Ole Miss gave fans plenty to chew on in 2025, and even with the 2026 season looming, the what-ifs from that run still have a grip on Rebel Nation. One of the biggest: what would have happened if Pete Golding’s team had gotten past Miami and landed in the national championship against Indiana?
That matchup would have put Ole Miss in front of the toughest test it saw all year. The Hoosiers were the standard, and their defense backed that up by ranking second in the nation in fewest points allowed per game.
Still, the Rebels had already shown they could move the ball against elite units. They faced Georgia’s 10th-ranked defense twice and scored 35-plus points in both games. They also put 32 on Oklahoma, which was arguably the SEC’s best defense, and managed 27 against Miami, the fifth-best defense in the country.
Those 27 points weren’t enough in the real game, but they still showed Ole Miss could generate offense against top-tier resistance. Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels would have had a real chance to make things interesting against Indiana’s defense.
But the story likely ends the same way the source suggests it would have on the field: Indiana winning comfortably.
Curt Cignetti’s group would have been a tougher version of Miami, and the Rebels’ pass rush against Carson Beck in that playoff game was too quiet to inspire much confidence. Beck threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns, and he also added a rushing score that helped seal Ole Miss’ fate.
Now imagine that same setup with Carson Beck replaced by Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, backed by the best offensive line in the country. The result, as the source frames it, would have been trouble for the Rebels. Mendoza would have had time to pick apart the defense, and Indiana’s long, deliberate drives would have worn down an Ole Miss unit built to defend tempo and quick strikes.
That style clash would have tilted the game toward the Hoosiers. Their control of possession, paired with the Rebels’ up-tempo approach, would have left Ole Miss chasing, and Indiana would have been expected to win by at least 10 points.
Even so, the 2025 season will keep its place in Ole Miss lore. Oxford will keep asking the same question for years: “What if we beat Miami?”
It would have made the run even more memorable. But the story, as told here, still belonged to Indiana.
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