A season dubbed “The Last Dance” by Ole Miss coaches and players will not result in the program’s College Football Playoff debut.
On Selection Sunday, the nail was officially slammed in the championship-contention coffin for Lane Kiffin’s Rebels as the team came in at No. 14 in the final rankings of the 2024-25 campaign. Hope was slim for Ole Miss faithful after the immensely talented club was the second team out of the playoff field on Tuesday, and laid to rest in the most recent ranking announcement.
Kiffin did a bit of politicking ahead of the ultimate 12-team pool being finalized, vouching for Ole Miss to be given a shot in the prominent postseason tournament. One of the frontman’s contentions was that the Rebels had not only beaten, but dominated, the now-SEC champion, No. 2 Georgia, though an early loss to Kentucky negated that win in the committee’s eyes.
However, it appears Kiffin saw the inevitable writing on the wall on Sunday as he pivoted his focus to reminding fans of the red and blue what can still be accomplished this season and the goals the program has shattered under the fifth-year head coach’s guidance.
“Regardless of the outcome, Ole Miss is in a position to achieve its third season of 10+ wins in the last four years. Kiffin’s second Ole Miss team in 2021 was the first 10-win regular season ever,” Kiffin wrote on X.
“The 2023 team broke the school record for 11 total wins in a season. A potential third 10-win team would give the Rebels their first three out of four since the early 1960s. The last time that happened was in 1959, 1960, and then again in 1962. The common denominator is Ole Miss claiming national championships in each of those seasons (prior to the BCS and CFP era).”
Ole Miss winning a 10th game this season would be historic when considering that the program had not reached these heights in more than 60 years. But in the current “win-now” atmosphere surrounding Rebel football, fans are certainly underwhelmed with their team’s 9-3 record, especially after a full-court press was executed by coaches, players, the university-affiliated NIL collective, and supporters to construct a roster capable of defeating any opponent it faced.
That roster was certainly constructed and made its presence known on the field. The Ole Miss defense, led by linebackers Suntarine Perkins and Chris Paul, Jr. as well as defensive linemen Princely Umanmielen, Jared Ivey, Walter Nolen, and JJ Pegues accounted for a nation-leading 52 sacks while earning the penultimate ranking in stopping the run.
Offensively, veteran quarterback Jaxson Dart shattered program records, becoming the school’s all-time passing leader, surpassing household icon Eli Manning, as he accumulated the most total yards by any Rebel player in history. He is also the winningest field general to ever take a snap at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Dart threw for a staggering 3,875 yards, 25 touchdowns, and six picks, finding primary targets Tre Harris, Jordan Watkins, and Cayden Lee in the process. Harris was productive when healthy, mounting over 1,000 yards in the air but missed multiple games with a lingering groin injury.
One more game remains for this group of players, despite the large probability of opt-outs by a list of producers. Ole Miss will take on Duke in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday, January 2, 2025. The game will be aired on ESPN and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
The College Football Playoff field, which no longer features three-loss Alabama either, can be found below:
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Boise State
- Arizona State
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Tennessee
- Indiana
- SMU
- Clemson
