Ole Miss football highest preseason rankings: Rebels' No. 6 spot their best since 1970
The feelings of unbridled optimism that have surrounded Ole Miss football since the end of the 2023 college football season now have some numbers affixed to them — some impressive numbers, at that.
One week after debuting at No. 6 in the US LBM Coaches Poll for the 2024 season, the Rebels earned an identical No. 6 preseason ranking from the AP Top 25 poll on Monday. It exhibits and solidifies the belief from sports writers and coaches alike from across the country that the Rebels are firmly in the mix to make the College Football Playoff in the event’s first year as a 12-team tournament.
For Lane Kiffin’s program, which is coming off a school-record 11 wins in 2023, there’s also a historical significance to the ranking.
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The No. 6 slot in the preseason AP poll is the highest Ole Miss has been since all the way back in 1970, when the Rebels were being piloted by a dynamic young quarterback named Archie Manning and a coach, John Vaught, whose name now graces the team’s stadium.
Under Vaught, Ole Miss was a national power for much of the 1950s and 1960s, a run that included a national championship in 1960 and a perfect season in 1962. The years and decades that followed that 1970 campaign were decidedly leaner, though over the past 10 years, the Rebels have become a regular presence in the top 25 under Hugh Freeze and, now, Kiffin.
To put Monday’s ranking into historical perspective, here’s a look at Ole Miss’ highest preseason rankings in the AP poll since 1970, along with how those seasons turned out:
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Ole Miss football highest preseason rankings
2009
Preseason ranking: No. 8
Final ranking: 20
Houston Nutt inherited a three-win program from Ed Orgeron and instantly improved the Rebels, guiding them to a 9-4 season in 2008 that included a road upset of eventual national champion Florida that prompted a famous postgame speech from an emotional Tim Tebow and a win over a top-10 Texas Tech team in the Cotton Bowl.
After earning a preseason top-10 ranking, Ole Miss got off to a slow start, dropping games against South Carolina, Alabama and Auburn to sit at 5-3. It rebounded effectively, though, winning four of its final five games, including against Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl, to finish with an identical 9-4 record.
2016
Preseason ranking: No. 11
Final ranking: Unranked
Following one of the best seasons in modern program history in 2015, the Rebels were once again expected to be among the nation’s top teams. In this instance, it didn’t quite work out as it was imagined.
While the program remained the subject of an ongoing NCAA investigation, Ole Miss struggled on the field. Against an unforgiving schedule featuring seven ranked teams, the Rebels finished the season 5-7. That underwhelming record wasn’t only a product of stiff competition, as Ole Miss lost five of its final seven games, including defeats against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State by a combined 56 points to wrap up the season.
It was its first sub-.500 season under Freeze, who resigned in July 2017 after the university discovered a “pattern of personal misconduct inconsistent to the standards we expect from the leader of our football team.”
1972
Preseason ranking: No. 16
Final ranking: Unranked
Two years after Manning played the final game of his legendary career in Oxford, the Rebels were still among the better programs in the SEC and nationally, having finished the 1971 season 10-2 and No. 15 in the final AP poll.
An encore performance ultimately wasn’t in the cards. Following a 3-0 start, Ole Miss dropped five of its final seven games to finish a disappointing 5-5. That Rebels team had importance beyond the field, though, as it was the first integrated squad in program history.
2015
Preseason ranking: No. 17
Final ranking: No. 10
Ole Miss was an ascendant program following the 2014 season, with a 24-15 record and three bowl appearances in Freeze’s first three seasons.
The 2015 season represented another step for the Rebels, who went 10-3 and thumped Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl. The 10 wins tied a program and marked just the second time since 1971 that Ole Miss won double-digit games. The Sugar Bowl appearance was the program’s first since 1969.
2000
Preseason ranking: No. 18
Final ranking: Unranked
David Cutcliffe had a strong first season the Ole Miss, leading the Rebels to an 8-4 record and a No. 22 ranking in the final AP poll after taking over a program that had improved greatly under Tommy Tuberville before he infamously and duplicitously bolted for SEC foe Auburn.
With a roster featuring future Pro Bowl running back Deuce McAllister and another Manning at quarterback — Eli, a redshirt freshman who attempted 33 passes that season — the Rebels went 7-5 despite having a schedule that featured just two ranked teams. Still, Ole Miss was able to beat a ranked Mississippi State team in the Egg Bowl and make it to the Music City Bowl, where it fell to West Virginia.
2014
Preseason ranking: No. 18
Final ranking: No. 17
On the heels of back-to-back top-15 recruiting classes and bowl appearances in each of Freeze’s first two seasons, the Rebels began asserting themselves on the national scene heading into the 2014 campaign, hype that included a preseason top-25 ranking.
Ole Miss started off hot start, winning their first seven games, a run that was highlighted by an October win against then-No. 3 Alabama that, perhaps most famously, had pop star Katy Perry gracing The Grove to be the “College GameDay” celebrity guest-picker. Behind that 7-0 record, the Rebels rose to No. 3 nationally, but lost four of their final six games, including a 42-3 rout at the hands of TCU in the Peach Bowl.
2022
Preseason ranking: No. 21
Final ranking: Unranked
In 2021, Kiffin led the Rebels to their third 10-win season since 1971, raising expectations for the following season.
As it did in 2014, Ole Miss got off to a 7-0 start and climbed to No. 7 in the AP poll. From there, however, it lost five of its final six games, with all but one of those losses coming to unranked teams.
2023
Preseason ranking: No. 22
Final ranking: No. 9
After that uneven 2022 season, the Rebels once again found themselves in the preseason top 25. This time, they didn’t just meet expectations, but shattered them.
Behind a high-powered offense that averaged 35.1 points per game, Ole Miss rattled off a school-record 11 wins, with its only two losses of the season coming to eventual SEC champion Alabama and then-No. 1 Georgia, both of which were on the road. It ended the season of a high note, knocking off Penn State in the Peach Bowl.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss preseason football rankings: 2024 Rebels best since 1970
