The excitement level in Oxford is rapidly rising as the Ole Miss football team is ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll for the first time in the 2025 season. A 24-19 Magnolia Bowl win over LSU on Saturday was the catalyst for the boost.
Lane Kiffin’s Rebels (5-0, 3-0 SEC) jumped up nine spots in the latest rankings, landing at No. 4 nationally. Ole Miss doubled LSU (4-1, 1-1 SEC) in penalties and turnovers. The team also opened things up with two fruitless offensive drives where the chains were not moved once. But after the final snap, the Rebels ended the battle with 250 more yards and five more points than their bitter rival, in a game where the scoreboard did not adequately reflect what had occurred on the field.
In his third start for the red and blue, Trinidad Chambliss answered the bell against one of the most highly touted defenses in the nation. The Division II transfer completed 22 of 39 passes for 314 yards, a touchdown, and a pick, and was sacked zero times. Eight of his completions were for 15 or more yards.
Chambliss also used his feet effectively in the matchup, logging 71 yards on 14 carries. Kewan Lacy, however, led the ground attack with 87 yards and a touchdown. In total, Ole Miss had 170 rushing yards against a defense that had surrendered a mere average of 65 yards on the ground in its four prior matchups.
Cayden Lee, who had an uncharacteristic fumble in the red zone, bounced back from the error and led the team in receiving with 70 yards and a score. Wake Forest transfer Deuce Alexander had three pivotal hauls for a combined 64 yards. Altogether, Ole Miss had 480 yards of offense against Blake Baker’s defensive unit.
On the other side of the ball, Pete Golding’s defense had a stout outing, holding LSU to just 254 total yards of offense. Collectively, the Rebels capitalized on the Tigers’ struggles to run the football and minimized damage on the ground. The interior of the defensive line was disruptive, with Mississippi natives Kam Franklin, Will Echoles, and Jamarious Brown accounting for three tackles for loss. Echoles had the lone sack of the matchup.
Wydett Williams Jr., who made previous collegiate stops at Delta State and Louisiana-Monroe, had an interception and four tackles. His counterparts in the secondary, Ricky Fletcher, Antonio Kite, and Jaylon Braxton, aided in holding LSU signal caller Garrett Nussmeier to under 200 yards in the air.
“We dreamed of moments like this since we were kids. We took those steps in our lives to be who we want to be,” Williams said of joining Chambliss in being a fellow former Division II player to shine at the next level. “We had to do more than others did, and we’re here right now. We have no one but God to thank for that.”
The win, which avenged last year’s heartbreaking defeat in overtime, placed Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff discussion, with analysts viewing the Rebels favorably nearly halfway through the regular season. Some shakeup in the college football landscape also helped make the red and blue’s case. Prior top-five teams that joined LSU in losing over the weekend were: Georgia, Penn State, and Florida State.
Moving forward, Kiffin has not committed to a starting quarterback, given that Chambliss has been filling in for an injured Austin Simmons. The sixth-year Rebel frontman will have an extra week to mull over the decision as Ole Miss heads to a bye week before taking on Washington State in Oxford on Saturday, Oct. 11.
The full rankings can be found below:
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Miami
- Ole Miss
- Oklahoma
- Texas A&M
- Penn State
- Indiana
- Texas
- Alabama
- Texas Tech
- Georgia
- LSU
- Iowa State
- Tennessee
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia Tech
- Florida State
- Missouri
- Michigan
- Notre Dame
- Illinois
- BYU
- Virginia
- Arizona State
Mississippi State, which has been receiving top-25 votes over the past few weeks, dropped a tough overtime matchup to Tennessee on Saturday, preventing Jeff Lebby’s squad from making its season debut in the polls.
