Way-too-early top 25 for college football in 2026: 7 - Ole Miss
There have been a lot of teams with hectic happenings following the regular season, but none more so than the Ole Miss Rebels. Losing Lane Kiffin in the way that they did followed by the playoff run that they went on was the stuff of movies— and it would have been even more so had they made it to the championship, but it was not to be.
Now, Pete Golding is left to pick up the pieces and make something happen in Oxford next season. He will most likely be doing so with Trinidad Chambliss behind center once again— his waiver was denied by the NCAA, but those objections are dropping like flies nowadays, and he's already challenged it in court.
What Golding will be lacking, though, is offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr., who heads to LSU along with Kiffin. He'll be replaced by ECU's John David Baker, who has experience in the same system as Weis, but that's still an unknown going forward.
The Rebels have a bit of a tougher draw in the SEC in 2026, but if they make it through with ten wins, they'll be in the playoff field (barring a crowd of teams right at that same number like we saw last year). The real work starts now for Golding— we'll see if this was just a panic hire by the Rebel brass, or if it was prescient.