OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss stayed at No. 6 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll on Sunday as the team heads into the final week of the regular season.
The Rebels did not play over the weekend, but a quiet week nationally helped them hold their spot in both rankings.
The team enters its season finale with a 10-1 record and a strong position among teams pushing for postseason consideration.
Ole Miss did not move up or down, and the rankings around them remained mostly stable with no major top-10 upheaval. The AP poll kept Oregon at No. 5, one spot ahead of Ole Miss, after the Ducks won their game against USC over the weekend.
Texas Tech stayed close behind Ole Miss at No. 7, giving the Rebels little separation from the teams around them.
In the Coaches Poll, the Rebels also held at No. 6, matching their AP position for a second straight week. The consistency reflects how voters view the Rebels’ overall profile as they enter rivalry week.
None of the teams below them posted results that would have pushed them past Ole Miss, and nothing in the national picture shifted enough to impact where the Rebels stood.
The Rebels now turn toward the Egg Bowl, the annual rivalry game against Mississippi State, which is set for 11 a.m. on ABC. The matchup carries the usual significance inside the state, but it also has postseason weight for Ole Miss.
The Rebels have won 10 games again under coach Lane Kiffin and are trying to move closer to securing a favorable postseason position.
A loss would likely damage their standing in key national rankings used to shape the end-of-season bowl landscape.
The report noted that Tuesday will bring the fourth installment of this season’s College Football Playoff rankings.
Those rankings will help show how close the Rebels are to potential movement inside the top tier of the national picture. ESPN will air the rankings reveal at 6 p.m.
Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter also said in the report that the situation involving Kiffin’s future should be resolved after the Egg Bowl, unless something unexpected happens before then.
“Next Saturday is supposed to provide that clarity,” Carter said, which signals that the university anticipates answering questions about whether Kiffin will remain in Oxford after the season.
The AP Top 25 released Sunday again featured Ohio State at No. 1 with an 11-0 record. Indiana remained No. 2, also at 11-0.
Texas A&M stayed at No. 3, followed by Georgia at No. 4 and Oregon at No. 5. Behind Ole Miss at No. 6, Texas Tech landed at No. 7, followed by Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama to round out the top 10.
The Rebels remain one of only a handful of teams with 10 wins entering the last week of regular-season play.
Ole Miss has spent most of November inside the top 10 of both polls. Their only loss came earlier in the season, and they have won consistently enough since then to stay positioned among the national contenders.
Their ranking did not experience movement last week after they defeated South Carolina, and holding steady again this week reflects the stability of the teams in front of them.
The matchup with Mississippi State will be the team’s final chance to influence the polls before postseason selections.
A win would likely keep the Rebels in the top 10 of every major ranking system.
A loss would almost certainly cause a drop in the polls and leave Ole Miss waiting to see where it might land in the final regular-season rankings.
Key takeaways
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Ole Miss stayed at No. 6 in both major polls following its bye week.
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The Egg Bowl will shape postseason positioning and could affect the Rebels’ final ranking.
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Keith Carter said Lane Kiffin’s future clarity is expected after the regular-season finale.
