Ole Miss has put itself in the thick of the College Football Playoff conversation, landing at No. 10 in the committee’s first rankings of the 2026-27 season.
The Rebels earned that spot after a strong Week 9 showing against Auburn, when they rolled past the Tigers 31-6 in the second half to improve to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in conference play. That sets up a heavyweight matchup in Oxford this weekend, with No. 2 Georgia coming to town for another top-10 game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
For Ole Miss, the ranking is a notable marker. For Pete Golding, it’s background noise.
During his Monday media availability, Golding said the committee’s initial list doesn’t change the way his team is approaching the stretch run.
“I mean, I don’t know what the exact numbers are, but I think when that first poll came out last year, there were several teams that were in it that didn’t make it. I think there were several teams that made it that weren’t in it, so to the point of controlling what we can control, you’re not going to be worried about that if you don’t go out and play really well on Saturday,” Golding explained. “We’re going to take this thing one game at a time, one day at a time, and go out and look up in December and see where that thing is.
But we got a lot of really quality opponents before then that we’re going to have to prepare and play really well. So it’s always nice from a program standpoint, obviously, to be talked about and be in those things from a recruiting standpoint and public perception and all that.
But this team knows for a long time, like we control our destiny every Saturday. We better do everything that we can Monday through Friday to give ourselves our best shot.
So, no, I’m not going to be paying attention, to answer your question.”
His players echoed that same message. Caleb Cunningham kept it simple when asked about the rankings and the road ahead.
“We got Georgia next,” Caleb Cunningham said. “That’s all that matters, so we ain’t looking ahead. We’re just focused on Georgia this week.”
Will Echoles took the same line, pointing back to Golding’s weekly message and the urgency that comes with two losses.
“PG tells us all the time that as long as we focus on us and not the outside noise, we’ll be okay,” Will Echoles added. “I think we’re in a great position right now.
We got two losses, so right now it’s to the point where every game we play is a playoff game that we gotta win. That’s the mindset we got, so we just take it week by week.”
With the Rebels ranked in the top 10 and Georgia sitting at No. 2, Saturday’s game in Oxford carries plenty of weight - even if Ole Miss insists it’s not looking past the next snap.
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The Chris Beard era opened with the kind of start Ole Miss was looking for, as the Rebels rolled past Alcorn State in their season opener and showed early signs of the defensive pressure and pace Beard wants to establish. Adam Clark led the way with 17 points, while Santiago Trouet gave the bench a lift with 15, helping set a tone that was about more than just an easy win.
Ole Miss turned defense into offense throughout the night, forcing 26 turnovers and turning those mistakes into 39 points. The Rebels also controlled the paint and got out in transition, two areas that should matter plenty as the schedule tightens and the first impressions of Beards team begin to mean a little more. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Knows Exactly What Cannot Happen Against Georgia Again
Pete Golding has spent enough time around Ole Miss to know the Georgia game can turn into a measuring stick in a hurry, and he has been clear about the difference between the Rebels two most recent meetings with the Bulldogs. In the regular-season loss, Ole Miss never quite found its footing on either side of the ball, but the Sugar Bowl told a different story, with the Rebels playing cleaner, more complete football and pulling out a 39-34 win.
Now the challenge is less about discovery than repetition. Ole Miss is headed into another important matchup with Georgia, and Golding has made the point that the Rebels cannot afford to drift back into the version of themselves that struggled the first time around. The standard has already been set once, and for Ole Miss, the task is making sure the better version shows up again when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Has A Defensive Problem Better Teams Will Target
Ole Miss left Auburn with a 45-15 win, but the box score did not tell the whole defensive story. The Rebels were sharp enough to control the game overall, yet third downs remained a nagging issue, especially in the first half, when Auburn found too many ways to extend drives and keep the pressure on the defense.
That problem is hard to ignore because Ole Miss sits near the bottom of the SEC in third-down conversion defense, a trend that stronger opponents are likely to test. The Rebels did settle in after halftime and tightened up enough to help seal the victory, but with Georgia and other top teams ahead, the margin for error on money downs is going to shrink fast. [Read more 🡒]