill in for him at center. Gerquan Scott, who played mostly center during preseason camp, is still rotating periodically at left guard with Julius Buelow. Micah Pettus is not 100 percent healthy and was injured during this game as well.

With Williams out for a few more weeks, I assume Pettus and Pounds are locked into the two tackle spots. James is the only other lineman (that I am aware of) that has any significant experience at tackle. He started all 13 games at right tackle in 2021 and made four starts there in 2022.

I am curious to see if any changes are made on the interior. Warren has started every game for the last two years, either at center or guard. James is arguably the most experienced lineman on the roster and Scott appeared to be the first team center during camp. It seems unlikely that none of those three will slide into a starting role at any point this year. I am not educated enough to tell you whether there are issues on the offensive line or if the staff thinks the current five is fine. It’s just something I am curious about over the next couple of weeks as Ole Miss now has more guys healthy.

I am not sure how much of the running game struggles are related to running back personnel or due to flaws on the offensive line. I continue to believe Ole Miss is going to have to run the ball better to have success over these final six games and I wonder if any sort of change on the offensive line will help.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Ole Miss is still very much alive in the playoff picture

This win felt like a collective exhale for a team that put itself in a disastrous spot because of a home loss to Kentucky. These back-to-back road tests (again, against two teams coming off a bye) suddenly felt like must-wins. Despite the chaotic day that ensued in college football — one that was certainly beneficial to Ole Miss as teams ranked higher than the Rebels lost to unranked teams — I don’t think any of the results changed Ole Miss’ immediate future. The LSU game is still virtually a must-win. I don’t see a realistic path to the College Football Playoff for this team without a win in Baton Rouge on Saturday night. Sure, could Ole Miss lose and run the table, notch a 10-2 record and still get in? I guess. But how rational is it to argue that a team that lost to a pedestrian LSU group in Baton Rouge is somehow going to beat Georgia and Oklahoma at home, as well as win all other games? I don’t buy it. With the chaos that ensued in college football over the weekend, is it possible that a three-loss SEC team makes the playoff? I guess. I am not a betting man, but I assume those odds are pretty long.

Ole Miss badly needs to win in Baton Rouge this coming weekend. It will take a titan-like effort. The Rebels are a beat up football team playing their seventh game in as many weeks, against an opponent that got to rest last weekend, in an arena the program has not won in since 2008. Ole Miss is more talented than LSU and should win this game, but the Rebels’ resiliency will be tested yet again. A win and Ole Miss is all the way back, as the youths say. If the Rebels enter the bye week at 6-1 with home bouts against the Sooners and Bulldogs up next, you have to feel pretty good about where things stand despite the Kentucky hiccup. A loss? The path to the only goal that matters to this team becomes hard to see clearly.

How about that chaotic weekend, though? To recap, Alabama lost to Vanderbilt (I am amazed to type that phrase), Tennessee lost to Arkansas, Michigan lost to Washington and USC lost to Minnesota. What did it teach us? That the volatile ecosystem that the sport exists within — with NIL, unlimited transfers, guys changing teams and sitting out at the slightest sign of adversity — has bred a level of parity never before seen in a sport that has historically lacked any semblance of it. As badly as the loss to Kentucky felt, how differently do you view it now? Don’t you think that loss, against a team with a wildly talented defense and a capable offense who will likely be 6-2 entering a showdown against Tennessee, will hold up better than… oh, I don’t know… a loss to Vanderbilt or Arkansas?

College football is as week-to-week of a sport as it's ever been. The name of the game is to survive four quarters, put one in the victory column and hope chaos ensues elsewhere. Part of this makes the loss to Kentucky more frustrating. Think about where the Rebels would be had they not squandered that game? There are about a half dozen fan bases currently wishing the same thing about their team.

Ole Miss has the pieces necessary to compete with every team remaining on its schedule. The ball is in the Rebels’ court to right the ship. Saturday, if nothing else, proved this team refused to wilt at the first sign of adversity.

Ole Miss is in a must-win scenario in early October as it travels to face South Carolina in Columbia on Saturday. We’ve combined two newsletters into one here due to some scheduling mishaps. So, let’s take a look at the Gamecocks and run through five things I’ll be watching for and thinking about at kickoff on Saturday.

Is this the most important game of the Lane Kiffin era?

I have to admit that I am still a little bit shocked that Ole Miss actually lost to Kentucky on its own home field last Saturday. That really has little to do with Kentucky. I certainly understand in a literal sense how the Rebels lost. Kentucky boasts one of the best defensive lines in the SEC. The Wildcats were tremendous in the secondary and put on a tackling clinic. But when thinking through the various ways the 2024 season might play out, I never gave much serious consideration to the scenario of Ole Miss losing its conference opener, and eliminating almost all of its margin for error to make the playoff, with seven SEC games remaining before the calendar turned to October. The Rebels are in a precarious place.

If you thought last week was a struggle, Ole Miss is now going on the road to face arguably the best defensive line in the SEC, a unit that undoubtedly has the two best edge rushers in the conference — with South Carolina coming off of a bye week. The Gamecocks are a couple of plays and some very poor luck (in a loss to LSU) away from being 4-0. It was apparent Ole Miss’ fortitude would be tested after last week’s stunning defeat. The Rebels now face back-to-back road opponents coming off a bye. These games are now must-wins in terms of their postseason aspirations. All of this had me wondering: is this the most important game of Lane Kiffin’s time at Ole Miss? I think so. And you can make an argument it’s the most important game in his head coaching career.

If Ole Miss does not win this game on Saturday, all realistic paths to the College Football Playoff are eliminated. Yes, I suppose if the Rebels lost on Saturday and then ran the table the rest of the way to a 10-2 record, it’s possible they’d still get in the playoff. But how is it realistic to project Ole Miss to beat Oklahoma, LSU and Georgia if it lost to Kentucky and South Carolina? The entire thought process is delusional.

Ole Miss is a team built mostly through the transfer portal. Not all transfers are the same. Lane Kiffin and his staff have done as good of a job as anyone in the sport building depth and stability through the portal via guys with multiple years of eligibility remaining, which has evolved into multiple years within the Ole Miss program. But the Rebels are still relying on several probable one-and-done transfers. These are commonly referred to as hired guns. Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen, Juice Wells, among many others are names that come to mind. They all came here to accomplish one goal this season: get to the playoff and win a championship. I have to wonder how hard it will be to keep team cohesion when that goal is out of reach in the first week of October. It’s the harsh reality of this new version of college football. I don’t have any information to suggest any player would opt out of the rest of the season, nor am I insinuating anyone specifically would things in, but it’s unrealistic to think that the level of collective buy-in and focus would remain the same if the Rebels are all but eliminated from the playoff with a loss. This game is absolutely crucial to keeping the proverbial train on the tracks.

What about Kiffin? There’s already been constant (baseless) speculation about him taking the Florida job should it come open — though I am not sure how going 9-3 or 8-4 with his most talented roster in his time at Ole Miss would help his case. What does next year look like if this one turns out to be wildly disappointing? I always thought it was odd that this season was dubbed “The Last Dance” by several players. Even Kiffin has indirectly mentioned it before. In some senses, I understand it. The team’s core (Jaxson Dart, Tre Harris, Caden Prieskorn, the ghost of Ulysses Bentley, among several others) are all in their last years of eligibility. They all view this as their final ride in college football. But unless I am missing something, Ole Miss will in fact field a team in 2025 and Kiffin is under contract for several more years. Is it really a smart marketing tool to dub this season the last dance? In the grand scheme of things, a nickname for the most anticipated season in a generation doesn’t really mean a ton, but it’s indicative of the heightened expectations this team shoulders, and in many ways, has welcomed. This same team is now teetering the line between meeting those expectations and abject failure before the season’s halfway point. Again, it’s a precarious place to be.

I don’t know what the future holds for Kiffin after this season. But it’s certainly in his best interest to right the ship and make the playoff, whether that is for his own personal benefit, or the good of the Ole Miss program, for both the present and the future. Saturday is a must-win in the most literal sense for a team that was a preseason darling and dubbed a title contender. The wheels may come off this thing if the Rebels lose. Kiffin has coached in big games at Ole Miss and won many of them. Last year’s LSU game was the last time I wondered if a game was the most important one of his career. The Rebels were a week removed from a dud performance at Alabama. Everyone was wondering if Kiffin could ever actually win a ‘big game’ (I found that entire debate to be silly). He delivered in dramatic fashion.

What does he have in store for Saturday? I have no clue. But I am certain that there is no greater contrast in how Kiffin, this team and this program will be discussed and perceived than at the conclusion of Saturday’s game depending on the result. A win means the Rebels showed resilience, bounced back from a tough week and are one more road test away from being back in a solid position to make the playoff. A loss will lead to Ole Miss being labeled fraudulent, a paper tiger, an overhyped trojan horse, and could commence an ugly collapse.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Let’s take a look at South Carolina

Shane Beamer is one of my favorite coaches in college football. He seems like a guy who would be awesome to have a beer with. He’s caught some shit over the last couple of years for being a bit whiney, a schtick guy, and has been accused of being inauthentic. For the life of me, I do not understand why. His weekly press conference this week was half an hour long. That’s pretty unheard of. I had South Carolina beat writer Jordan Kaye on my podcast this week and asked him if that length of a presser was the norm. He answered with an emphatic yes and said it would’ve gone longer had media relations not cut off questions. I find Beamer to be genuine, engaging and as down to earth as a millionaire football coach can be. Something Beamer said during his opening statement at his SEC Media Days press conference in July has stuck with me.

“I really, really like our football team going into 2024,” Beamer said. “Most of you don’t. That’s okay. When you guys do your picks on Thursday, we will be picked 14th, 15th or 16th, I am sure. We have a lot of young talent on this team with veteran leadership too.”

Safe to say, Beamer, to this point has been vindicated. As I mentioned earlier, South Carolina is some poor luck from being 4-0. The Gamecocks destroyed Kentucky in Lexington in their SEC opener. They fell to LSU, 36-33, in a game that saw them lose their starting quarterback in the first half and had a game-deciding pick six nullified by a questionable horse-collar tackle call. I am not sure how anyone could’ve watched the LSU-South Carolina game three weeks ago and determined LSU was a better football team that day. The Gamecocks boast a fierce defensive line, a veteran running back and a talented young quarterback. Williams-Brice Stadium will be a raucous atmosphere and the home team will be ready and rested off of a bye week.

Will Sellers play?

