Ole Miss catapults back into AP top 10 following dominant road victory

A dominant outing on the road and a wacky weekend across college football has catapulted Ole Miss back into the top 10, per the latest rankings from the Associated Press.

The Rebels jumped three spots to No. 9 in the poll after an impressive 27-3 victory at South Carolina. In a contest mostly defined by first-half scoring and missed opportunities, Ole Miss (5-1, 1-1 SEC) was simply better than its SEC counterpart. Pete Golding’s defense especially shined bright, keeping the Gamecocks’ offense at bay and not allowing any touchdowns to be scored even when South Carolina crossed into Ole Miss territory.

The Rebels’ defense swarmed the LaNorris Sellers-led offense on Saturday, notching six sacks 10 tackles for loss, five pass breakups, a fumble recovery, and an interception while also forcing three turnovers on downs. The group was amplified by a heroic performance from defensive tackle Walter Nolen, a speedy linebacker corps, and a secondary looking for redemption.

The three points South Carolina scored marked the fewest the Rebels had allowed an SEC opponent to score since 2015 when Ole Miss beat Texas A&M 23-3.

Offensively, the Rebels did enough to run away with the win, though veteran signal-caller Jaxson Dart was far from his sharpest and the run game never got into a consistent rhythm. However, a few busted coverages and an all-too-familiar go-to weapon in short-yardage situations worked in Ole Miss’ favor and allowed the offense to score on an incredibly stingy Gamecock defense.

Ole Miss had 425 total yards compared to 313 on the Gamecocks’ side. More importantly, the Rebels won the turnover battle, only giving the ball up while South Carolina surrendered the pigskin a couple of times. Ole Miss was perfect in the red zone, scoring 24 points when deep into South Carolina territory.

A full recap of the Rebels’ most recent game can be found here. Ole Miss will now travel to Baton Rouge to take on a top-15 LSU squad in what will be a defining contest for Lane Kiffin and company in their pursuit of making an inaugural College Football Playoff appearance. The ballgame will kick off at 6:30 p.m. central and will be broadcast on ABC and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.

Ole Miss, which had lost to unranked Kentucky at home one week ago, was also the beneficiary of an upset-heavy Saturday in which five of the highest-ranked squads were ousted.

In Nashville, Vanderbilt defeated No. 1 Alabama for the first time since 1984 — and goalposts were torn down. No. 4 Tennessee was on the wrong side of the scoreboard in a road battle against an Arkansas team that had been written off ahead of the season.

A No. 9 Missouri team deemed by skeptics to be “fool’s gold” traveled to the Lone Star State and was walloped by a hungry Texas A&M bunch. No. 10 Michigan traveled out west and was defeated by Will Rogers-led Washington. And finally, No. 11 USC was taken down by Minnesota, shaking up the latest rankings, which can be found below: