‘We may be underestimating them’: On3 bullish on Ole Miss’ playoff chances
Ole Miss football is replacing over 70 percent of its starting lineup in 2025-26.
However, the Rebels are still receiving the ninth-best odds nationally to reach the College Football Playoff. They also have the eighth-best odds to win the national championship (+2500).
Ole Miss was a preseason darling last season and won 10 games for the third time in four years. The Rebels fell short of the playoff, though, following losses to Kentucky and Florida.
“I’m not sure they’re falling off,” On3 national analyst Andy Staples said Tuesday. “If we look at their transfer portal class, Ole Miss got a lot of the dudes that a lot of people wanted in the portal.
“Luke Hasz, the tight end from Arkansas, was one we thought would be a difference-maker. They got De’Zhaun Stribling, who was Oklahoma State’s best receiver last year [and] Kewan Lacy, the running back from Missouri. They got Princely’s brother, Princewill (Umanmielen), who came from Nebraska.
“We’ve assumed Ole Miss drops off here. I don’t know if we should assume that.”
Ole Miss signed the nation’s No. 3 transfer class, according to On3.
Stribling is ranked Top 5 among returning SEC wide receivers by Pro Football Focus, which also has Hasz as one of 10 tight ends to watch for the 2026 NFL Draft. Lacy is a former 4-star recruit.
Troy transfer running back Damien Taylor has the fourth-highest PFF grade of all SEC running backs (83.0). He was one of eight transfers the Rebels added after spring practices. Ole Miss also brought in a pair of quarterbacks, Trinidad Chambliss and Maealiluaki Smith, to compete with first-year starting quarterback Austin Simmons..
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“This is one we may be underestimating this year,” Staples continued. “You see Ole Miss hanging around in the Top 20 with a lot of the preseason polls. I don’t think anybody really knows what they’re going to be. Can they continue to be good while having this much turnover in the portal or will they have a year like 2024 Florida State at some point down the road?”
The ESPN FPI gives Ole Miss 30.7 percent odds to make the playoffs.
Ole Miss isn’t lacking for returning star power, despite all the new. A pair of juniors will lead both sides of the ball. Cayden Lee is one of the SEC’s most productive returning wide receivers. Suntarine Perkins made his star turn last season as an All-American.
On3’s Ari Wasserman has Perkins as a way-too-early All-American for next season.
“They have a really good quarterback,” Wasserman said. “I also think if they thought [Simmons] wasn’t a really good quarterback they would have behaved differently in the portal. I think they have a much higher floor than Florida State last year, but it probably looks to me like a 9-3-ish type team, which is weird.
“I think [making the playoff] would be a nice little redemption for Lane Kiffin. He’s a really good coach. They blew it last year. That team we saw when they hosted Georgia could have won the national title. If they were to get to it this year, that would make for a nice redemption arc. Lane Kiffin could hold his head high. I don’t know if I buy that’ll happen. There’s too many good teams in the SEC this year to get that far.”