South Carolina’s offense is led by a redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers. He was a 3-star prospect who signed with the Gamecocks in their 2023 class. After Oklahoma transfer and former 5-star prospect Spencer Rattler departed the program (drafted by the Saints), South Carolina went hunting for an established starting quarterback in the portal and essentially struck out. It landed former Oregon and Auburn quarterback Robbie Ashford. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because, once upon a time, Ashford committed to Matt Luke’s Ole Miss program in June of 2019. The dog-pee Egg Bowl ensued that fall, which led to the firing of Luke and, eventually, Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead. Moorhead then took the offensive coordinator position at Oregon and convinced Ashford to go with him. Ashford started a game in Oxford as Auburn’s quarterback in 2022 during the final weeks of Bryan Harsin’s doomed tenure as the Tigers’ head coach. He’s a gifted athlete and a dangerous runner, but is limited in his ability to throw the football.

Sellers, to this point in his career, is not much of a different story, but has a much higher ceiling as far as throwing the football. Sellers hasn’t thrown for more than 166 yards in a college game. That’s somewhat misleading. He was 10-14 for 166 yards in the road win over Kentucky. He carried the ball eight times for -11 yards (he was sacked four times). The game against LSU seemed to be Sellers’ coming out party. He was 9-16 for 113 yards through the air and ran 10 times for 88 yards in less than two quarters of football before he suffered an injury shortly before halftime. South Carolina was forced to play Ashford for the second half. It lost 36-33 and threw just four passes in the second half. The Gamecocks got screwed by officiating and should’ve won the game anyway.

On paper, the Gamecocks’ offense has not been much different with Ashford versus Sellers, but I think that is deceiving due to a small sample size. South Carolina is much better with Sellers at quarterback. He’s supposedly practiced all week and was listed as probable on the initial injury report. It would be a stunning development if he didn’t play. That will make things more challenging for the Ole Miss defense.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

The rest of the Gamecock offense is pedestrian

South Carolina lacks a bonafide No. 1 receiver. Its best candidate to be that now plays for Ole Miss: Juice Wells. I suppose that is a storyline in its own right. Wells did not exactly leave South Carolina on good terms. Wells missed most of the 2023 season due to a broken foot. He seemingly expressed his desire to remain with the Gamecocks for 2024, but ultimately ended up at Ole Miss. Surely, it wasn’t due to tampering, right?? Point being, the environment on Saturday was already going to be hostile. The Wells subplot will only add to that. The ever-chatty Beamer was asked this week what he thought of when the name “Juice Wells” was mentioned. He answered “good football player,” and left it at that.

The rest of the South Carolina offense has been pretty pedestrian. The Gamecocks’ running game has benefitted from the addition of Arkansas transfer Raheim ‘Rocket’ Sanders, and will be much more potent in the ground game than Kentucky, but are still not an overly dynamic running game.

I would venture to say that South Carolina’s offense is still an unfinished product due to Sellers missing the LSU game. I am not totally sure what to expect from the Gamecocks on offense. The Ole Miss defense was fine against Kentucky, though the secondary let the Rebels down. Sellers is a great runner and the Gamecocks have a veteran running back. If South Carolina is able to pass the football with any sort of consistency, then it will clearly mean the Ole Miss secondary is a gigantic issue. I cannot see a scenario where the Gamecocks run all over the Rebels — but then again, I never saw a path to Kentucky beating Ole Miss last week, so what do I know — but if Ole Miss loses this game, in all likelihood, it is because the secondary did not hold up against a bunch of average receivers and allowed Sellers to run wild out of structure.

South Carolina’s defensive line is mean

The Gamecocks boast arguably the best defensive line in college football. Beamer and his staff signed true freshman 5-star Dylan Stewart, who has immediately become a game wrecker in the SEC. The Gamecocks also added Georgia Tech transfer Kyle Kennard, who, to put it mildly, has become a remarkable Robin to Stewart’s Batman.

This should be especially troubling for Ole Miss given the fact that left tackle Jayden Williams, who was a late scratch last week, has been ruled as doubtful to play this Saturday. For context, I’ve been told that Williams’ injury is more serious than initially thought. I was told on Monday evening that Williams would not play again for Ole Miss this year. I was updated on Thursday that there is a chance that he returns at some point before the end of the season. Point being, he will not play on Saturday, and an offensive line that was down three starters already entering last week will be without its left tackle. To use a phrase I was known to use often in my radio days: that is a suboptimal scenario for the Rebels.

Ole Miss has been the victim of poor injury luck up front. It needs to get healthy on the offensive line quickly. Saturday is going to be a struggle for this group as it faces arguably the best defensive line in the conference.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Let’s take a look at five things I will be thinking about at kickoff on Saturday

1. Will Ulysses Bentley be freed?

Yes, I am going to continue to beat this dead horse, mostly out of disbelief. Is Ole Miss really going to try to go through an SEC schedule with just Henry Parrish and Matt Jones at running back? We’ve been told repeatedly that Bentley is simply the third string running back right now. Kiffin said “it is what it is” on Monday. This is mind boggling to me. Bentley is somehow not as good as Jones, but was better than Jones last year. He doesn’t pass block (which Ole Miss doesn’t ask its running backs to do very often) but was good enough to pass block for 15-20 snaps a game last year? He’s not explosive enough, but yet is explosive enough to return kicks. Even if the coaching staff truly believed this (I don’t think they do), what do they have to lose at this point? The running game was terrible last week. What harm would it do to play Bentley and/or Rashad Amos? Why is 2024 the year it was decided that using three running backs is just not an option?

Nothing about this makes any sense, and I remain flabbergasted at the stubbornness of the coaching staff. I am sure there is a lot more to the story that I do not know, but absent an injury or Bentley committing a felony, I do not understand what Ole Miss has to lose from playing him.

3. Offensive line health

Rinse, repeat. Ole Miss needs to get healthy on the offensive line. The Rebels were down three starters last week when they faced a fierce Kentucky defensive line. The opposition doesn’t get any easier this week. It’s not just that Ole Miss was down three starters, it’s who those starters are: Williams, Warren and James. Those are three of the four most veteran, experienced linemen on the team who have taken a TON of snaps at Ole Miss. Beyond the injuries, another reason this unit has struggled to find cohesion is partly due to the fact that the guys that are available to play are the newcomers like Diego Pounds, Julius Buelow and Nate Kalepo. It’s no one’s fault. It’s simply bad luck. But the Rebels desperately need a clean bill of health up front.

James is listed as questionable on Ole Miss’ injury report. Warren, who dressed but did not play last week, isn’t even on the report. I suppose that’s a good thing? If those two play on Saturday, it will be significantly great news for the Rebels.

3. The secondary

Again, same story, different day. This unit grabs too much. It seems to be slightly out of position too often. Trey Washington spoke last week about this group needing to do a better job reacting to the route combinations opposing offenses throw at them. Even if you think last week’s game was poorly officiated, this is now a three week sample size of the secondary committing too many penalties. Spoiler alert: They’re not going to be officiated any differently. If anything, opponents are going to ask the officials to watch this group closely.

South Carolina’s passing game has been anything but dynamic. The Gamecocks lack a bonafide No. 1 receiver. If they have success throwing the football on Saturday, Ole Miss is likely not going to win the football game.

4. Caden Davis

Davis was pretty good for Ole Miss last year. He made 15 of 20 field goal attempts and was 14-17 inside 50 yards. Saturday’s miss against Kentucky to seal the game might be the worst kick he’s made in an Ole Miss uniform.

Davis has a massive leg and has shown great range. If you’ll remember, Kiffin trusted Davis enough to let him attempt (and make) a 56-yard field goal to ice the game at Tulane last year. Does Kiffin’s confidence level in Davis waver at all last week? Is he more aggressive on 4th down in plus territory if the alternative to going for it is a 50-55 yard field goal? Those are the types of decisions and plays that can swing games. Kiffin is already one of the most aggressive coaches when confronting fourth down decisions. I am curious to see if he becomes even more aggressive after last week.

5. Body language

I generally find analyzing body language through a television screen to be a pretty stupid exercise, but I am curious to see if Ole Miss shows that it is a pissed off football team last week. Do the Rebels play with an edge? There are certain moments in certain games in which you can sort of just tell a team is locked in and out for blood. Ole Miss is a better football team than Kentucky, but lost due to its own poor play. If there was ever a time to be angry and motivated to right the ship and make a statement, It’s this week. The Rebels’ season hangs in the balance.

If things don’t go according to script early in the game, if Ole Miss falls behind early, is this team resilient enough to overcome that? Or will it be shell shocked, mope around and allow things to unravel. This group talks often about culture and resiliency. The Rebels were a resilient group last year. Pushed to the brink, the 2023 team most always countered by becoming the best version of itself. Is this team that tough? We’re going to find out on Saturday.

Thanks for reading. We’ll have postgame analysis on Sunday.

Ole Miss lost to Kentucky, 20-17, in its SEC opener on Saturday. On the surface, it was a shocking defeat that deflated the high expectations of what is an imperfect team.

The anatomy of the game and how it played out showed how Kentucky exposed the most glaring flaws the Rebels possess. These were familiar weaknesses, too. The only unknown was their severity and how much of an impact those flaws have on this team’s chances of reaching the college football playoff.

What were those flaws? How did Kentucky expose them? How fixable are these issues for a team with everything still left to play for? Let’s take a look.

Ole Miss did not run the ball with any consistency

Ole Miss ran the football 29 times for 92 yards at a clip of 3.2 yards per rush. The offense rushed just 12 times for 32 yards in a first half that culminated with the Rebels trailing 10-7.

The running game is officially a problem for Ole Miss. It had looked disjointed and lacked explosiveness at various points during the non-conference slate, but with the offensive line plagued by injuries, the Rebels destroying their opponents while only using two of (at least) three capable running backs on the roster, it was difficult to tell how real the issue was. I think we have that answer now.

Of the 29 total carries, Henry Parrish had 13, Jaxson Dart had nine (this excludes four sacks he took) and Matt Jones had two. Parrish had four rushing attempts in the first half that went for 1, 2, 3 and 2 yards respectively. Kentucky has a stout defensive line anchored by future first round pick Deone Walker. The Wildcats’ defense is designed to prevent the run on the interior and limit explosive plays on the back end in the secondary. They accomplished both quite well.

The Rebels, of course, scored on the game’s opening drive with ease. There isn’t a surer bet than Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. scoring on script to open a game. All five plays on that initial drive that got the Rebels down one yard line were pass plays. Parrish capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown rush. After that, it was a struggle for the offense.

To me, it seemed like once Ole Miss realized it wasn’t having much success running the football, the offense was left scrambling as far as a coherent plan to move the football down the field. The Rebels only had three more first half possessions after their initial scoring drive and generated just three more first downs.

