Ole Miss opened the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2026 season at No. 10, a spot earned by a résumé that includes quality wins over LSU and Missouri earlier this year.
The Rebels are 6-2 overall and 4-2 in SEC play, and they’re one of three two-loss SEC teams sitting inside the top 12. Georgia checks in as the highest-ranked SEC team at No. 2 and is projected as the conference champion in one of the top four seeds.
If the bracket were set right now, Ole Miss would be lined up for a rematch with Texas, with the winner advancing to face Georgia in the quarterfinals. That setup won’t actually happen, though, because the Rebels and Bulldogs meet this Saturday in Oxford.
For Ole Miss, the message from the first rankings is pretty simple: win out or risk slipping away. Even a loss to No. 2 Georgia would knock the Rebels out of the top 12, and with three games left against unranked opponents, that defeat likely wouldn’t be enough to push them back into the mix.
The Rebels are trying to get back to the playoff for a second straight season after last year’s run, when they beat Tulane in Oxford and then shocked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl under newly minted head coach Pete Golding.
There’s also the betting angle. FanDuel Sportsbook lists Ole Miss at +1600 to win the national championship, which is ninth-best in the country. Rebel quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is at +1200 to win the Heisman Trophy, the fifth-highest number on the board.
As for the playoff itself, Ole Miss is currently sitting at -195 to make it, close to 2-to-1 odds. The oddsmakers seem to think more chaos is coming this season, and the Rebels may need a little of it when everything shakes out.
In Other News...
Georgia Heads To Ole Miss With Gunner Stockton Facing His Toughest Test
Georgias trip to Oxford brings a different kind of stress test for Gunner Stockton, one that goes beyond the usual road-game noise. Ole Miss has made it clear it wants to get hands on receivers early, shrink the easy throws and make the Georgia quarterback hold the ball long enough for pressure to arrive.
For a Bulldogs offense still settling around Stockton, that means the passing game has to answer a defense built to disrupt timing and force uncomfortable decisions. The Rebels approach is straightforward enough in theory, but it can change the rhythm of a game quickly if Georgia cannot win cleanly at the line and keep Stockton on schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Faces One Huge Test In Trying To Topple Georgia
Auburns upset of No. 1 Georgia offered Ole Miss a useful blueprint, but not necessarily a realistic one. The Tigers won the turnover battle by three and kept drives alive with successful fourth-down conversions, two ingredients that can change a game against a heavyweight in a hurry. Now the Rebels are preparing to host No. 2 Georgia, and the challenge is figuring out how much of that formula can actually carry over to Oxford.
Ole Miss has been solid but not dominant in turnover luck this season, sitting at even in that department, while Georgia remains one of the nations best teams at taking care of the ball. That puts extra pressure on the Rebels to find other ways to create an edge, whether through aggressive fourth-down calls or a more balanced offense that can keep the Bulldogs from settling in. Against a team like Georgia, the margin for error is thin, and Ole Miss will need more than just a good plan to make the upset feel possible. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Must Disrupt One Georgia Strength To Flip This Rivalry
Ole Miss is seeing Georgia again, and this one carries a familiar edge after the Bulldogs took the first two meetings between the teams in the calendar year, including a College Football Playoff quarterfinal. The Rebels know the challenge by now: Georgia has been able to control the matchup, and the task this time is to make the Bulldogs play on Ole Misss terms instead of settling into their preferred rhythm.
Gunner Stockton is central to that plan, because Georgias offense has looked most comfortable when he can operate cleanly and keep the unit moving. For Ole Miss, the path to changing the result starts with disrupting that comfort, forcing pressure and making the Bulldogs work harder for every possession. If the Rebels can do that, they give themselves a real chance to turn a rivalry that has gone Georgias way into something far more competitive. [Read more 🡒]