Tag: Ole Miss Football

TV, kickoff time set for Georgia at Ole Miss game

No. 2 Georgia and No. 18 Ole Miss play each other on Saturday, Nov. 9

The Georgia Bulldogs at Mississippi Rebels game will be televised on ABC. Georgia (6-1, 4-1) is the No. 2 team in the US LBM Coaches Poll. Ole Miss is (6-2, 2-2) and ranked No. 18.

The Rebels play at Arkansas the week before playing Georgia. Georgia plays Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, ahead of the Nov. 9 clash with Ole Miss. The Georgia-Ole Miss game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Georgia’s game at Ole Miss will be the Bulldogs’ final road game of the season. Ole Miss is fighting for its College Football Playoff hopes, so the Rebels will come out motivated against Georgia.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and quarterback Carson Beck helped UGA defeat Ole Miss, 52-17, during the 2023 college football season. The Rebels’ loss to Georgia made them adjust a few things with their program.

“I feel bad for our fans, you know, to not have one night conference game,” said Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin on playing Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Georgia needs to win out in SEC play to have a good chance to make the SEC championship game. Kirby Smart is 1-1 in his career against Ole Miss and 0-1 on the road. Smart and Georgia lost to Mississippi, 45-14, in 2016.

Ole Miss fans went wild for a squirrel interrupting play with a run for the end zone

Touchdown, squirrel!

During Saturday’s Oklahoma-Ole Miss game, a special furry guest stole the show.

A squirrel ran onto the field in Oxford during the game’s first quarter and briefly stopped play. As the crowd started to catch on to what was going on, cheers erupted for the squirrel as it darted toward the end zone.

We’re not sure where this squirrel went, probably to a tree near The Grove, but the stat keepers better record a touchdown for this squirrel in the box score. This was as clean a touchdown as you’ll see in football this fall.

The 2025 NFL Draft class might have some competition.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN. 

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Texans land former top defensive recruit in latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft

Ole Miss superstar Walter Nolen could be headed to NRG Stadium in 2025.

Currently, the Houston Texans’ top need is defensive back help. Jimmie Ward and Kamari Lassiter remained sidelined for the next several weeks due to injury. Rookie Calen Bullock, plus veterans Jalen Pitre and Eric Murray, have been hit-and-miss this season in man coverage. 

But what’s the Texans’ biggest need entering the offseason? For now, it remains defensive tackle. Houston chose to spend money elsewhere in the offseason, thus leading to one-year deals with Tim Settle, Foley Fatukasi and Mario Edwards Jr. 

The Texans would be wise to find an interior running mate to pair alongside Defensive Player of the Year candidate Will Anderson Jr. and Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter. That’s what ESPN has the Texans doing in its latest mock draft with the selection of Ole Miss defensive lineman Walter Nolen at pick No. 30. 

A true wrecking ball up the middle is one of the few missing ingredients for an elite football team in Houston. After two underwhelming seasons at Texas A&M, Nolen is having a breakout year in his first season at Ole Miss. He already has 2.5 sacks, five tackles for loss and 8 run stops. With aggressive hands and a sudden first step, he’s consistently able to defeat single blocks at the first level.

Formerly the No. 1 defensive recruit of the 2022 class, Nolen started two years for the Aggies before transferring this offseason. Despite the underwhelming results under then-coach Jimbo Fisher, Nolen flashed potential, totaling nine tackles for loss, 24 QB hits and four sacks. 

Entering the Rebels’ bye week, Nolen has been the anchor of a defense that leads the nation in run defense, holding opponents to 1.96 yards per attempt and 66.5 yards per game.

Edwards, Settle and Fatukasi call could cash in elsewhere this offseason, meaning Houston could bargain shopping once more to fill the void up the middle. Bringing in a player with a fifth-year option to shore up some money elsewhere makes not only sense on paper but also to a defense headlined by DeMeco Ryans. 

The Texans are also picking 30th, which means that ESPN believes Houston is poised to go on a postseason run.

To show up in the AFC title game for the first time in franchise history and land a potential All-American defensive lineman as the foundation of the run defense? It’s hard for Texans fans to hate that result entering 2025. 