An effective (and ideally explosive) running game is a crucial component to Kiffin’s offense. In the Kiffin era, Ole Miss is 37-12 when rushing for at least 100 yards and 26-5 when rushing for 200 or more. When rushing for 100 yards or fewer? 1-4. Ole Miss must run the football well for its offense to be effective.

The running back personnel, and lack of concern with the run game struggles, is odd

As has been discussed repeatedly, the running back rotation makes little sense. Through five games, Ole Miss has elected to use Henry Parrish Jr. and Matt Jones as its only two running backs. Miami (OH) transfer Rashad Amos is apparently a non-factor and the staff simply will not play Ulysses Bentley IV. The refusal to play Bentley is puzzling. He’s not injured. He's played on special teams and returned kicks on Saturday. Even when Parrish suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury in the second half, the staff chose to play a compromised Parrish and Jones over Bentley.

Parrish arrived at Ole Miss in 2020 and was recruited by then running backs coach Kevin Smith. After the 2021 season, Smith left to become the running backs coach at Miami. Parrish transferred to Miami that same offseason. Smith rejoined the Ole Miss staff in the same role in 2023. Parrish transferred back to Ole Miss last winter. Jones joined the program as a walk-on in 2021 and has cracked the rotation this year.

Kiffin’s been asked repeatedly why Bentley doesn’t play. Each time he’s basically said that Bentley has done nothing wrong and that the other two guys are simply ahead of him. Last year, Bentley rushed 95 times for 540 yards and four touchdowns at a clip of 5.7 yards per rush. He was a seamless compliment to the Rebels’ feature back Quinshon Judkins. He added an explosive burst to the running game and was a home run threat. This year, he cannot get onto the field. Kiffin was asked about Bentley again on Monday.

“It’s a fair question. I get asked that every week,” Kiffin said. “Those other guys are doing well. They ran well. They protected well, so it’s nothing against Bentley. It just is how it is. I can’t predict how the future will go.”

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Ole Miss ran for fewer than 100 yards for just the fifth time under Kiffin in Saturday’s loss. As previously mentioned, the Rebels are 1-4 win this happens. The one win? Last year’s 37-20 road victory over a ranked Tulane team. That win came on the heels of rushing for only 143 yards in a 73-7 win over Mercer in week one. Kiffin was asked after the Tulane win about the early-season running game struggles.

"Highly concerned," Kiffin said "That’s very unusual for us, not just here, but anywhere. It’s just been a long (time), this job, FAU, Alabama, I don’t remember the inability to run the ball at all. They did a great job, but obviously that has a lot to do with us and that’s everybody. That’s perimeter blocking, linemen execution, running back footwork, everything. Running takes everyone to have a good running game. We definitely look to improve there. That’s a major issue and one I don’t think we would’ve guessed."

Kiffin doesn’t seem as concerned this year. Maybe that’s because the Rebels are down three offensive linemen due to injuries. Maybe it’s because he truly is that confident in the two running backs that currently play. Maybe it’s because a 12-team playoff allows for more margin for error. Maybe he’s incredibly concerned and simply hasn’t been asked a question that prompted him to express it. Any of those things can be true. But with the current state of the running game, its lack of explosiveness and how it looked in Saturday’s SEC opener, it is incredibly puzzling why a guy who has proven to be an explosive back at the SEC level somehow is no longer good enough to warrant a single carry. Bentley’s been injury-prone throughout his career and has been utilized as a change-of-pace option. If you want to argue that he’s not an every down back, that’s perfectly logical. What seems illogical is how he got 94 carries on an 11-win team a year ago and now is not good enough to be on the field at all.

What is clear is that Ole Miss can ill-afford to have more rushing outputs like it had against Kentucky. It greatly handicapped what should be an explosive offense. The Rebels will get healthier on the offensive line. I suppose the running back personnel “is what it is,” at this point. Is a clean bill of health on the offensive line and the same two running backs carrying the ball enough to fix the problems with the rushing attack? Who knows. Will Ole Miss try something different and use Bentley? It seems like it’s worth a shot. What is there to lose?

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

Kentucky preyed on Ole Miss’ secondary

For the third consecutive week, Ole Miss committed too many penalties in the secondary. The Rebels were penalized eight times in the game. All of those came in the first half. Five of those were defensive penalties, three of which were either defensive holding or pass interference in the secondary. All three came on third down, and two of those came on Kentucky’s final drive of the first half that led to a touchdown and the Wildcats taking a 10-7 lead into the break.

I didn’t think this was a well-officiated game. I didn’t necessarily agree with at least one of the three calls against the secondary. But we now have a three-week sample size of this. The secondary simply grabs too much, and it proved to be costly for the Rebels. Kentucky only scored two touchdowns in this game and a pair of penalties in the secondary gift-wrapped the Wildcats’ first touchdown.

“It’s very chaotic out there and you’re playing fast,” safety Trey Washington said. “It’s not like any defensive back is trying to hold. We’ve got to find ways to practice and get better at that, and we will do that.”

Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff went 18-28 for 243 yards and a touchdown. It was a season-high in passing yards for the Georgia transfer quarterback. In Kentucky’s two other SEC games against Georgia and South Carolina, Vandagriff completed 51 percent of his passes against the Bulldogs and 30 percent against the Gamecocks. He completed 64 percent of his throws against the Rebels. Vandagriff had a passer rating of 35.2 against South Carolina and 87.3 against Georgia. His passer rating in the win over Ole Miss was 149.0. The Rebels sacked Vandagriff a season-high five times, too.

“We have to do a better job of relating to the routes that they get,” Washington said. “They did a good job of making plays. We have to do a better job of getting off the field on third down and fourth down.”

Kentucky’s passing attack was hardly dynamic, but it was good enough to deliver a win. Ole Miss was without safety Louis Moore, but otherwise had a mostly healthy secondary.

The game’s most consequential play came on a 4th & 7 for Kentucky on its own 20-yard-line with four minutes remaining in the game. Two weeks removed from Kentucky coach Mark Stoops receiving criticism for punting late in the fourth quarter down one point to top-ranked Georgia, he decided to take a substantial risk and go for it. Kiffin, like myself and I am sure many of you, seemed legitimately stunned Kentucky actually snapped the ball. With Trey Amos locked onto Kentucky’s best receiver, Dane Key, on the near side of the field, the Wildcats threw a deep ball to a speedy Barrion Brown, who beat Isiah Hamilton, caught the football and raced for a 63-yard game that set up the game-winning touchdown.

"We ran pressure against man and he made a great throw,” Kiffin said. “I told (Stoops) after the game, great job. He went out of character. The guy made a great throw and they made a great catch and I commend them.”

Kentucky has a decent SEC-caliber receiving corps. Ole Miss will face tougher passing attacks, like LSU in two weeks. The Rebels are simply going to have to commit fewer penalties in the secondary and sure things up on the back end of their defense. Otherwise, it’s going to play a role in costing them another game or multiple games.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

A banged up offensive line was overwhelmed

This overlaps a bit with the struggles in the running game. The offensive line, down three potential starters, was overwhelmed against Kentucky’s defensive front. Left tackle Jayden Williams was a late scratch. Caleb Warren has yet to play due to injury and Jeremy James has not played since the season opener with an injury. No matter how much depth Ole Miss thought it had on the offensive line entering the season, being down a trio of starters is a really tough task for any team to overcome. It didn’t help that the opponent has one of the best defensive lines in the conference.

“I said it all week so I am not just saying it now. That guy (Deone Walker) is a phenomenal, elite player and they have long, elite defensive players,” Kiffin said. “They added a mike (linebacker) from Georgia that has made a total difference from a mentality standpoint and that defense hasn’t given up 300 yards all year. Georgia couldn’t do anything against them at times. They are going to give people problems and we certainly did not help ourselves.”

Ole Miss struggled to run the football with any effectiveness, outside of one drive on its first possession of the second half, and Jaxson Dart was sacked a season-high four times.

We knew the injuries to the offensive line early in the season were a major concern for Ole Miss. Perhaps it was underestimated just how significant of an issue it would be against the Wildcats. Williams being a late scratch on Saturday only enhanced the unit’s struggles.

Ole Miss will get healthier up front over the next couple of weeks. But it’s tough to work guys back from injury in the middle of the season, (Gerquan Scott is an example of that), particularly in the middle of conference play. And the road doesn’t get any easier with South Carolina looming. The Gamecocks have generated 14 sacks in four games and have two of the best edge guys in the conference, including freshman sensation Dylan Stewart. Such is life in the SEC.

I am no savant when it comes to offensive line play and am not going to sit here and tell you the pass protection was awful or that it was fine. I truly don’t know. Four sacks allowed doesn’t seem great. I also wondered how it affected Dart’s ability to read the field. The discrepancy in targets among Ole Miss pass catchers was odd. Dart went 18-27 for 261 yards and a touchdown. Of the 27 pass attempts, 15 of those targets were to Tre Harris, who caught 11 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown. No other receiver or tight end was targeted more than twice. Parrish (a running back) was second with five targets. Juice Wells didn’t have a catch and was targeted just twice. Jordan Watkins was not targeted. Caden Prieskorn’s only catch and target came on the fourth-down heave late in the fourth quarter to keep Ole Miss alive.

I can’t exactly tell you why this is the case. I can’t imagine it was by design. Kentucky was without its top corner, Maxwell Hairston, due to an injury. Whether it was the pass rush or a great coverage scheme, Kentucky stifled what was touted as an explosive passing offense for Ole Miss.

Saturday was just the fifth time under Kiffin that the Rebels have scored fewer than 20 points. They are 1-4 in those games.

All is not yet lost

The predominant issues that plagued Ole Miss in this loss were all plainly visible before this game. The offensive line injuries were an obvious concern. The puzzling running back rotation and lack of explosiveness in the running game were discussed for the last couple of weeks. The penalties in the secondary were a clear issue in the previous two games. Kentucky exploited all of these, was effective and methodical on offense and played a great game of ‘keep away’ from the Ole Miss offense. All of that cobbled together produced a disappointing defeat for the Rebels.

As bad as it was, I don’t think it changed what I think this team can be. Ole Miss’ defensive front is legitimately awesome. It will give the Rebels a chance to win anywhere they go, against anyone they play. I find it very difficult to believe the version of the offense we saw on Saturday is what the offense will be for the rest of the year. Ole Miss had a bad day on offense, from running to blocking, play calling and converting on crucial downs (Rebels were 1-10 on third down), but if there is anyone who has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to offensive production, it’s Kiffin and Weis. It seems unfathomable that with Dart at quarterback and the plethora of pass-catching weapons this group boasts, that the offense will struggle regularly like it did on Saturday.

The issues are mostly fixable.

• Ole Miss must fix its running game. I think it can do that.

