The College Football Playoff rankings will be updated at 6 p.m. Tuesday and a lot of attention will be paid to where Ole Miss lands.
The Rebels capped off their regular season last week with a 38-19 win against Mississippi State for the school’s first-ever 11-win season. They were ranked No. 7 in last week’s CFP rankings and, under normal circumstances, could expect to move up one spot with No. 3 Texas A&M losing its first game of the season.
The Aggies fell to No. 7 in the latest AP Poll and Ole Miss moved up one spot to No. 6.
However, these are not normal circumstances.
Abnormal circumstances
At this point, everyone knows the situation.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has left the Rebels in the midst of a historic season to become the next head coach at LSU. He’s also taken some of the Ole Miss offensive assistant coaches with him to Baton Rouge.
Unfortunately for the Rebels remaining in Oxford, the CFP selection committee has to take into consideration the coaching changes.
One of the four principles the committee uses is, “Other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team’s performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.”
Ole Miss is, currently, in position to host a playoff game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. But if the committee doesn’t think the Rebels will be as good without Kiffin and other coaches, there might not be a home playoff game.
If that happens, Kiffin won’t just be considered a supervillain. He’ll be Thanos-level villain in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
And if Kiffin thought it was rough getting to the Oxford airport to leave for LSU, he’ll need more than just a cop or two to get him to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium safely next when the Tigers come to Oxford.
Eli Manning’s opinion
One prominent former Ole Miss player doesn’t think the coaching changes should impact the Rebels’ playoff ranking.
“I don’t even know if Lane was in one meeting last week before they played Mississippi State,” Eli Manning said in an interview with Sirius Radio. “I think his mind was set up. He was going to LSU.
It showed that these players can go out there and play. And Pete Golding’s done a great job. He’s going to lead those guys. He’s got them fired up. the players are excited to continue this season and have a real shot at winning a national championship.”
🐐🫡 @EliManning pic.twitter.com/nQVo7CQE1B
— Matt Jones (@2MKJ7) December 2, 2025
