There are 67 days left until Ole Miss football begins the season in Nashville against Louisville.
That number may excite the younger generations for reasons this writer isn’t qualified to answer (i.e., old), but it’s a disheartening number for those of us looking forward to the next college football season.
It’s even more disheartening for a sports writer trying to fill holes in the summer when the biggest news of the day can be a recruit postponing his commitment announcement.
With that in mind, and honoring 6-7’s place in the current pop culture, here are six games and seven players that’ll define the upcoming Ole Miss season.
The Games
Louisville
You can read more about why this game is important here. But it’s the first game of the season and its against a team from a Power 4 conference at a neutral site. No season-defining answers will come out of this game (a one game sample size isn’t enough), but the Rebels will need to win this game if they want to make it back to the CFP.
LSU
Three words: Lane Kiffin returns.
Missouri
This is really the only game that can be switched out. Arguments can be made for games against Florida, Auburn or Oklahoma to be in this spot. Those wouldn’t be wrong, but this game has an emotional angle to it. Former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons is projected to be starting for the Tigers this season.
Texas
This game could have a lot more hype if it was being played in Oxford instead of Austin. Texas quarterback and preseason Heisman contender Arch Manning coming to the place his family name has campus streets named after would be great television. That part aside, the Longhorns will be a popular team predicted to make the CFP, if not win it and the SEC.
Georgia
The Bulldogs have served as the season-defining game for Ole Miss the last two seasons. In 2024, Ole Miss beat Georgia to vault into the top five of the national rankings. In 2025, a close loss established Ole Miss as a real CFP contender and a Sugar Bowl win became the high point of a wild season for the Rebels. Considering Georgia is still Georgia, this year’s game will be just as important.
Mississippi State
Some games will always define a team’s season. For Ole Miss and Mississippi State, the Egg Bowl is one of those games. Does anything else really need to be explained here?
The Players
Trinidad Chambliss, QB
His story doesn’t need retelling. Ole Miss needs Chambliss to not just repeat what he did last season, but to improve on it. He won’t need to do it all (see the next player for why) but his play was a big reason why Ole Miss was in the CFP a year ago.
Kewan Lacy, RB
If Ole Miss doesn’t want to rely heavily on Chambliss to carry the offensive workload, the All-American running back will need to have a big season. Lacy had a historic 2025 campaign, which is what landed him on the cover of EA CFB 27 and one of the highest ratings in the game. Ole Miss will need him to live up to that billing.
Suntarine Perkins, LB
Perkins represents the Rebels’ best returning defender. He showed last year he has the skills to be one of the best linebackers in the SEC. He’ll be counted more heavily this season with TJ Dottery following Kiffin to LSU. He’ll have a great defensive line in front of him to eat blocks and free him up to make tackles. But he’ll also have a role in the pass rush after recording 4.5 last season.
Jalyn Crawford, CB
The defensive secondary was a major weakness for Ole Miss last season, which is why the position group was a big target in the transfer portal. Ole Miss signed several defensive backs, but Crawford was the highest-rated of the group. He got good reports coming out of spring practices, which is a good sign. Crawford needs to lead, along with returning starter Antonio Kite, an improved secondary. If that happens, Ole Miss could have one of the best defenses in the SEC.
Whoever starts at OT
Anyone telling they know who will start at either offensive tackle spot is lying to you. Beyond the Ole Miss coaching staff, nobody knows. That’s a problem, but one we can address later. For now, everyone knows how important a great tackle can be to an offense’s success. Whoever ends up in the starting spots has an important task of opening up running lanes for Lacy and keeping Chambliss upright.
Luke Ferrelli, LB
There are on-field reasons why Ferrelli matters to Ole Miss. He’s the projected starting middle linebacker and could wear the green dot on his helmet. That would make him significantly more important. But he lands on this reason for an off-field reason. Most Ole Miss fans are aware how Ferrelli ended up in Oxford and that there’s an ongoing NCAA investigation into Golding and the Rebels. Should the NCAA actually levy a punishment against the Rebels, it could have a direct, negative impact on the field for Ole Miss.
Lucas Carneiro, K
At some point this season, Ole Miss will need a clutch field goal or two. Or three like it did in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia. Luckily for the Rebels, they return the kicker who made 55- and 56-yard field goals and game-winning 47-yard field goal against the Bulldogs.
