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LOOK: Ole Miss football’s chase for first national championship since the 60s is here

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•08/26/24•

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Ole Miss WR Juice Wells (Photo credit: Ole Miss Football/Instagram)

Ole Miss will have played its first football game of the 2024-25 season by week’s end. 

The Rebels’ chase for their first national championship since the 60s is here. They were preseason ranked No. 6 in the coaches’ Top 25 poll. On3 national analyst JD PicKell did them one better and placed the Rebels at No. 5 last week.

“Ole Miss, best team (fifth-year head coach Lane) Kiffin’s had, I believe,” PicKell said. “I don’t think that’s a stretch. I think (Georgia) ends up finding their way into the SEC title game. They’ll play their best football in November and peak at the right time.

“Now, who do they meet in Atlanta? Is it Texas? Is it ‘Bama? I could see that. But you know who I actually see in the SEC title game? Ole Miss just chilling there with one loss.”

Of course, it’s not where you start, but how you finish. 

First up for the Rebels is Furman on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+/SECN+. The Rebels opened as a 42.5-point favorite, while the over/under point total is set at 60.5.

“Ole Miss is going to be good,” Nick Saban said last week. Saban, the legendary now-former Alabama head coach, retired after last season. He’s a commentator for ESPN. 

“Ole Miss is going to look like a big-time program up front, which has always been their issue. They lost to us and Georgia last year because they couldn’t match up up front. Now they’ve recruited some guys in the transfer portal to shore up the offensive line. They got a better defensive line. 

“They’re going to look like a SEC team up front, which is going to make them very dangerous.”

The Rebels held a closed, mock-game-like scrimmage Saturday inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

The included photos were provided by Ole Miss Athletics.

“I have huge expectations,” ESPN/College GameDay’s ‘Stanford’ Steve Coughlin said recently of the Rebels. “The one bet I made was Jaxson Dart for the Heisman. Look at what they did (last season) coming back in games.

“I love the depth Lane has gotten across the board as the ‘Portal King. I’m all-in on Ole Miss.”

RELATED: Pat McAfee predicts 12-team College Football Playoff field on ESPN College GameDay

Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart

WR Juice Wells

DL JJ Pegues

WR Tre Harris and RB Ulysses Bentley, IV

Ole Miss CB Trey Amos

Juice Wells

Walter Nolen

Jaxson Dart and Caden Prieskorn

Ole Miss RB Henry Parrish, Jr.

TE Caden Prieskorn

DB John Saunders

LB Suntarine Perkins

Ole Miss DB John Saunders and DL Jared Ivey

WR Cayden Lee

TE Dae’Quan Wright

RT Micah Pettus

OL Julius Buelow

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