Texas A&M stays pat in Football Power Index rankings after Week 7 bye

Here is where Texas A&M currentl ranks in the newest ESPN FPI standings

Texas A&M (5-1, 3-0 SEC) enjoyed the bye week during Week 7 of the 2024 college football schedule before preparing to travel to Starkville to face Mississippi State next Saturday, which looks like a “trap game” on paper.

Around the rest of the SEC, Alabama and Tennessee dropped in both major rankings after barely winning against lesser opponents just a week after losing on the road. Even more surprising, Ole Miss was likely eliminated from the College Football Playoffs after losing to LSU in overtime. The Rebels are now 5-2 and 1-2 in SEC play.

Ahead of Texas A&M’s Week 8 clash against Mississippi State, here are the updated ESPN FPI rankings.

Texas A&M football’s FPI ranking, rating

According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, Texas A&M stayed at No. 12 during the bye with a 15.6 FPI rating, the sixth-highest among SEC teams. The Aggies are projected to win 8.8 games and have a 1.3% chance of winning out. Sitting at 5-1, A&M currently has a 32.8% chance to make the playoffs and a 2.9% chance to make the National Championship game.

SEC team in FPI

Within the conference, four of the top five teams in the rankings are outside the SEC, led by the Texas Longhorns (29.8), followed by Alabama (3rd, 23.7), Georgia (4th, 22.5), the Ole Miss Rebels (5th, 21.6), while Tennessee (20.3) came in 7th.

Despite the big win, two spots below Texas A&M, LSU (14.6) settled in at 14th, while the Missouri Tigers (19th, 12.7) and Oklahoma Sooners (20th, 12.0) finished out of the Top 20. Here is the rest of the SEC team rankings.

  • South Carolina (26th, 9.2)
  • Florida (27th, 8.7)
  • Kentucky (32nd, 7.8)
  • Auburn (34th, 7.6)
  • Vanderbilt (35th, 7.6)
  • Mississippi State (59th, 2.0)

Texas A&M will face Mississippi State on the road on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 3:15 p.m. CT. The game will air on the SEC Network.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

These stunned Ole Miss fans perfectly summed up the shocking Kentucky upset

Ole Miss is down bad.

No. 6 Ole Miss suffered a stunning loss at home on Saturday to Kentucky on a missed last-second field goal, and the fans weren’t thrilled about it.

The kick from Ole Miss’ Caden Davis went wide left as time expired on the SEC matchup, leaving Kentucky victorious with a 20-17 final score.

This is the kind of deflating loss that could put Ole Miss’ playoff chances in peril if they can’t finish the season without a loss.

The fans at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford seemed to realize that very tough reality for Ole Miss going ahead after the missed kick, as these screenshots show.

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1840119291158434157

https://twitter.com/ehatt493/status/1840113414481314057

https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1840120585952621000

Whew, that is a brutal loss for Ole Miss and its fans.

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Cameras caught Ole Miss seemingly telling a player to fake an injury to stop the clock

Was this a real injury or just a really bad flop?

No. 6 Ole Miss running back Matt Jones didn’t seem all that concerned with how obvious his flop looked during his team’s game against Kentucky.

Jones’ team got a clock stoppage during its Saturday matinee when the running back fell to the ground at the suggestion of Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart.

The team seemed to want Jones to fall down to earn an injury timeout, which felt, well, a bit suspicious at first glance. He really seemed ready to go for the next play until Dart made the motion for him to fall to the ground.

We’re not here to judge whether or not Ole Miss wanted Jones to fake an injury to stop the clock, but we’re not saying that’s what’s not happening here, either.

However, ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough apparently thought it was clearly a blatant faked injury for Ole Miss. You be the judge.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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Brian Kelly continued LSU-Ole Miss feud by trolling Lane Kiffin over his Coca-Cola rant

Brian Kelly doesn’t want a piece of Lane Kiffin. He wants the WHOLE thing.

As the 2024 college football season nears, it sure looks like LSU’s Brian Kelly still wants all of the smoke from Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin. He couldn’t have made it more obvious during a Wednesday press conference in Baton Rouge.

The public feud between the respective schools’ football programs is definitely back on.

Just days after Kiffin went viral for a random tangent about how unhealthy Coca-Cola is for people, Kelly strolled to the podium immediately pontificating about how much he enjoys Smartwater — a Coca-Cola product — and all Coca-Cola products in general. (Especially because they’re an apparent sponsor of LSU athletics.)