• Ole Miss must get healthier on the offensive line. Obviously, that is out of the Rebels' control,  but it seems likely that will happen sooner rather than later.

• Ole Miss must find a way to get its weapons the football in the passing game. I think it can definitely do that.

• Ole Miss must be better in the secondary. While this is the only area in which I am not sold on the overall talent level, it can certainly find a way to be penalized less.

Saturday’s loss was a gut punch for the Rebels. They’ve eliminated much of their margin for error as far as making the college football playoff. This team’s character and fortitude will be tested over the next several weeks. Back-to-back road tests loom against South Carolina and LSU. Those are likely now must-wine games if the Rebels hope to have a realistic shot at the playoff entering the month of November.

“You can either quit and stay down, or you can get up. You can’t blink. We have a lot more opportunities. One game isn’t going to define the whole year,” Dart said after Saturday’s loss.

Adversity has arrived. How does a veteran team that’s repeatedly preached about culture, toughness and resilience, respond to its arrival?

“We’ve put in a lot of time and a lot of effort through the offseason,” Dart said. “We have a lot of experience on our team. We understand that we have to make the most of the rest of our opportunities.”

Ole Miss opens conference play on Saturday against Kentucky. The Wildcats enter the game 0-2 in conference play, mostly due to a stagnant offense not supporting a stout defense.

Kentucky will present Ole Miss challenges in multiple areas for the first time this season, though the Rebels should still win this game comfortably. Here are five things I will be thinking about at kickoff and throughout the game tomorrow.

1. Can Ole Miss run the football consistently?

A simple idea but certainly a relevant one for this game. Kentucky’s interior defensive line is talented and physically imposing. Defensive tackle Deone Walker, who is listed at 6-foot-6, 345 lbs., is a future first round draft pick. Keshawn Silver flanks beside him at 6-foot-4, 336 lbs. If you read any coverage of Kentucky from its local beat, you’ll quickly learn that Mark Stoops and his staff designed this defense to stop opponents from running the football on the interior while eliminating explosive plays on the back end.

While the raw yardage numbers have been good, Ole Miss’ running game hasn’t been as consistent or explosive as previous Lane Kiffin teams. This will be a tremendous challenge for the offensive line, as well as Henry Parrish and Matt Jones. Is this the week Ulysses Bentley is finally set free? Does Ole Miss run more on the outside? If the Rebels don’t have success running the football early in the game, how long do they stick with it and how does that change the offense? I am curious to see how this goes as this running game will face its first formidable test of the year.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

2. Does the secondary hold up against a pair of gifted receivers?

Kentucky has two good receivers in Dane Key and Barrion Brown and will provide the toughest test the secondary has faced this year. Brown is an explosive player who has made a name as a return specialist and has been up-and-down as a receiver. Brown has elite speed. Kentucky’s offense, ideally, wants to be aggressive throwing the football down the field. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff’s numbers to this point wouldn’t necessarily suggest that. He’s gone 46-79 for 550 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions through four games (really 3.5 games as the season opener with USM was called at halftime due to weather). Kentucky’s issues in the passing game have stemmed from its inability to protect Vandagriff coupled with his tendency to hold onto the football too long. In the two SEC games against South Carolina and Georgia, Vandagriff has completed just 44 percent of his passes.

Kentucky is aggressive with pre-snap motion and uses play action on nearly 40 percent of its passing snaps. While the Wildcats passing game hasn’t been explosive to this point, it will require the Ole Miss secondary to be sound in its assignments and communication. Kentucky is perfectly capable of punishing the Rebels for communication breakdowns. Vandagriff is also a willing and capable runner who has generated a large chunk of Kentucky’s offensive production on broken plays.

Ole Miss has rotated a lot of guys at safety and will likely be without Louis Moore due to injury. If the Rebels can thwart the Kentucky passing game from gaining steam, I don’t think the Wildcats are capable of keeping pace with the Ole Miss offense.

3. Conversely, just how explosive is this Ole Miss passing game?

Ole Miss is littered with great pass-catching options and present match-up problems with a number of different targets. This should be a pretty good measuring stick for how explosive the receiving corps is. Kentucky has allowed just 142 yards passing per game this year and held both Georgia and South Carolina under 170 yards passing. Defensive back Maxwell Hairston is a preseason first-team All-SEC corner. He’s listed as questionable after suffering an injury in last week’s win over Ohio. His health will be a pretty significant factor in all of this.

It’s almost a given that a Lane Kiffin offense will consistently generate open receivers. Look what he did with the pedestrian 2021 and 2022 receiving corps. But if Kentucky is able to prevent Ole Miss from generating chunk plays in the deep passing game, how does that change the Rebels’ approach offensively, if at all? I actually believe Ole Miss is so good in the passing game with all of its options to catch the football, that I would lean toward the passing game being the reason Ole Miss wins the game comfortably. Kentucky is playing more man coverage than it has in the past under stoops. I am curious to see what some of the receiver-cornerback battles look like.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

4. Does Ole Miss make Kentucky one-dimensional?

Kentucky’s projected starting running back, Chip Trayanum, has yet to play this season due to injury and the Wildcats’ running game has seemingly taken a hit because of it. Kentucky is averaging 165 rush yards per game. In its two SEC contests, the Wildcats have rushed for 139 and 170 yards respectively, but at just 3.0 and 3.8 yards per rush. Kentucky ran the football 46 times against South Carolina and 45 times against Georgia.

It appears unlikely that Ole Miss will be able to get Kentucky to stop attempting to run the football, but if the Rebels hold the Wildcats to somewhere in the neighborhood of that three yards per rush neighborhood, it will put immense pressure on Vandagriff and an offensive line that has struggled to pass protect. If Kentucky doesn’t generate explosive plays from its running game, I struggle to see how it will be able to score enough to keep up with the Rebels.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

5. Short-yardage situations

At risk of harping on this to the point of beating a dead horse, I am interested to see how short-yardage situations affect this game, particularly running the football. Ole Miss has struggled to convert third and fourth down short yardage scenarios with its running backs (against below average defenses, too) and has required J.J. Pegues’ services to convert — which is a perfectly viable strategy. But Kentucky will be an entirely different animal in terms of opposition.

Kiffin is one of the most aggressive coaches in college football and goes for it on fourth down at a high clip. Kentucky’s formidable defensive front will test Ole Miss’ offensive line and its ability to get tough yards in important situations. If Kentucky generates a fourth down stop or two and gives its pedestrian offense a short field, how does that impact the game?

If Kentucky continues to struggle on offense, will that change how Kiffin plays this game from a decision-making standpoint? We’ve seen him do that before. Last year’s Egg Bowl comes to mind. It seemed like he knew Mississippi State wasn’t going to score on offense, so the Rebels went into a metaphorical shell, punted often on fourth down and let its defense win the game.

Fourth down strategy and how aggressive Kiffin is with it, and Ole Miss’ ability to convert in short-yardage situations will be something I am interested in as the game progresses.

Thanks for reading. We will have more coverage on Sunday. 

Ole Miss opens conference play this week. Today, we’ll take a look at Kentucky and examine Ole Miss’ first ever official injury report. But first, I had a few thoughts on a pair of former Ole Miss coaches.

Hugh Freeze is being Hugh Freeze, again

Hugh Freeze has consistently been in the news the last couple of weeks for the wrong reasons. Auburn has sputtered to a 2-2 start to the season with home losses to a Cal team with low expectations and an Arkansas squad with a head coach perceived to be a lame duck.

Auburn has scored just 14 points in each of the two losses. Freeze is in control of the Tigers’ offense. His willingness to admit that fact seems to differ based on the most recent game’s outcome. Auburn’s offense was stagnant in Freeze’s first season and was seemingly handicapped by below average quarterback play led by Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne. Freeze and his staff were either unwilling or unable to go find a better quarterback in the offseason in the transfer portal. Ultimately, Freeze chose to stick with Thorne. The results have again been underwhelming. Freeze benched Thorne after the Cal loss in favor of freshman Hank Brown. Brown looked fine against a lowly New Mexico team, but was so bad in the loss to Arkansas, Freeze benched him and went back to Thorne.

Brown and Thorne have combined to throw eight interceptions in four games. Auburn’s offense is a rudderless ship. Who is at fault for this? Apparently that’s a topic for discussion. Asked about play calling after the Cal loss, Freeze said that only one or two play calls could have been better and the rest was poor execution. Woof. Not exactly sticking up for your players.

After the loss to Arkansas, Freeze was asked how the offense can improve. He answered like this: “I know that there’s people open and I know that we’re running the football,” Freeze said. “We’ve got to find a guy that won’t throw it to the other team and we’ve got to find running backs that hold on to it. ... The scheme is what most everybody in the country is running, some sort of. But you’ve got to have a good quarterback in whatever system you’re going to choose.”

I imagine Brown and Thorne are still peeling chunks of rubber off their backs from the tires of the bus Freeze threw them under. If that wasn’t bad enough, Freeze, an always gracious loser, cobbled together this dynamite quote on his weekly coach’s show: “I mean, no offense to Arkansas. I love Sam Pittman, I hope he wins the rest of his games but the hard truth is if we play them nine more times, we beat them nine times.”

The surefire sign of a self-aware person is one who routinely says things like “the facts are..” or “the truth is..” followed by a completely subjective opinion that borders on delusion.

The reason Freeze is the current target of heightened criticism isn’t just because Auburn has lost twice at home in four games. It’s due to his inability to ever take blame for failure. Are the things he’s said somewhat true? Probably, but he’s paid handsomely to accept responsibility for the results of Auburn’s football program and he’s unwilling to do that. Is anyone noticing a pattern yet?

As I watched it all unfold, for some reason I began to think of Matt Luke — a man who was responsible for sifting through the wreckage of the first SEC program Freeze torpedoed and then abandoned. On July 20th 2017, Freeze resigned as the head football coach at Ole Miss after it was discovered he dialed a Tampa-area escort service on a university-issued cell phone. A program already teetering on the brink of implosion on the heels of a 5-7 season and a five-year long NCAA investigation creeping toward its peak. In February of 2017, Ole Miss received a second notice of allegations from the NCAA — this one centered around the football program. Ole Miss self-imposed a bowl ban for that season shortly after. Now, thanks to a weakness for hookers, the man responsible for the mess wouldn’t be around for the implosion or the clean-up.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

Luke, an Ole Miss alum, stepped up to the plate as the interim head coach for the 2017 season. A lifelong Rebels fan and former player, I imagine Luke viewed this as his dream job come early, despite the dire state of the program and significant sanctions looming. Most of you know the rest of the story. He got the full-time job after an Egg Bowl win, struggled to a 5-7 record in 2018 and a 4-8 mark in 2019 and was fired. Luke tried to tackle the nearly impossible challenge of cleaning up a mess he did not make.

