Jake’s Take: Don’t miss a snap this Ole Miss football season if you can help it
Author: Jake Adams (@OMRebelNation/X) | Special to the Ole Miss Spirit
About the Columnist: I’ve been writing, blogging and tweeting about Ole Miss since the Houston Nutt days. I also covered the Rebels for the Daily Mississippian and the Oxford Eagle back when newspapers were still a thing.
GAME: MTSU | September 7, 2024
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JAKE ADAMS/We Run the ‘Sip
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will be completely sold out when Georgia Southern visits No. 5 Ole Miss Saturday night at 6:45 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.
This is notable for a couple of reasons: One, it’s not often the Rebels sell out for a Sun Belt Conference opponent. Two, it speaks to the level of excitement fans have about these particular band of Rebels.
Who can blame them? There’s a lot to be excited about through three games.
Ole Miss won them all by a combined score of 168-9. The Rebels lead the nation offensively and haven’t allowed a single touchdown on defense.
Third-year star Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart is living up to his early Heisman hype. Basically, everything has looked as good as we could have possibly hoped.
Ole Miss has looked so good, in fact, fifth-year head coach Lane Kiffin and the team were calling a 40-6 win at Wake Forest “sloppy”.
Thing is, I think we all agree IT WAS a little sloppy — at least according to the standard of near-perfection the Rebels set in the first two games.
The final score probably would’ve looked more like 54-6 if not for the too-many drive-killing penalties and turnovers.
Dart called it the sloppiest 650-yard offensive performance he’ll probably ever be a part of. Kiffin was later asked about Dart’s assessment. He used his time to bring some needed perspective, I think.
“I encourage our fans, this is the year,” Kiffin said after the game. “Like, enjoy what’s going on, because there’s certainly days where you wouldn’t have been finding issues with 34-point road ACC wins.”
RELATED: Lane Kiffin previews Ole Miss-Georgia Southern at weekly press conference
He’s right! It’s ridiculous to expect a 60-point road win over an ACC team.
And yet here we are.
We have high expectations for the 2024-25, title-chasing Ole Miss Rebels because we know just how good they can truly be. What we may be witnessing here is Ole Miss football at its pinnacle — certainly in the modern era.
All those dreams we all had as a kid of the Rebels having that perfect season? And after about 40 years of those dreams being dashed this feels like it could FINALLY be the one.
It may not be. But it realistically could be. And that’s exciting all itself.
ESPN’s FPI currently lists Ole Miss as a favorite in each of its remaining games. Even Georgia.
I know.
But still, this team has the talent, the experience, the desire and the coach to do something really special. And so a little advice from Jake.
Don’t miss a snap if you can help it.
I know it’s Georgia Southern, and I know conference play starts next week. There might be a better game on TV.
But if you have the chance to be in the Vaught for this team you need to be there.
If this really is THE YEAR, you don’t want to look back and remember it any other way than being inside that stadium yelling your head off.
So, let’s fill it up!
Ole Miss has covered every spread this season. I’ll let this winner run.
I’m taking the Rebels -36.5.
