Ole Miss can add one more accomplishment to its historic 2026 season: it’s highest ever finish the AP Top 25 Poll in more than 50 years.
The Rebels landed at No. 3 overall in the final AP Top 25 College Football Poll the morning after Indiana capped off an even more historic national championship against Miami, the team that ended the Rebels’ CFP run.
By virtue of playing in the national title game, Indiana and Miami sit atop the poll. Oregon was the other team to fall in a College Football Playoff semifinal game and finished No. 4 in the rankings.
The only other time Ole Miss finished a season with a higher ranking in the AP Poll was in 1959 when a Johnny Vaught-led Rebels’ team finished 10-1 and defeated LSU 21-0 in that season’s Sugar Bowl. That season was also the first of three seasons Ole Miss claims to be national championship-winning seasons.
Considering the turmoil Ole Miss went through in the season’s final two months, finishing No. 3 overall is amazing. Former coach Lane Kiffin didn’t think it was possible, or else why would he abandon the Rebels before making their first-ever playoff?
He also didn’t think the Rebels would go very far, as evidenced by some LSU-bound assistant coaches not being with Ole Miss for the semifinal game against Miami. (It also begs the question about how exactly Kiffin would’ve handled coaching Ole Miss and preparing to take over LSU at the same time if the excuse for bringing them back early was they were needed to help recruit in the transfer portal…but that answer is pretty obvious.)
Ole Miss is also bringing back a lot of key contributors to this season’s team, which means the next preseason polls in August should see the Rebels with a high preseason ranking.
Final AP Top 25 College Football Poll
- Indiana 16-0
- Miami (FL) 13-3
- Ole Miss 13-2
- Oregon 13-2
- Ohio State 12-2
- Georgia 12-2
- Texas Tech 12-2
- Texas A%M 11-2
- Alabama 11-4
- Notre Dame 10-2
- BYU 12-2
- Texas 10-3
- Oklahoma 10-3
- Utah 11-2
- Vanderbilt 10-3
- Virginia 11-3
- Iowa 9-4
- Tulane 11-3
- James Madison 12-2
- USC 9-4
- Michigan 9-4
- Houston 10-3
- Navy 11-2
- North Texas 12-2
- TCU 9-4
Others receiving votes: Illinois 123, Washington 76, SMU 69, Duke 58, Arizona 54, Georgia Tech 44, Tennessee 10, Missouri 8, Louisville 7, Old Dominion 3, W. Michigan 2, Wake Forest 2, Hawaii 1, Boise St. 1.