I covered the Luke era at Ole Miss. One thing I always admired about him is the grace that he handled the situation with. There were not many memorable moments or high points during his tenure. But Luke always spoke to the media. He gave direct answers to difficult questions. He never once blamed the players. In 2018, he never blamed the two coordinators he didn’t hire. He never blamed the postseason ban or scholarship restrictions he was required to adhere to while attempting to recruit his way out of the mess.

“For us to start out where we did and end up in the top 25, it’s a credit to our staff and the job they did,” Luke said at his 2018 signing day press conference. “We just focused on the positives and went out and sold Ole Miss. Other people can say yes or no that it didn’t or did affect things, but we are just excited about the kids we have.”

In contrast, I remember what Freeze said at his signing day press conference in 2017 as the arrival of the second notice of allegations loomed.

“We’ve suffered penalties,” Freeze said at Ole Miss’ annual NSD press conference, “This recruiting class: it was a penalty. To be under the cloud we’re under.”

Perpetually a victim, he went on to complain about the negative recruiting other schools took part in and vowed to never forget it.

If you had no context other than those two quotes, you’d probably wonder which man was responsible for putting the program in such a bad spot.

I honestly can’t ever recall a single instance of Luke getting snappy or mildly upset at any reporter or question he was asked.

On the night Elijah Moore’s dog pee celebration cost Ole Miss the 2019 Egg Bowl, and ultimately cost Luke his job, he opened the presser by thanking his seniors and lamenting how badly he felt that their career ended this way. He called Moore a good kid who got caught up in the moment and that it wasn’t a reflection of who Moore is as a person. He spoke about his eagerness to right the ship and build toward next year. Luke was fired three days later.

The point of this segment is not to arbitrate whether or not Luke got a fair shake at Ole Miss. It’s not to debate the value of Luke’s work during a trying time for the program. It’s not to insinuate that Freeze harmed Luke’s career. Luke was paid handsomely for his services. It’s to point out the differences in how the two men conducted themselves while at Ole Miss. Freeze never had the option of sticking around for the implosion and rebuild due to his own actions. But the contrast in leadership and accountability (or lack thereof) displayed by the two while in charge of the program is pretty eye-opening to think about.

I am not sure what occupation that you, the reader, currently hold. But imagine your boss actively destroying that company or department as he blamed anyone other than himself during the process, you take over for him with significantly fewer resources, get fired for imminent failure, and look up four years later and your disgraced boss has a better job than you elsewhere — congrats on the promotion though!

I am not sure why Freeze’s comments made me think of Luke. Maybe it reminded me of the flaws that doomed him at Ole Miss, and left me wondering if he’ll create a similar mess on the Plains that someone else will have to clean up.

Freeze appears to have learned next to nothing from his time at Ole Miss. I don’t how his time at Auburn will turn out. But I have to wonder if he’s shortening his own leash by refusing to take accountability for anything, throwing players and staff under the bus, and repeatedly embarrassing the program’s brand. I guess we will soon find out.

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

A look at Kentucky

SEC play begins for Ole Miss on Saturday with a Kentucky team that enters 2-2 (0-2). Here are 10 things I find interesting about Kentucky.

1. Kentucky’s season got off to an odd start. Its season opener against Southern Miss was shortened two quarters due to weather. I have to imagine this was a suboptimal scenario for a Wildcats offense looking to break in a new quarterback in Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff.

2. Vandagriff is a former 4-star prospect who lost a quarterback battle last year to current Georgia starter Carson Beck and transferred to Kentucky last winter. Vandagriff has not been good in the two SEC games, but was very effective in wins over Southern Miss and Ohio. He’s completed nearly 70 percent of his throws in the two victories and less than 45 percent of his passes in the two defeats. In both SEC games, he was reluctant to throw the football down the field.

3. Kentucky is on its fourth offensive coordinator in as many years. Bush Hamdan took the job last winter after previously serving as the offensive coordinator at Boise State. His offense frequently utilizes play action and screens. Mark Stoops has consistently hired offensive coordinators with NFL experience. It has yet to work well, outside of one year with Will Levis (during Liam Cohen’s first stint as OC).

4. Kentucky has a stout defense led by its defensive line that has been particularly effective stopping the run. Defensive tackle Deone Walker is a future pro, stands at 6-foot-6, 345 lbs, and fortifies what is a physically imposing interior defensive line. The Wildcats are allowing just 74 yards per game on the ground and 2.7 yards per rush.

5. Barrion Brown is an electric return specialist who Ole Miss would be wise to avoid kicking to. Kentucky desperately needs more consistency from Brown as a receiver, however.

6. Dane Key is Kentucky’s best receiver and will be a challenge for this Ole Miss defense. He’s caught 12 passes for 204 yards. The Wildcats’ biggest issue to this point has been consistently getting him the football.

7. Vandagriff has been sacked seven times this season. Six of those sacks came in the two SEC losses. The offensive line has struggled to consistently protect him and allow him to get the football to the likes of Key and Brown, among others.

8. Kentucky is converting 45.8 percent of its third down attempts. The Ole Miss defense has only allowed opponents to convert 21.8 percent of the time. Obviously, the differences in competition through four games must be factored into that.

9. Ohio State transfer running back Chip Trayanum was cleared to practice this week but was listed as doubtful on Kentucky’s initial injury report released on Wednesday. Trayanum has yet to play this year due to injury but was a major transfer pick-up for the Wildcats in the offseason.

10. Kentucky held both South Carolina and Georgia to under 170 yards of passing offense.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Ole Miss releases first ever injury report

Shortly before the start of the 2024 season, the SEC announced that it would mandate that its programs put out an injury report prior to all conference games. This followed a measure implemented by the Big Ten last year.

For decades, college football coaches treated injury updates like government secrets. The entire practice was as paranoid as it was moronic. As if the other team’s coaching staffs, who have all spent decades in the sport and likely know others on the opposing staff, can’t get a sense as to whether a player is going to suit up that week or not. But in some sense, I also understood it: if no one else is divulging injuries, why would you be the only program in the league to do it?

With sports gambling becoming as prominent as it currently is and the entire sport of college football shifting more toward an NFL-like model, some version of a mandated injury report was inevitable. For someone who now opines at distance and doesn’t cover the team day-to-day anymore, I love it. I imagine the beat reporters do too. It eliminates the stupid press conference chess match between coach and reporter, trying to read between the lines of the non-answer the coach gives about the availability of a player or his roster as a whole. Kiffin’s first couple of months in Oxford were my last as a reporter. One of the first things he told us was to never ask about injuries because he wasn’t discussing it. What a drastically different world we live in now than we did in 2020.

Anyway, as to what to make of Ole Miss’ first ever injury report, I am not sure. Jared Ivey being listed as probable is a good sign. Why Kiffin listed the entire offensive line as probable, I have no clue. Maybe they are following some sort of protocol. Maybe it’s his way of being a smartass. He’s made it known that he doesn’t like this new mandate and didn’t find it necessary.

Akelo Stone being listed as ‘doubtful’ is an injury I missed, though I did notice he was out last week. Safety Louis Moore being listed as ‘doubtful’ might not seem like good news, but with the way he was injured last week and how it looked, I figured it might have been serious and that he would be listed as “out” — but then again, what does any of this mean and how significant are these listings? Are there punishments for misrepresenting them like there is in the NFL? I don’t know the answer to any of this. But I suppose Ole Miss’ first injury report ever is history in and of itself.

Thanks for reading. We will have our Friday Five tomorrow.

Ole Miss’ 52-13 win over Georgia Southern felt like the culmination of one chapter and the start of another.

Because of the way the schedule is structured, the Rebels essentially played four preseason games before embarking on an eight-game SEC slate with two bye weeks sprinkled in. For a talented team trying to navigate the toughest league in the sport, it’s an ideal setup. For spectators, it hasn’t exactly made for the most entertaining month, but the schedule structure is no one’s fault. The Wake series was scheduled in 2014. Georgia Southern is typically one of the better Group of Five programs. It’s all simply good fortune or poor fortune, depending on how you look at it.

One thing that is clear is that Ole Miss obliterated its four non-conference opponents. The Rebels won by a combined margin of 160-22. None of the games were ever in question and, for the most part, Ole Miss did a pretty good job of not playing down to its competition and adhering to a standard set by itself. The last two games weren’t perfect by any means. The Rebels committed 11 penalties for 114 yards last week and totaled 11 more on Saturday for 133 yards. That’s something that will get Ole Miss beat in SEC play regardless of talent disparity. I think that’s why the focus has been so inward through four games. The coaching staff has the team focusing on itself more than the opponent to try to highlight how good this team can be if it eliminates self-inflicted errors. Kiffin alluded to exactly that in his postgame press conference on Saturday evening.

“I just told our players ‘you have a chance to be really good.’ I have coached for a while. It’s hard to go on runs like they do. They just shut people down for portions of the game when we aren’t committing penalties,” Kiffin said. “We shut people down on defense, then the offense gets the ball and scores within a minute or two. It feels electric, then we screw ourselves up with self-inflicted things. That’s a good thing. I have been on teams where the opposite was true. You play really disciplined and still struggle to win because you don’t have elite players.

“We have a good thing. We just have to clean things up. If they want to be really special, they can be. There are only so many teams that can be really special and this team is one of them.”

This lengthy quote is representative of how Kiffin has spoken about this team from day one of preseason camp. As I have said before and will repeat again, Kiffin has won a lot of games in his four previous years at Ole Miss. He’s had 10 and 11-win teams. He never spoke about any of them the way he does this one. I don’t think he’d bestow this kind of baseline expectation for this group if he didn’t truly believe. The way he spoke about them taking over games felt like he was almost trying to get his team to realize how uncommon that is and how dominant they can be.

I think that’s why the staff’s messaging to this team through four weeks has resembled a mirror: challenging them to play to a standard despite the opponent and trying to convey that penalties, missed tackles and blown assignments might seem like small things when the score is lopsided, but that when the competition steepens, it will cost them a chance to maximize their potential. The message appears to be resonating, too. Dart’s press conference last week after the win over Wake is evidence of that.

After Saturday's victory, Chris Paul Jr. said the defense was “infuriated” that it finally allowed a touchdown, more than 13 quarters into the season. Dart, though somewhat tongue-in-cheek, said his meaningless interception late in the win was going to “ruin his night.”

Ole Miss isn’t a flawless team, nor is it a perfectly constructed roster. But as Kiffin alluded to, there’s enough elite talent on this team to contend for championships if the Rebels uphold their end of the bargain in terms of what they’re able to control.

