Ole Miss is heading into 2026 with something it hasn’t had in a long time: a spotlight that won’t go away.
The Rebels’ 2025 run is already part of program history, but that breakthrough also changed the way the rest of college football sees them. What used to be a team viewed as a solid SEC presence now looks like a program that can chase both a conference title and a national title.
That’s the new standard. And 2026 is the season that has to prove it wasn’t a one-year surge.
There’s plenty back on the roster, but the Rebels still have to show last season was more than a hot streak. The biggest test starts with a coaching staff that looks very different on offense.
Charlie Weis Jr. ran the attack all of last season, and Ole Miss finished with one of the best offenses in the country. Now that job belongs to John David Baker, who spent the past two years calling East Carolina’s offense.
Baker’s track record gives Ole Miss reason for optimism. East Carolina ranked 15th nationally in total offense last season, so the résumé is there.
The real question is whether that production can carry over into the SEC, where the margin for error shrinks fast. The Rebels have the talent to make it work, but the system has to click from the start.
On the other side of the ball, Pete Golding has a different kind of pressure. He had a strong year while Lane Kiffin was still running the program, but now Golding is fully in charge, and the defense has to be better.
Ole Miss finished ninth in the SEC on that side of the ball in 2025, and the biggest problem was stopping the run. The Rebels gave up 176 rushing yards per game, which ranked 79th in the FBS.
Golding has already added a number of transfers to try to fix that issue, and that part of the roster will be under the microscope right away. If Ole Miss wants to make another serious run, the run defense has to hold up.
That’s what makes 2026 so important. The Rebels no longer get to be the team that surprised people.
They’ve been upgraded in the eyes of the sport, and now they have to live up to it. If they don’t, the old label comes right back: a good SEC team that never quite gets there.
In Other News...
Pete Golding Sees One Big Ole Miss Edge In NCAA Change
The NCAAs new five-year, age-based eligibility rule is already drawing a strong reaction from Pete Golding, who sees it as a cleaner way to manage a roster and a better fit for how college football actually works now. Instead of the old redshirt setup, players will have five seasons to play over a five-year window from enrollment or age 19, and Golding likes the flexibility that gives a program like Ole Miss when it comes to developing talent and keeping the depth chart moving.
For the Rebels, the biggest upside may be in how freely they can use gifted freshmen without feeling like every snap comes with a long-term cost. It also could help Ole Miss hold onto experienced players a little longer, since the extra eligibility gives coaches more room to think beyond the immediate season and into future roster planning. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Golding Changed What Ole Miss Believes It Can Be
Pete Goldings rise at Ole Miss has already altered the way the program talks about itself. In one run, the Rebels reached territory they had never quite touched before, winning a playoff game at home for the first time and then carrying that momentum into a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia, a result that helped them stand as the last SEC team left in the bracket. For a program that has spent so much of its modern life chasing the leagues top tier, that kind of January mattered just as much as any recruiting splash.
Now comes the harder part: proving it was not a one-off. Ole Miss enters the 2026 season with a strong transfer portal position, but Goldings first full year also brings a demanding schedule and the kind of road tests that quickly reveal whether a breakthrough has real staying power. The Rebels have already shown they can reach places the program had not visited in decades, and the next step is finding out whether they can stay there. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Has One Unit That Could Decide Everything This Season
Ole Miss has reason to feel good about the front of its offense heading into the new season. Three interior linemen are back in Brycen Sanders, Delano Townsend and Patrick Kutas, a group that helped power a rushing attack that was already a strength a year ago. Add in the fact that John David Baker is taking over as offensive coordinator with plans to lean even more heavily on the run, and the line suddenly looks like one of the clearest tone-setters on the roster.
The Rebels did not stop there, either, bringing in two tackles through the transfer portal in Carius Curne and Terez Davis to help shore up the edges. For a team trying to build around physicality and balance, that combination of continuity and new blood gives this unit a chance to shape the whole season. The only real question now is how quickly the newcomers settle in, because the answer could determine just how far this offense can go. [Read more 🡒]