Greg McElroy explains why he believes Ole Miss can win a national championship in 2024

Greg McElroy is confident in the Ole Miss Rebels, and their ability to potentially win a national championship, ahead of the 2024 college football season.

Lane Kiffin’s bunch is a polarizing program, but they’re as talented as any team in the sport entering a new campaign. With Nick Saban’s retirement, the SEC is wide-open after Georgia, it seems, and McElroy explained on his Always College Football with Greg McElroy show why the Rebels are a contender.

“Let’s go next to another Tier 1 team, and people will push back on this because they don’t acknowledge the championship possibilities of a team that hasn’t been there. We need to wake up and get on board with the possibility that Ole Miss could win the whole dang thing. They could,” McElroy started. “I just put Penn State in Tier 1 a week ago. Okay, Penn State was in Tier 1 when they did the Big Ten. Why? I love their roster. Well, I also went back, and I know we can’t use bowl games as the ultimate indicator of future success. If you do, you probably shouldn’t, but I did see the No. 1 defense in the country on the field that day, and I did see an Ole Miss offense that dropped 38 points and 540 yards against the No. 1 defense in the country.

“I also look at what they have back on offense. They return eight guys that started for them last year, and they went out and added about a handful of other starters from other places that are only going to reinforce the quality they had coming back. Jaxson Dart is excellent. Has been for a while. Was challenged last year in the off season. Came out a better player as a result of the three way quarterback battle that they had throughout the 2023 campaign. Well, now he’s looking back, and he’s thrown for over 6000 yards. Pretty good. One of two quarterbacks in the SEC that’s thrown for 6000 yards. You do have a couple of questions. Sure, you lose Quinshon Judkins. That’s fine. Ulysses Bentley steps right in. He averaged almost six yards a carry last year. The wide receivers, no one’s pushing back on that. Tre Harris is back. Jordan Watkins is back. Caden Prieskorn is back at tight end. You add Juice Wells from South Carolina, a guy that was a preseason All SEC player going into last year. Was banged up last year, for the most part, but they have the weapons.”

In addition to Ole Miss’ immense weapons, McElroy believes the difference will be their additions on the line-of-scrimmage, and the Rebels’ defensive talent in 2024.

“The problem with Ole Miss, for a long time, it’s always been that they had weapons, but on the line-of-scrimmage, offensively and defensively, they weren’t quite as good as some of the teams that they would play,” McElroy added. “They weren’t as good as Georgia. They went as good as Bama. They weren’t as good as LSU, along both lines of scrimmage. That now has changed with some of the additions they’ve made in the portal. A couple of big additions along the offensive line, but along the defensive lines, where it might be felt more.

“Walter Nolen transfers in from Texas A&M. Was the No. 1 recruit in the world a couple years ago. They also bring in Princely Umanmielen, who led Florida and tackles for loss, sacks and quarterback hurries. This was a team last year that was 70th in total defense, and 382 yards per game given up, and they gave up 153 yards a game in rush defense. That was 73rd, okay? That’s not going to be the case this year. I expect them to be much better defensively, and I expect them to be a whole heck of a lot stouter against the run, with some of the additions they’ve made in the portal.”

Greg McElroy on Ole Miss’ schedule: ‘Challenges’ on the back end, but they’re ‘probably going to get to the CFP’

Elsewhere, Ole Miss’ schedule is shaping up favorably, especially in the first couple of weeks for the Rebels, but McElroy believes if they can make it through their tough backend, Kiffin’s squad will be one of the teams contending for a title.

“Look at the schedule, too. The non-conference shouldn’t cause any problems,” McElroy said. “They go to Wake in Week 3. Other than that, they should be able to handle their business en route to a 4-0 start. At LSU on Oct. 12, it could be a very difficult game. Could be a shootout. They had 700 yards of offense against LSU last year. Oklahoma, they come to Oxford on Oct. 26. So, they really have a month, to kind of get their ducks in a row, before things tighten up in the middle of October, and get a little bit tighter as the rest of the season goes along.

“I do think their final five games are challenging, for sure. Egg Bowl is always tough, but you’ve got Oklahoma on the 26th of October. You’ve got Georgia on the ninth. They come to them. Then, you go to Florida on Nov. 23. So, I do think there are challenges there on the back end. Still, they’re probably going to get to the College Football Playoff. I think when they get there, they can win some games, en route to a possible national championship opportunity.”

As you can tell, Greg McElroy’s confidence in Ole Miss isn’t unfounded. Whether the Rebels live up to the hype or not remains to be seen, but it’s not difficult to see why many analysts believe a fruitful season is on the way in Oxford.