The preseason ended on Saturday night. Eight games stand between Ole Miss and the postseason. The competition will stiffen immediately, beginning with a Kentucky team with NFL talent on defense and a pair of explosive receivers on offense. Ole Miss has plenty to improve upon, but the preseason reinforced the belief that there is more than enough talent on this team to contend for championships.

Kiffin discusses fans, program building and game day atmosphere

I was at the game on Saturday. About 10 minutes before kickoff, I gazed around the stadium at a sold-out, record-setting crowd (against a Sun Belt school no less). The fireworks went off as the team ran onto the field. I made a comment to my wife about what a spectacle these games had become and how drastically different this experience was from games I attended as a kid. I went to college during the height of the Hugh Freeze era, and it’s even different than it was for those years. And it’s certainly different than when I covered the Matt Luke era. It feels like a party, but in a good way — not dumb “never lost a party” slogan associated with the school. It feels like everyone is part of an orchestrated production. To some extent, that’s exactly what it is.

Kiffin, who has often been critical of the crowds, praised them after the game.

“The players notice that. Recruits notice that,” Kiffin said. “I have been critical when it hasn’t been full, so I want to make sure I credit them when it is. Our team fed off of that.”

He was asked about how the program got to the point of breaking attendance records against non-power four programs.

“First, It’s having great fans. It’s also having an exciting style of play. So, especially in a non-conference game, if you have one of those slow offenses, the game is not as exciting,” Kiffin said. “I think we are exciting to watch play. That’s why I have challenged our fans to stay longer. I think it’s because it is fun to watch. If you have a good concert, a good singer, good lights and the singer performs well, then people come back.

“Our main objective is to win and get to 1-0 each week. But we have also built this thing with some style. We hoped it would be entertaining and that it would look like this so people want to come be a part of it and that recruits say ‘man, I want to go play there.”

Scenes like Saturday night are built by coaches like Kiffin putting an exciting product on the field. It’s also built by so many involved in the football program and the athletic department taking the time to care for the small details that make it feel like a production, like a show, like a party that people don’t want to leave. It’s remarkable how great of a job everyone involved has done to make it feel like exactly that.

The scene on Saturday was pretty surreal, and it won’t be the last one this season either. Look around the country at games on TV. Look at attendance numbers. It’s more expensive than ever for fans to go to games, buy gear, and now — fund the team’s payroll. This isn’t the norm. Other places are struggling to sell out games. Ole Miss doesn’t have that problem right now. That shouldn’t be taken for granted, because it hasn’t always been this way.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

Let’s look at a few things from Saturday and how it might affect the Rebels going forward.

Offense continues to operate at an elite level

When it’s not hurting itself with penalties, this offense has been unstoppable through four games. Obviously, it’s difficult to gauge how sustainable that is, given the competition Ole Miss has played, but to me, it’s really less about how easy the Rebels have moved the ball down the field against defenses that lack SEC-caliber talent.

“It’s time to kick it into another gear, for all of us,” Dart said. “That’s something we have talked about. It’s time to take it to another level. But at the same time, we are going to enjoy winning. It’s hard to win in college football, and we are having fun doing it.”

It’s more about how in control the group is. This offense has played fast at times and played slow at times. It operates in an incredibly efficient manner. There are hardly any miscues, almost no instances of guys not knowing where to go and how to line up (think 2021 receiving corps as an example of the opposite of this), and it’s being led by a third-year quarterback who has now had the same coach and coordinator for three seasons. A third year starting quarterback with the same coach and coordinator is rare in today’s college football world. It’s amazing what stability can breed.

“On the field, there is a trust level there,” Kiffin said. “We spend a lot of time with him, then we let him go play on Saturdays. We built that trust, and it’s important when the quarterback trusts you too. Go back to Matt Corral when he threw six interceptions at Arkansas. Before I even got to the media (room), I told him that we have to do a better job calling plays and coaching, but I have your back. I trust you. I think that goes a long way.”

The schedule is about to get harder. Kentucky has a better than average SEC defense with future NFL talent a handful of spots. The difficult part of the season has now arrived. The Ole Miss offense is going to be a difficult one to stop, if it can avoid stopping itself.

“We are eating as an offense right now as a whole,” Juice Wells said. “I am very excited. I know we are going to face some adversity, but I am excited to see what we can do. I feel like we can go on a run.”

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Running backs situation remains a mystery

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I still find the running back rotation puzzling. Once again, Ulysses Bentley IV didn’t enter the game until the very end, essentially tallying two carries in mop-up duty as the clock mercifully expired. We’ve wondered whether Bentley’s nursed an injury, wther some other issue has surfaced, or whether the coaching staff simply believes Henry Parrish and Matt Jones are the team’s best two options.

Well, we might have learned a little more about the situation on Saturday night. Dart was asked about Bentley’s diminished role on how Bentley has accepted it.

“I wouldn’t say you would completely embrace that role. You’re still competing every day,” Dart said. “He is an amazing leader on our team. I think it shows the kind of person he is to cheer on his teammates. There are a lot of things behind the scenes that he has been trying to work through. I have a ton of respect for him. Don’t get it twisted. In a few weeks, things could turn around and he could be a star and a guy that takes over the game. That’s what I expect from him. Anytime he is in the game, he is a special player. I think there will be opportunities this year where he comes into the game and excels.”

That was a great answer by Dart. It was also a telling one, particularly the line about Bentley working through things behind the scenes. I am not entirely sure what he meant by that. I have heard enough athletes attempt to be vague to have a decent idea as to whether they’re referring to an injury or not. To me, that did not sound like he was referring to Bentley being injured, but I could be wrong. I suppose what’s important out of this is that he seemingly confirmed that something is up with Bentley. What is it? I have no clue. We may never know. But we can put to rest the idea that the coaching staff simply believes that a combination of Parrish and Jones only is the best option this team has to win.

I refuse to believe that the Rebels will be able to endure an eight-game SEC slate with only those two at running back and have consistent success. The running game has been clunky at times through the non-conference slate against mostly bad defenses. Ole Miss had just 66 yards rushing in the first half on Saturday. Some of that was due to Georgia Southern stacking the box, but the point remains that the running game hasn’t looked quite right at times through four games. It’s been mostly effective but not explosive. Bentley offers an element of explosiveness the other two backs do not.

I guess it remains to be seen as to when the staff is finally willing to turn to Bentley. Dart certainly made it sound like a ‘when, not if,’ type of thing.

Short yardage situations have been a struggle too

This is a minor thing, but I noticed that for the second consecutive week, Ole Miss struggled to convert on third and short. One instance in the first quarter, the Rebels faced a 3rd & 2 from around its own 40. A handoff to Henry Parrish was stopped short. Ole Miss brought in its heavyset packed on fourth down. Georgia Southern jumped offsides before the ball was snapped.

On Ole Miss’ first drive of the third quarter, it faced what was *technically* a 3rd & 1 from the Georgia Southern two yard line. A handoff to Parrish was stopped short of the goal line, but was enough for a first down, setting up 1st & goal at the one yard line. Matt Jones was stopped for no gain on the next play. J.J. Pegues, who came in at tight end on that play, then lined up in the backfield, jumped over the pile and scored a touchdown.

Pegues appears to be the Rebels’ short-yardage plan. I just wonder how sustainable that is, given his value on defense and that he left this game with what appeared to be a shoulder injury before re-entering. Again, it’s a small thing. If something works, it works, and they’ll keep doing it. It’s just something I have noticed for two consecutive weeks now.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Secondary penalties are becoming a problem

Ole Miss has committed double-digit penalties in each of its last two games. Several of those have come from the secondary. Eight of the 11 accepted penalties the Rebels committed were on defense. Four of the eight were defensive holding calls. The week prior against Wake Forest, five of the 11 accepted penalties were committed by the defense. Four of those five were either pass interference or defensive holding.

Ole Miss is still rotating quite a few guys on the back end, particularly at safety. Opponents have started to consistently attack the Rebels here. I don’t think it’s a major concern, at least not yet, but this group must cut down on the penalties in the secondary. The defense is going to face much better receiving corps than it has faced so far. This is something the Rebels must rectify soon.

Chris Paul Jr. a revelation for a thin LB group

Ole Miss did not play T.J. Dottery out of caution on Saturday. Kiffin said Dottery could’ve played if needed. That meant more snaps for Paul, who has been really good for Ole Miss through three games. Paul led the team in tackles in this game with 10, recorded 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss.

During preseason camp, there were concerns about Paul’s performance, and questions surfaced as to whether his role on this team would be as significant as the staff originally thought. He’s seemingly squashed those concerns through four games. Kiffin even admitted that while Paul hadn’t been great in practice consistently, but that he’s a different guy when it comes to the game.

“He stepped up, just like he did at Arkansas. Not that he isn’t a great practice player, but he plays great on game days and shows up,” Kiffin said. “He does a really good job for us.”

Paul is a bit of a physically limited player, but has great speed and instincts. Next time he’s on the field, notice how fast he closes the gap between himself and the ball carrier. It is remarkable to watch.

Ole Miss doesn’t play very many guys at linebacker. Though Dottery’s injury doesn’t sound significant, the Rebels badly need a clean bill of health for most of the season at the interior linebacker spots. Paul’s emergence as a productive player and significant contributor will continue to be incredibly valuable for this defense.

Thanks for reading. We’ll have more on Kentucky later this week.

Ole Miss has one final tune-up against Georgia Southern before entering its eight-game SEC slate.

Here are some interesting notes from the week, as well as five things to watch for in the Rebels’ last non-conference game.

For your own sanity, ignore Lane Kiffin-Florida content

As silly as I find even addressing Lane Kiffin’s future three games into a season in mid-September, I’ve gotten asked several times this week about Kiffin potentially leaving Ole Miss to take the Florida job should the Gators fire Billy Napier. I suppose I understand how this topic has come about. Kiffin is one of the best coaches in college football and his name is constantly associated with other jobs.

Florida appears to be terrible. In two games against FBS opponents (Miami and Texas A&M), the Gators were destroyed on their own home field. Napier is in his third year as head coach after going 6-7 and 5-7 in his first two seasons. Florida fans are fed up with him and ready to move on. I don’t know whether Napier is a good or bad coach. He had tremendous success at Louisiana-Lafayette, but a job like Florida is a different animal. You could make the argument that he’s been set up for failure due to an incompetent administration, unstable NIL infrastructure and wildly unrealistic expectations.

Naturally, as Florida has limped to a 1-2 start, Napier’s firing seems more likely with every loss. Fans and media are already prognosticating who could be the next Gators head coach. Lane Kiffin is usually the first name listed.

