Ole Miss may have just missed the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024 – finishing in the rankings as the second team on the outside looking in – but one outlet believes the Rebels have what it takes to crack the CFP in 2025.
The Associated Press released its “way-too early guess” list of who will make the CFP at the end of the incoming regular season, placing Lane Kiffin and his Rebels in the 10-seed slot.
“If only to save us from another Lane Kiffin social media barrage,” AP sports reporter Eddie Pells joked in the article, referencing Kiffin’s online outbursts during last season’s playoff selection. “But seriously, this program had one of the best transfer-portal hauls in the country. The Rebels are also getting used to winning 10 games a year and you can’t ignore that forever.”
Pells is right about the fact that if history is any indication, Ole Miss is moving in the right direction and that means closer to being included in the playoff field for the first time in program history. Since Kiffin’s second season in 2021, only two other teams in the Southeastern Conference have won more than the Rebels’ 39 games. The teams ahead of them? Georgia and Alabama, both of which have plenty of CFP experience.
As for the portal, Kiffin has been one of few coaches in the entire country able to turn over roster after roster in a way that might make NFL teams question how they’re approaching free agency. This past offseason, he brought in the fourth-best portal class, as ranked by 247Sports, headlined by former Arkansas offensive lineman Patrick Kutas, Nebraska edge Princewill Umanmielen, LSU defensive end Da’Shawn Womack, Arkansas tight end Luke Hasz, Penn State wide receiver Harrison Wallace III, and Oklahoma State wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling.
Paired with more than two dozen other transfers and talented returners like wide receiver Cayden Lee, linebacker Suntarine Perkins, and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris, you sprinkle in a potential breakout season for quarterback Austin Simmons, and a playoff appearance might be on the horizon for Ole Miss.
If Pells’ prediction pans out, Ole Miss would meet Penn State in the opening round for a rematch of the 2023 Peach Bowl. The seeding of the CFP would be No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Clemson, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Miami, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 11 Kansas State, and No. 12 Tulane.
While Pells may be of the belief that Ole Miss is on track to make the playoff, the joint coalition of AP voters have not yet reached that consensus. The Rebels landed at No. 21 in the publication’s preseason poll, voted on by writers and broadcasters from across the country, and have a ways to prove themselves as a contender. Either way, we’ll find out soon enough when the season kicks off for Kiffin and company on Aug. 30 at home against Georgia State.
