After Ole Miss Football defeated Missouri 31-3, the AP poll moved the Rebels from No. 9 to No. 7. Week 7 had several wild upsets, so AP voters had their hands full with difficult decisions; however, it is a shame that Ole Miss is only No. 7. Head coach Pete Golding and the Rebels have a better resume than several teams above them in the polls.
Going into Week 8, two of Ole Miss’ three ranked wins are still in the Top 25. LSU is now No. 18. Missouri fell to No. 22 after the loss.
The Rebels defeated then-No. 24 Louisville in Week 1; however, the Cardinals are 4-3 on the season and fell out of the rankings a while ago. Ole Miss’ lone loss was to then-No. 21 Florida.
After the Gators handily defeated the Rebels 52-28, they went on to lose big to Missouri and South Carolina, ultimately falling out of the rankings. With a road win over Texas, the Gators find themselves back in the Top 25 at No. 20.
Ole Miss is the only team in the country to have three ranked wins. Its lone loss was against a ranked team on the road after an emotional Week 3 win. No one in the league has a better resume than Ole Miss at this point. The Rebels have a strong case to be at least a Top-5 team, especially after the anarchy in Week 7.
Georgia took an ugly loss home loss to unranked Auburn but fell just four spots. The Bulldogs have a good win against Alabama to hang their hat on. Still, miraculously, they are two spots above Ole Miss.
Notre Dame, in its first actual test of the year, lost to now-No. 2 BYU. The Fighting Irish have two more ranked games this season to prove themselves with matchups against No. 1 Miami and No. 23 SMU. As of right now, Notre Dame has not beaten a ranked team.
Indiana lost to Ohio State and fell one spot, while the Buckeyes moved up one. To the Hoosiers’ credit, they defeated now-ranked Northwestern, but their 2026 resume does not come close to that of Ole Miss.
Miami is currently No. 1, and the Hurricanes should be. However, it took the Hurricanes two overtimes and two questionable game-defining calls on the final two plays of the game to defeat unranked Florida State. In all fairness, FSU-Miami is a rivalry game, meaning all bets are off.
With BYU’s win over unproven Notre Dame, the Cougars now have two ranked wins. They shot up a whopping six spots. AP voters are certainly very high on the Irish this year, paving the path for the Cougars to get 20 first place votes.
With all the chaos this year, particularly in the SEC, if the Rebels defeat No. 19 Texas on the road this weekend, which would be their fourth ranked win of the year, they will have a real shot at No. 1.
SEC teams have struggled with consistency this year. No one has been able to get into a groove yet. Just when you thought Ole Miss was going to take off after the victory against LSU, the Rebels got pummeled in The Swamp. Georgia fans thought the same thing after defeating Alabama on the road — then the Bulldogs suffered a loss similar to Ole Miss’ home defeat against Kentucky in 2024.
The Rebels undeniably had their best performance of the season in Week 7. They were finally able to stop the run and were nearly perfect in the red zone on defense. Ole Miss will need to continue this dependability to climb the rankings.
The college football world is not giving the Rebels enough credit this season, which is not out of the ordinary, but it is particularly frustrating after Ole Miss got off to a great start, got punched in the mouth and recovered well with another ranked win.
Indeed, the Rebels bounced back after the loss to Florida. Texas, on the other hand, lost to an unranked Oklahoma in a rivalry game in Week 6 and did not improve this past week against Florida.
The Week 4 loss in Florida cannot be forgotten, but Ole Miss is not the only SEC team to lose coming off a big win. Georgia lost to Auburn after beating Alabama. Mississippi State lost big after defeating Missouri. Texas lost to Oklahoma after a road win over Tennessee.
The Rebels have gone through the gauntlet since Golding became head coach, and they deserve better credibility.
Next Saturday’s game against No. 19 Texas will be Golding’s eighth ranked opponent in 10 games. He has a 5-2 record in those games, which is tied with former Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer for the fewest total games (nine) by a head coach to defeat five ranked opponents.