Do I think Kiffin will end up at Florida should the job come open? No, I don’t. A detailed explanation as to why I believe this is a content item for a later date, but here is a list of reasons as to why this current discourse regarding the subject is utterly moronic.

1. It’s September 19.

2. See No. 1

3. The job is not open yet.

4. If Ole Miss lives up to expectations, the screwed up college football calendar will prevent it.

Obviously, the last reason is the only one worth expounding on. My RebelGrove cohort Tyler Siskey made this astute point on the McCready-Siskey podcast this week, and it’s something I have thought about as well that never made sense to me regarding this Kiffin to Florida discussion. I think we can all agree that there is very little that makes sense about the current structure of college football. From the lawless NIL “system” that has fans footing the bill for their favorite team’s payroll, to the transfer portal and unlimited transfers. The sport lacks structure and leadership. That breeds dysfunction.

The calendar is also completely messed up. The early signing period begins on December 4. The first round of the college football playoff begins on December 20. With that in mind, let’s play this hypothetical out. Florida’s regular season ends on November 30. If the Gators fire or have already fired Napier by then, they’ll need to move quickly to hire a new coach to try to salvage some semblance of its recruiting class due to a ridiculously quick turnaround between the regular season and the early signing period this year.

If Ole Miss lives up to expectations and makes the College Football Playoff, its first round game will be on either December 20th or 21st. Do you really think Florida is going to be able to wait nearly a month (or longer if the Rebels win a game or two) to try to hire Lane Kiffin? I suppose it’s technically possible, but that seems like a remarkably stupid and risky strategy. Florida will have to hire its next coach long before December 20th, unless it wants to further handicap its program by waiting a month and enduring the early signing period without a coach in hopes one particular candidate says yes.

Now look at it from Lane Kiffin’s shoes, or really any coach in the playoff. Do you really think any coach with any ounce of sanity will look at his situation and say “I know my team is in the playoff. I know we are a couple of wins away from playing for a national title, but I am actually going to leave. I am going to take this new job, scramble to put a staff together, piecemeal a recruiting class and start over.” Does that sound insane to you? Because it is completely insane. If Ole Miss lives up to expectations, it will be protected by what is an utterly nonsensical college football schedule.

Is it guaranteed Ole Miss makes the playoff? Of course not. But there are also other reasons why I don’t think Kiffin would take the Florida job. I don’t think it’s necessary to get into those today, mostly because it’s mid-September and Florida has a coach. This topic is wildly stupid. It’s fueled by irrational fans and dimwitted engagement farmers looking to fill air time or story quotas. So, the next time you see a twitter clip of a guy in front of a microphone wearing a t-shirt that’s two sizes too small, blabbering about Lane Kiffin to Florida, remind yourself that that person is an imbecile who is begging you to react to it.

Take a breath, relax and ignore the stupidity of others. None of it is remotely rooted in reality.

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

Matt Jones bet on himself and it’s paying off

Ole Miss running back Matt Jones is a walk-on, but really in title only. He was an unrated prospect out of Jackson Prep in 2021 and held offers from several group of five programs like Southern Miss, Arkansas State, and Texas State, among others. Jones was considered a good running back but not an SEC-caliber prospect. He respectfully disagreed. He declined those offers and elected to walk-on at Ole Miss.

“It was really just a decision to bet on myself,” Jones said. “I knew I could play at the power five level. Coming out of high school, I had some mid-major offers. Jerrion Ealy was my mentor and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. Here I am.”

Jones waited patiently for three seasons as Ole Miss brought in other running backs in what has consistently been one of the most potent rushing attacks in the SEC under Kiffin. Now, Jones is finally getting his opportunity. He’s cemented himself as the team’s second back. He’s totaled 22 carries for 165 yards and three touchdowns this season. Jones has seemingly beat out Ulysses Bentley IV for the role of complimenting Henry Parrish. Jones’ bet on himself is paying off.

“I think the game has slowed down for me,” Jones said. “Gaining the knowledge and acquiring the skillset a running back should have, I feel like I am finally rolling now.”

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Pegues embracing versatility in several ways

Last week, Ole Miss flashed what appears to be its go-to short-yardage package when it brought defensive tackle J.J. Pegues into the game on two different occasions to convert a fourth and short. Pegues is 6-foot-2, 325 lbs. He was a tight end in high school before flipping to the defensive side when he arrived at Auburn. It proved to be effective for the Rebels in the blowout win over Wake Forest. Pegues flashed his athleticism on the first conversion when he jumped over the top of the pile.

“The defensive line submarined the offensive line and I realized that I couldn’t go outside, so I figured there was only one way to go: up and over,” Pegues said. “I jumped, and the rest is history.”

Pegues said his teammates told him afterward that they didn’t know he could jump that high, to which he responded by telling them to google his high school highlights.

Pegues was also moved around on defense out of necessity. Defensive end Jared Ivey exited last week’s game with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Pegues slid out to strong side defensive end in Ivey’s absence.

“You’re out in the suburbs out there,” Pegues said. “It’s free. No double teams. It’s mano y mano. I loved it. I still practice it from time to time. It challenges me with my eyes and having different keys. It was a good challenge for me and I feel like I lived up to it.”

With Ivey’s immediate status uncertain, I am curious to see if Ole Miss plays Pegues on the outside again this week. I can’t imagine Ivey will suit up for this game, and who knows how long he will be out beyond that, so Pegues’ versatility is proving to be valuable to Ole Miss on both sides of the football.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Lastly, here are five things I will be thinking about when Ole Miss plays Georgia Southern on Saturday.

1. Offensive line rotation

Ole Miss got Gerquan Scott back last week after he missed the first two games with an injury. Scott spent most of preseason camp working with the first team offense at center. Reece McIntyre played center in his absence. Last week, Scott played at guard and rotated with Julius Buelow — who’s filling in for an injured Jeremy James. Kiffin said earlier this week he anticipates Scott playing some at center in the future. I think he will become the permanent starter there eventually. So, how does that affect the rest of the line? Ole Miss will eventually get Caleb Warren and James back from injury. The Rebels have plenty of depth on the offensive line, which has allowed the offense to thrive despite a trio of linemen out due to injury early in the year.

Ole Miss is still searching for its best five linemen. I doubt they find that combination this week, but I am curious to see how the Rebels rotate up front, who plays where, and how much closer, if any, they come to finding their best five.

2. How does the secondary hold up

In its two games against FBS opponents (Boise State and Nevada), Georgia Southern has thrown the football 50 and 37 times respectively in each contest. The Eagles have had decent success. Quarterback J.C. French has completed 59 percent of his passes in those two contests at about 11.5 yards per completion. I don’t think this Georgia Southern offense is going to be a particularly telling challenge for the Rebels’ secondary, but the Eagles have a good receiving corps and competent quarterback play. I am curious to see if Georgia Southern finds any success throwing the football.

Ole Miss has rotated a lot at its safety spots and probably feels pretty good about its two starting corners. If there is a potential question mark on defense, it’s at safety. I am not sure how much we will definitely learn about it during this game, unless the Rebels get gashed, of course.

3. Defensive line play with Ivey out

I sort of covered this earlier in the Pegues note, but if Ivey is unable to play, how does that change the rotation and who plays more? Does that at all change how Suntarine Perkins is used? Do we see more of Chris Hardie or Kam Franklin? These are all complete guesses. I am curious to see how different it looks if Ivey is not out there.

4. Cayden Lee’s emergence

Cayden Lee has cemented himself as a significant part of a loaded receiving corps. He is a great route runner, and through three games, is seemingly always wide open. Lee has 13 catches for 225 yards through three games. His emergence has improved Ole Miss’ depth and versatility in the passing game. If he continues to play well, it will only elevate a passing offense that’s already operating at an extremely high level.

5. A strange reunion of sorts

There’s history between coaches and players in this one. Georgia Southern coach Clay Helton was on Lane Kiffin’s staff at USC. He served as the interim coach for the bowl game the year Kiffin got fired (replacing the first interim coach Ed Orgeron, who resigned upon learning Steve Sarkisian was hired for the permanent job over him). Kiffin spoke glowingly of Helton earlier this week.

“Clay is awesome. He’s one of the finest people I have ever been around,” Kiffin said. “It was another one of my dad’s things. He had a way of finding great coaches. I didn’t know anything about him. We were at USC, looking for a quarterbacks coach and my dad said I needed to interview Clay Helton… He was at Arkansas State sleeping on his office couch at the time. We did the interview and I was just really impressed with him.”

Helton echoed the same.

“I have kept a relationship with Coach Kiffin long after USC. I have so much respect for him,” Helton said. “I’ll hug his neck before the game and I’ll go hug his neck again after the game. He changed my life. He and his dad gave me an opportunity and made me a better coach. I wouldn’t be here today without them.”

Helton eventually became the head coach at USC after Sarkisian was fired. Helton recruited Jaxson Dart to USC. Helton’s firing in 2021 is what ultimately led Dart to Ole Miss.

"Jaxson is near and dear to my heart, having the opportunity to sign him out of Utah," Helton said. "There's no surprise how well he's playing and no surprise he's a Heisman Trophy candidate. He's always had that 'it' factor about him, winning a championship in the state of Utah. Now he's carrying over that championship attitude in what I think is Coach Kiff's best team he's had.”

Thanks for reading. We will have more coverage after the game.

The mood in the postgame press conference following Ole Miss’ 40-6 throttling of Wake Forest was hardly an overly-joyous one.

Despite a lopsided final score and the Rebels dominating another inferior opponent, there was much left to be desired from the performance, according to its participants.

“Jaxson made two critical mistakes. He got a little bit laxed and played down to the situation,” head coach Lane Kiffin said. “Too many penalties, too many holding penalties on defense, critical ones too. Two turnovers called back. It’s good for us to have stuff to clean up.”

Ole Miss was penalized 11 times for 115 yards. The Rebels fumbled the ball three times and were fortunate to only lose one of them. As Kiffin alluded to, several defensive penalties extended Wake drives.

“I was talking to Coach Kiffin before the end of the game and I told him that I felt like this was exactly what we needed,” Dart said. "That was the ugliest 600-yard game that you could play. We did a lot of good things and didn’t finish. We hurt ourselves. It’s a good wakeup call for us and will light a fire under us. Going forward, for me, it’s taking accountability and working harder and preparing harder.”

If you read these quotes without the context of the score, you would think Ole Miss barely escaped Winston-Salem with a win. In reality, the Rebels dominated Wake up front, and shut down the Deacs’ slow mesh attack. On offense, Ole Miss posed significant match-up issues for Wake and blew the doors off a power-four opponent to the point of the game never being in question. The contrast between the final score and the way Dart and Kiffin spoke about the performance is reflective of a couple of things.

