After a needed bounceback against Vanderbilt, Ole Miss jumps right back into the SEC grind, and this one brings a very familiar twist. Missouri comes to Oxford ranked No. 13 in the country, its highest AP Poll spot since 2024, and the Rebels are staring down a dangerous team that has found its stride again.
The setting only sharpens the edge. Ole Miss has won 14 straight games at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium dating back to late September 2024, but Missouri is not rolling in as a courtesy opponent. The Tigers have responded to their road loss at Mississippi State three weeks ago by hammering Florida and then taking care of Texas A&M, which makes this much more than a routine ranked game for the Rebels.
And then there’s the return of Austin Simmons and Cayden Lee, who will walk into Vaught-Hemingway for the first time wearing black and gold. Both spent three seasons in Oxford, with Simmons using one of those years as a redshirt, and both now get a crack at their old team. Neither player left behind any public bitterness, but there’s no question they’ll have plenty riding on this one.
Simmons, in particular, has turned himself into one of the SEC’s most productive quarterbacks this season. After a shaky start for Ole Miss last year and the ankle injury that cut that run short, there were real questions about what kind of player he’d become.
In Columbia, he’s answered them loudly. The Missouri quarterback has already been named SEC Offensive Player of the Week twice, and he’s thrown for nearly 1,500 yards with 14 touchdowns and just one interception.
Lee has been right there with him as the top receiving option. The former Rebel has posted 616 yards and five touchdowns through six games, quickly becoming the Tigers’ most dangerous weapon on the outside. What Ole Miss fans knew in flashes in Oxford is now showing up every week in Missouri: Lee’s talent was never the issue, and putting him at the center of an offense has unlocked a different version of him.
Missouri’s film from the last two weeks should also have Ole Miss paying attention. The Tigers watched Florida shred the Rebels for 52 points in Gainesville, then they went and flipped that script in a hurry. Jadan Baugh, who had gashed Ole Miss with 29 carries for 142 yards and three touchdowns, was bottled up by Missouri to the tune of 12 carries for 13 yards in a four-score loss for Florida.
That’s why this trip to The Vaught carries real weight for Ole Miss. Missouri has already shown it can recover from a tough loss and punish a team that recently exposed the Rebels, and with Simmons and Lee back in Oxford for the first time as opponents, Saturday brings a matchup loaded with layers.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Is Winning Differently And That Should Excite Rebels Fans
Ole Miss left Nashville with more than another win, it left with one of the clearest signs yet that this seasons attack is built to stress opponents in every direction. Trinidad Chambliss and Jam Brown found the end zone, and the Rebels kept rolling with a style that spread the production around instead of leaning on just one or two familiar names. It was the kind of game that underscored how many different ways this team can score when the offense is clicking.
The defense and special moments from elsewhere on the field only added to the sense that this was a complete performance. Suntarine Perkins scored his first career touchdown and also reached 20 career sacks, a milestone that says plenty about his impact already. Ole Miss has now scored a touchdown with seven different players in a recent game and has been perfect in the red zone this season, which is the sort of balance that should have Rebels fans thinking this team may be winning in a more sustainable way than ever before. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Defense Just Revived A Question That Will Define November
A week after the Florida loss raised real concerns about where Ole Miss defense stood, Pete Goldings unit responded the way a playoff hopeful needs to in October. The Rebels rolled past Vanderbilt 52-17, and the most encouraging part for Ole Miss wasnt just the margin. It was the defense settling back in, giving up only 17 points and doing a much better job against the run, which had been a sore spot in the previous outing.
That kind of bounce-back matters now because the schedule is about to get a lot more demanding. Ole Miss is heading into ranked conference games with November looming, and the defenses ability to hold up against better offenses may end up shaping whether this team stays in the College Football Playoff conversation. For Golding, the Vanderbilt showing was a useful reset, but the real test is still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Took Another Shot At Ole Miss Territory
Lane Kiffin spent part of a recent press session talking about one of the more intriguing subplots on Ole Misss upcoming SEC calendar: Austin Simmons, the former Rebels quarterback who is now at Missouri. Simmons was with Ole Miss from 2023 to 2025 before moving on, and Kiffin, now at LSU, praised his former signal-callers upside while helping shine a little extra light on the transfer portal era that has turned these matchups into something more personal.
What made the exchange interesting was the way Kiffin threaded his comments through the always-messy college football rules conversation, even as he assessed Simmons as a player with NFL-level potential. The timing only adds to the intrigue, since Simmons is set to be on the other sideline in Oxford on Saturday, giving Ole Miss another chance to see a familiar name in an unfamiliar place. [Read more 🡒]