Will Ole Miss' roster investment pay off? 3 thoughts heading into a big college football Saturday

Maybe it’s because November has been unseasonably warm, but it doesn’t feel like we’re exactly a month away from the final College Football Playoff bracket reveal.

This season has flown by so fast that it’s hard to accept that it’s almost over. But it’s crunch time.

Here are three thoughts I have heading into a pivotal weekend of college football.

Will Ole Miss’ investment pay off?

Ole Miss knew it had a window in 2024 to be really successful, and its supporters went for it. People saw how much talent was returning from last year’s 10-win team and saw an advantageous schedule, so they paid up to add crucial pieces in the portal to make a run at the SEC Championship and Playoff.

The thought was even if Ole Miss were to lose to Georgia, it would have no problem navigating this schedule to at least get to 10 wins and into the Playoff field. That’s not how it worked out. Ole Miss lost a shocker to Kentucky. Then, lost a tough game at LSU, which put it at two losses heading into November.

Ole Miss almost became a prime example of how you can’t buy success.

But that Georgia game is here — in Oxford on Saturday — and the Rebels are playing in a Playoff elimination game. The best part? Ole Miss has an opportunity with a win over the Bulldogs to get to exactly where it wanted to be before the season, albeit arriving there on a different path.

Make no mistake about it. Ole Miss has this roster to not only compete with Georgia but to win games like this. Lane Kiffin hasn’t been successful in these spots during his time in Oxford, but this roster has too much talent on both sides of the ball to get run off the field in its home stadium.

That’s not what Vegas is anticipating, either. Ole Miss is a 2.5-point underdog and coming off a win over Arkansas, having dropped 63 points. Yes, there are 26 players on Ole Miss’ injury report — including receivers Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins — but you have to wonder if there is some gamesmanship there by Kiffin.

By Saturday night, Ole Miss could be right in the heat of a Playoff discussion. Or it can be the example that you can’t buy SEC titles. We’ll see.

LSU-Alabama: Bigger game for Kalen DeBoer or Brian Kelly?

Alabama’s road game at LSU on Saturday night is a true playoff game. Both teams come into the gamer with two losses. One will walk off the field in death valley with three losses and eliminated from contention for the national title.

Who is the game more important to? Kalen DeBoer or Brian Kelly?

The answer is both.

DeBoer is in his first season at Alabama, and things have gone so poorly at times, that fans have questioned his demeanor and attire on the sideline. Alabama got used to a certain standard under Nick Saban’s leadership, and though rational fans know that maintaining that much success isn’t sustainable, the Crimson Tide simply cannot lose to Vanderbilt and Tennessee before November. DeBoer isn’t going to be fired regardless of how Saturday night goes, but the entire way we view the first-year Alabama coach this offseason is likely going to be dictated by this game.

Kelly left Notre Dame to compete for national titles. Even if some questioned whether he was a cultural fit in the South, he beat Alabama and won the SEC West in his first year leading the Tigers. That buys you some patience amongst the fans. But now he’s in year three, and some LSU fans aren’t fond of how the Tigers’ putrid defense last year ruined a generationally good offense led by Heisman Trophy-winner Jayden Daniels. In this era of college football, where rosters can be built in a single year, is it acceptable for LSU to be a three-loss team at the beginning of November?

Both of these teams are going to be motivated by championship aspirations Saturday night. We’ll learn a lot about both coaches, too.

USC’s QB switch to Jayden Maiava

USC quarterback Miller Moss is exactly what a coach would want, especially in this era when it’s so easy to bolt on a program and start somewhere fresh.

Moss stayed committed to USC in the 2021 cycle even after Jaxson Dart (now at Ole Miss) joined that class late. Moss stayed at USC and rode the bench for three years, even after Lincoln Riley brought Caleb Williams with him from Oklahoma to lead the program. Moss had every reason and opportunity to leave and he didn’t. Why? Because he wanted to be at USC.

So when he beat LSU in the season-opener and USC looked for real, it was a heart-warming story about what perseverence can do for a young man in a world where that trait has become increasingly rare.

But Moss got benched this week for Jayden Maiava, who transferred into USC this offseason from UNLV.

That had to be a tough pill for Riley to swallow. You want to see players like Moss reap the benefits of their loyalty. But Moss hasn’t played well for the past month and now the Trojans are five-loss team. Frankly speaking, it has been a disaster.

It’s exciting to see what Riley has up his sleeve. First, Maiava was really good at UNLV, seems to have a high ceiling as a player and is in only his second year of college. Secondly, Riley has the best reputation in college football in both analyzing and developing elite-level quarterbacks.

USC’s season is over. But what if Miava comes out firing Saturday against Nebraska on Nov. 16, that could make for some juice the Trojans desperately need heading into another disappointing offseason.

The truth? USC has way deeper problems than the quarterback position. But maybe Riley can show all things are good at the quarterback position heading into the future. That is, after all, the one thing we’re not supposed to be questioning about this Trojans program.