First, two things can be true at once. I didn’t think Ole Miss played a particularly clean game either. The fumbles and penalties are a reflection of that. Offensively, Wake Forest never really stopped Ole Miss. More often than not, Ole Miss stopped itself with turnovers, penalties or miscues. I don’t think this is a scenario where Kiffin and Dart are pulling a Nick Saban and manufacturing adversity by finding flaws that don’t actually exist.

Second, it’s a reflection of this team’s maturity its desire to play to a standard it sets for itself, regardless of opponent. All of this sounds like the vague platitudes every team, player and coach in the country offer at most of these press conferences, but given Kiffin’s unabashed (and often unprompted) praise of this team’s maturity and character so far this season, I think it’s relevant.

“We challenged them to not give into what was kind of a dead atmosphere and play their game,” Kiffin said. “When you can go on the road, have some adversity and still win by 34 points, it says that this is a really talented team. We can play sloppy, get penalties, commit turnovers and still win like that, it means you have a really talented roster. Now, we need to go forward and not have those penalties and turnovers.”

Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.

The main reason Ole Miss was able to win comfortably despite its self-inflicted mistakes was because it dominated the line of scrimmage, particularly on defense. As we discussed for most of the offseason, everything Ole Miss did to reshape its roster this offseason was centered around getting bigger, stronger and more talented on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The Georgia loss last November painted a pretty clear picture of the difference between the Rebels and legitimate playoff contenders. So, Kiffin and his staff fixed it. Saturday night was perhaps the first legitimate example of the drastic difference between having top-end talent up front, particularly on the defensive line, and not having it.

Wake Forest couldn’t get anything going offensively because the Rebels lived in the offensive backfield. The Demon Deacons had a whopping five rushing yards in the first half and 46 for the game on 32 carries. Wake quarterback Hank Bachmeier was sacked four times, which is a little misleading in terms of how dominant Ole Miss was due to Wake’s slow-mesh attack. We discussed on Friday how this game might be a decent litmus test for the defense, as the slow-mesh works against average to below average defensive lines and tends to falter when playing good ones. I would say the Rebels passed that test with ease.

While far from perfect, the Ole Miss offensive line paved the way for the running game to compile 273 yards rushing. Dart was only sacked one time. He was afforded the time to throw a plethora of pass-catching options as the Rebels preyed upon a hapless Wake secondary. This offensive line unit did this despite being down to starters.

Ole Miss has always had an explosive offense during the Kiffin era. On defense, it is usually been pretty opportunistic, even if talent was lacking at certain spots, and the Rebels have had a tremendous amount of overall success during Kiffin’s tenure. What’s different about this year’s team is everything we just covered above. Ole Miss is now able to dominate the line of scrimmage, which allows it to win games by large margins against opponents with inferior talent even if the Rebels don’t play well.

Ole Miss will face far better opponents than the middling Wake Forest team it beat on Saturday night and we truly won’t know just how good this group can be until it gets into conference play. But as Kiffin alluded to, this is a wildly talented team. And the reason it is a legitimate playoff contender and one of the best teams in the sport is because of what was on display at the line of scrimmage on Saturday evening. Couple that with Ole Miss being a mature team with veteran leadership, and you begin to wonder just how high this potentially historic group could soar.

Now onto some other news and notes from Saturday

Running back rotation remained the same

On Friday, I wondered if we’d learn more about this running back rotation. Would we see more of Ulysses Bentley IV this week? Would we gain any answers as to why he hasn’t played much? I am not exactly sure if we gained a surefire answer to the latter, but the fact that Bentley did not play until the tail end of the game makes it pretty clear at this point that Ole Miss believes a combination of Henry Parrish and Matt Jones give the Rebels the best chance to be successful running the football. Why is this the case? I haven’t a clue.

I think you can throw out the theory that Bentley is being “saved” until later in the year. It makes no sense why he’d play in mop-up duty if that were the case. The same logic stands to reason on the injury theory. If Bentley is injured, why send him out there for meaningless snaps? I don’t know what transpired during spring football and preseason camp, but it’s clear it will be the Parrish and Jones combination going forward. I remain skeptical of the viability of that plan once Ole Miss is knee-deep into its SEC slate, and figure that will have to change drastically if either guy suffers an injury, but for now, that appears to be the path the running back rotation is following.

ETA: after this note was written, Kiffin expounded on the situation during his Monday press conference. Here’s part of what he had to say:

“It’s nothing negative about Bentley. There’s some of that in our program. We have a really good roster. I tell our guys that there is a cost and a benefit to everything. There is a benefit to having all of these good players. You have a chance to be really good. The cost is that everybody does not get to play as much as they would like. That’s happening with a number of our players. This is not anything Bentley has done. Our other guys have played extremely well. Bentley missed time during the spring. We have great confidence in him. This game was pass-heavy. We really haven’t gone to the third back, which is what he is right now.”

Make of that what you wish. It does sound like that the coaching staff simply believes that he is the third best option, and, at this point, the team hasn’t needed to go to the third option. I still think Bentley will make a valuable impact for this team at some point this season. 

We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.

Short yardage plan revealed?

To piggyback off the last thought, I’ve been curious as to whether Ole Miss might have trouble in short-yardage situations against formidable opponents given that both Parrish and Jones are smaller running backs. There were a couple of instances in the first two quarters of this game in which this exact scenario played out. In the first quarter, Ole Miss faced a 3rd & 1 at the Wake 26. Parrish ran for no gain. On 4th & 1, the Rebels brought J.J. Pegues into the game, direct-snapped it to him and Pegues leaped over the pile for a first down. Watching the replay, I felt terribly for Jayden Williams, who was on the ground, looked up and saw a behemoth of a human falling from the sky onto his head. Williams wasn’t injured on the play.

In the second quarter, Ole Miss faced a 3rd & 2 from its own 36. A handoff to Parrish was stopped short. On fourth down, Pegues and Walter Nolen entered the game, Pegues got the football and plunged forward for a first down.

I suppose this is Ole Miss’ main short-yardage strategy. It’s hardly a revolutionary concept and has been done before. I just found it interesting. Pegues is 6-foot-2, 325 lbs. He played tight end in high school. It seems like a perfectly effective option. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to attempt to prevent him from gaining 3-6 feet on an important down in a game.

Ole Miss has a ridiculous receiving corps

Wake’s secondary isn’t very good. The Deacs lost a defensive back in the portal from last year and somewhat unexpectedly lost another to the NFL draft. It’s the weak point of their defense and they were never going to pose a serious threat to the Ole Miss passing attack. With that said, it was still plainly evident how difficult of a match-up the Rebels are going to be for SEC-caliber secondaries. From Juice Wells, Tre Harris, Cayden Lee and Jordan Watkins at receiver, to Caden Prieskorn and Dae’quan Wright at tight end, Ole Miss has mismatches across the field on every snap. It also allows them to be multiple in so many different ways.

As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.

Scott healthy on OL

Southern Miss transfer Gerquan Scott missed the first two games of the season with an injury. He returned in this game, though he did not start. Rather than playing center, Scott rotated at right guard with Julius Buelow — who has started the last two games in place of an injured Jeremy James.

Ole Miss keeping Reece McIntyre at center and using Scott at guard is interesting, especially since Scott worked at center for most of preseason camp before he was injured. I wonder if that was an effort to get Scott acclimated to game action or if McIntyre remains the permanent option at center. Ole Miss has consistently regularly rotated Diego Pounds in at left guard with starter Jayden Williams through three games. Nate Kalepo, Micah Pettus and McIntyre played every offensive snap of consequence.

The Rebels are still waiting to get James and Caleb Warren back healthy. I am not sure if Ole Miss has found their best five linemen yet, but it hasn’t been an issue so far, and getting Scott back is obviously a good thing for this unit.

Safety is still a bit of a question

Ole Miss rotated quite a few guys on the back end in this game. Isiah Hamilton and Trey Amos started at corner. Hamilton was targeted four times and held his own, allowing just one reception. Amos is going to prove to be a tremendous corner for the Rebels and will play on Sundays next year.

Wake picked on safety Jadon Canady a bit. Canady was targeted four times and gave up three receptions and a drop. John Saunders and Trey Washington played the majority of the 79 snaps the defense was on the field. Ole Miss rotated in Louis Moore a lot and Yam Banks played sparingly.

Rebel Grove’s Chase Parham wrote an interesting breakdown of the snap counts that you should check out here.

Wake backs out of return trip

It was apparently announced at some point on Saturday evening that Wake Forest called Ole Miss earlier in the week to buy out of its return trip to Oxford next season. Essentially, Wake will pay Ole Miss $750,000 to not have to play the game (would have been $1 million if inside a year of the scheduled game). Kiffin briefly mentioned this in his postgame presser and somewhat tongue-in-cheek declared that he told his team the news before the game to use as motivation — that an opponent is paying upper six figures to not have to play them again.

At the time, I really didn’t know what to make of this. College football is in the midst of so much rapid change, I wasn’t sure as to whether this had something to do with conference realignment and the ACC adding two more teams. I wasn’t sure if this was something that would be mutually-beneficial for both programs. For example, both Ole Miss and USC both agreed to cancel its future series. Given that the SEC requires each of its teams to play one non-conference game against a power-four opponent, maybe Wake and Ole Miss had made other plans? It was none of those things and Ole Miss was not happy about it.

Kiffin was asked about it on Monday and did not hold back, calling out Wake Forest Athletic Director John Currie by name, declaring it an unwritten rule and accusing them of a lame attempt at mind games.

“Really a very abnormal thing for Wake to do. You usually don’t do that during the season, the season before. That is rarely ever done. I have never heard of it. It puts us at a big disadvantage. It wasn’t appreciated very much,” Kiffin said. “We have to go find someone now and most people are all scheduled up. It’s kind of an unwritten rule to not do that.”

Asked about the power-four rule and how that will affect the program, given that this was not Ole Miss’ fault, Kiffin wasn’t sure how that worked.

”We are looking into things. It’s hard because everyone has schedules. There are a lot of dominoes in there. I guess when it’s happened before, the team submits a waiver to get around that rule. It’s not what we want to do,” Kiffin said. “But they may have put us in an unavoidable situation. I find it really amazing that you wait until the week of the game to tell us. They thought that that was going to disrupt us. John Currie was like ‘oh, we will tell them the week of (this year’s game) and disrupt them.’ Maybe that was their game plan for this game?”

I have no clue what Ole Miss will do to fill the void. Perhaps the Rebels are a candidate for one of those neutral site games in Atlanta, Houston or elsewhere. What I do know is that Kiffin was not thrilled with how this was handled. I don’t blame him.

We’ll have more coverage later this week.