Ole Miss heads to Oklahoma on Nov. 14 with its College Football Playoff hopes hanging by a thread, and the Rebels do not have much margin left. No.
17 Ole Miss is 6-3 overall and 4-3 in the SEC, and after the 42-7 home loss to No. 1 Georgia, the road to the CFP is narrow: win the final three games or the dream is basically gone.
That task gets tougher in Norman against an Oklahoma team that has already shown it can bounce back. The Sooners are 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the SEC, and this is the third straight season these teams have met.
Ole Miss has won the first two matchups. Like the Rebels, Oklahoma reached the College Football Playoff in 2025, and while the Sooners have been uneven, they’ve also beaten two teams Ole Miss lost to in No.
8 Texas and Florida.
The biggest swing factor might be on the Oklahoma sideline. Interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten has already injected some life into the Sooners’ offense after Ben Arbuckle was fired.
Five days after that move, Oklahoma beat Florida 23-7 and rolled up 351 total yards. Against an Ole Miss defense that gave up 481 yards to Georgia, that kind of clean, efficient football is a problem.
Turnovers could decide it, too. Trinidad Chambliss has seen his interception total jump from three in a spectacular 2025 season to nine in 2026, and he has thrown at least one pick in seven games this season.
Pete Golding has pointed to bad reads, bad luck and bad throws as the reason for the spike. Oklahoma is built to capitalize, ranking No. 4 in the SEC with nine interceptions and No. 5 with 26 sacks.
Chambliss has been more vulnerable when pressure gets home.
John Mateer has his own turnover issues, with seven interceptions and two lost fumbles. Both quarterbacks are in position to give one away, and both defenses should get chances to make a play.
Ole Miss also has to figure out how to move the ball without Kewan Lacy, who is out with a shoulder injury. That puts more on Shekai Mills-Knight and Makhi Frazier, the Rebels’ primary backs.
They combined for 17 carries and 60 yards against Georgia, and they should see more work here. Even with Chambliss at quarterback, Ole Miss is unlikely to have much success throwing freely against Oklahoma’s pass defense, which leads the SEC at 170.7 passing yards allowed per game.
The Sooners are also No. 7 in the league against the run at 122.6 yards per game.
The clock battle matters just as much. Oklahoma allows opponents to convert only 27.7% of third downs, the best mark in the SEC and No. 4 nationally, which makes sustained drives hard to come by.
Ole Miss will need explosive plays to keep pace, and Deuce Alexander is the obvious candidate. He leads the Rebels with 669 receiving yards, but he was held without a catch against Georgia.
He remains Ole Miss’ fastest and most dangerous deep threat.
On the other side, Ole Miss has struggled on third down, allowing conversions on 44% of opponents’ tries, which ranks No. 14 in the SEC. Oklahoma showed exactly how that can wear a defense down with a 20-play drive against Florida that lasted 12:45 and helped seal the game.
Oklahoma 24, Ole Miss 23. This one looks like it will come down to whether Ole Miss’ defense can slow the Sooners’ offense, or whether Oklahoma’s momentum carries the day. The Rebels are more desperate, but pressing for big plays on the road against this defense is a dangerous place to be.
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