Predicting the win total ceiling, floor for Ole Miss in 2024
Ole Miss has a high ceiling and a modest floor going into the 2024 season, as On3’s Andy Staples and Cody Bellaire debated.
There are high expectations for the Rebels this fall as Lane Kiffin continually improved the program. With a veteran group back and vibes as high as they’ve been, Ole Miss looks like a playoff team.
Staples and Bellaire debated how high Ole Miss could go on Wednesday’s edition of Andy Staples On3.
In a competitive SEC this fall, Kiffin’s roster looks like one of the best in the country. So with that, it’s 12-team playoff or bust.
Ceiling: Win one, multiple College Football Playoff games
Staples is of the mind Ole Miss should be in the bracket once we hit the postseason. How far do the Rebels get? Remains to be seen.
“The expectations are as high in Oxford as they’ve ever been,” Staples said. “This is a team that won 11 games last year and we are expecting them to probably make the playoff and that’s why as their ceiling I’m saying, not only make the playoff, but win a playoff game or two. I’m not ready to go national title as their ceiling but I definitely feel like they can get into the playoff, win some games maybe and maybe if you can win some games, maybe you can win them all.
“But right this is the rare occasion where it feels like somebody did improve their line of scrimmage dramatically in the transfer portal and nobody ever does that.”
Bellaire took it a step further and said Ole Miss could actually win a national title, if the Rebels play their cards right.
“I think I will go as far to say, Andy, I think this is a team that can win a national title and I think that starts offensively with Jaxson Dart,” Bellaire said. “You know, this is somebody that’s going into his third season as the starter for Ole Miss. Offensively this team goes where he goes, if he can take care of the football, continue to be a consistent chain mover for the Rebels, they have a chance to genuinely be the scariest offensive unit in the country.
“And that’s a team that lost Quinshon Judkins, I totally understand. But the guys that they brought in at that position, Logan Diggs from LSU, who was the primary back. Henry Parrish, who came, who actually signed with Ole Miss out of high school, transferred to Miami, led them in rushing for two years and then they bring him back to Ole Miss. And they also sign a guy named Jacory Merrit, who had nearly 1,200 yards on the ground and scored 17 times last year for New Mexico.”
Floor: 8-4 regular season
Ole Miss will hit this floor if everything goes wrong, essentially.
“I’ve got the floor for them at 8-4, and that’s an abject disaster if things go completely wrong,” Staples said. “They do play some good teams and they play some teams like, we talked about, like the Florida situation, when they go to Gainesville, right after they play Georgia. That can be a little bit tricky. But if Florida is bad at that time, like let’s say they’ve already fallen off or hit a really bad stretch, then no, it’s not going to be tough. Like you’re gonna win that game.
“But, like, we don’t know what Oklahoma is going to be, LSU we just said there’s a high variability there.”
While Bellaire nodded along with Ole Miss’ floor, he wouldn’t even go that far for the Rebels.
“I just don’t see a world in which Ole Miss isn’t in the SEC Championship, am I crazy for saying that,” Bellaire siad. “I just feel like when you look at it on paper, Jaxson Dart comes back. He’s one of the most experienced players not in the SEC, but in the entire country. In terms of reps for a quarterback.
“I just feel like this Ole Miss team, this is what they built. This is exactly this is the moment where the Ole Miss Rebels and if they don’t do it here, I don’t know when they will.”