Because he also said it before taking any questions, it was abundantly clear Kelly was making reference to Kiffin’s rant:

I get that Kelly probably has a healthy distaste for Kiffin, and I appreciate his going out of the way to hate an SEC rival. But did he really have to go the commercial route, talking about how much he loves an endorsed product out loud? I can’t lie. I didn’t even really laugh at this little exchange. I probably would’ve given him a fake laugh if I had been there in person.

Who am I kidding? It’s not as if Kelly has a good pulse about not sounding and looking incredibly corny.

Ole Miss and LSU will meet in this year’s Magnolia Bowl on October 12. Stay tuned because more fireworks between Kiffin and Kelly are probably on the way.

Lane Kiffin’s rant about how unhealthy Coca-Cola is was so unhinged (but completely correct)

Lane Kiffin does make a really good point.

Lane Kiffin has never been a stranger to wearing his heart on his sleeve in public.

Even earlier this summer, the Ole Miss head coach savagely dunked on SEC media personality Paul Finebaum. But where Kiffin sometimes gives off a “bro’s bro” vibe, his short rant about Coca-Cola hits the mark.

During a recent press conference, when it came time to start answering questions from the media, Kiffin noticed a Coca-Cola curiously placed at the top of his lectern. He proceeded to go on a tangent about how one standard bottle of the soda has more sugar intake than is recommended over a full day for an average adult. Kiffin would, of course, clarify that he hasn’t drunk “Coke” in a “long time.”

It was a funny little moment for the face of Ole Miss football to dunk on a product directly paying Ole Miss for vending.

As random as Kiffin’s sidebar was, is he wrong?

Newsflash: Most sodas are very bad for you! Plus, it’s not as if he was telling anyone not to drink it. He was just stating a fact — unprompted, yes — backed up by his reading of the nutrition label.

And I’m also not surprised Kiffin fixated on Coca-Cola as someone who lost 30 pounds three years ago. Do you want to know how he probably partly did it? Cutting any and all soda out of his diet!

This is a reminder that Kiffin really does contain multitudes, even when it comes to a balanced and nutritional diet.

Ole Miss AD confirms that football series cancellation with USC was ‘mutual’

Ole Miss’s athletic director shot down the idea that it was only USC’s idea to scrap the home and home football series.

Ole Miss Athletic Director Keith Carter cast doubt on the viability of the Rebels’ football series with the USC Trojans at a fan event last week, saying that he expects the SEC to move to nine conference games. A lot of people think Lincoln Riley initiated this move, but this was a mutual effort by Ole Miss and USC. The Trojans didn’t take a lead role here; this was a joint effort with both sides agreeing they needed to scrap this home-and-home football arrangement.

“I think that’s going to happen,” Carter stated recently at a public event. “I think you’re seeing some of these more marquee matchups maybe coming off the books because of that. If you look at USC, they’re going into the Big Ten and they’re playing nine conference games now. I think that’s probably in our future, too.”

Some conspiracy theorists said the cancellation of the home and home series with Ole Miss is why USC lost out on 2025 commits Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson, when in reality, the Trojans were hardly the only party to participate in the removal of these games from future football schedules.

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USC, Ole Miss cancel home-and-home football series in 2025, 2026

USC and Ole Miss won’t meet on the gridiron. Heavy sigh.

The USC and Ole Miss football programs have canceled their home-and-home series, originally scheduled for 2025 and 2026. Lane Kiffin won’t coach against USC.

Michael Katz, a USC alumnus who covers Ole Miss sports for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, noted the Kiffin angle in his report:

“Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin served as USC’s head coach from 2010-2013, compiling a 43-28 record before being fired after five games into the 2013 season. Following his dismissal from USC, Kiffin took over as Alabama’s offensive coordinator and then as FAU’s head coach before being named Ole Miss’ head coach in December of 2019.

“Kiffin has led the Rebels to a 34-15 record in his four seasons, including the first two 10-win regular seasons in program history. Ole Miss has been to a pair of New Year’s Six games under Kiffin, including the Peach Bowl last season against Penn State. The victory over the Nittany Lions secured the first 11-win campaign in school history.”

The Trojans tried to back out of their game against LSU this season, but could not. This, on the other hand, is an arrangement Ole Miss was willing to go along with. It’s obvious that USC doesn’t want to overextend itself in nonconference scheduling, given the difficulty of Big Ten schedules.

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