Dan Orlovsky makes the case for Ole Miss as the SEC's biggest threat to Georgia in 2024
Perennial powers Texas and Oklahoma have finally arrived in the SEC in 2024.
Alabama is still there, even if Nick Saban isn’t.
And Missouri has designs on building on the momentum it built last fall.
But on ESPN’s ‘Get Up’ on Friday morning, college football analyst Dan Orlovsky pinpointed a program that’s been on the rise for some years now. Orlovsky said it’s Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss, not the Crimson Tide or the Longhorns or anyone else, who will be the biggest threat to Georgia in the SEC.
“They’ve got transfers galore,” Orlovsky said of the Rebels. “Which has kind of been their DNA recently. Jaxson Dart at quarterback has played a ton of football for them. They’ve got 3 offensive lineman that are transferring over. And I think their defense, just because of the experience … they’re going to have 1 person on their defense start that’s not a senior.
“They have a ton of talent matched with a boatload of experience.”
Which team will be the biggest threat to Georgia in the SEC? 🍿@danorlovsky7 rolls the dice and says it will be Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss 👀 pic.twitter.com/Nhlht5PIFC
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 22, 2024
The Rebels went 11-2 last fall, finished 6-2 in the SEC, and better yet have found a way to keep Kiffin in Oxford when he easily could’ve jumped to a program that’s experienced success on the highest level more recently than Ole Miss. Like, say, Auburn, which Kiffin spurned last year to stay at Ole Miss.
Now, with Kiffin in place for the long haul and another stacked roster, Ole Miss is positioned to take that next step this fall, and Orlovsky believes the Rebels just might do that.
Ole Miss is +750 to win the SEC this season, according to the latest odds from FanDuel. That trails only Georgia, Texas and Alabama.
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Ole Miss will open the 2024 season against Furman on Aug. 31.
Threat to UGA this year in Oxford? Yes, I think so.
Threat to UGA from an SEC program / staying power perspective? Absolutely not.
Kiffin has clearly raised OleMiss in the general program power rankings. Perception matters. Depending on how this season goes, OleMiss could cement itself into an upper middle tier of the conference during a tumultuous time in College Football. But Oxford will never be as big or have as much money as the top 7ish SEC programs.
And to those who even think that is a stretch. Remember that OleMiss has finished the regular season in the top 12 approximately 4 times since the playoff era (and with 2 different coaches).
Most SEC programs cannot say that. And a decade of the CFP era is no tiny blimp on the radar. OleMiss has elevated it’s position.
I think Ole Miss goes 10-2, possibly 11-1. The schedule looks good, but Texas also has a nice schedule. Texas could finish 2nd. As a homer, I think Ole Miss at LSU, at night, with LSU coming off a bye week, will be difficult for Ole Miss. And I think Georgia will be difficult, even at Oxford. Georgia still has the best QB and the best defense in the SEC.
We have to consistently have 10-2 or 11-1 seasons as well as consistently win against the SEC top tier teams like Alabama, UGA, and LSU. It’s easy to start a season in top 10. Finishing in the top 10 is not so easy. Too often we’ve followed a 10-2 or even 9-3 season going 6-6 or 5-7 for 3-4 years and the cycle starts again.
Ole Miss could very easily go to Baton Rouge undefeated. Toughest game at that point will be @ SC. They get Georgia at home and then they are @ Florida. Biggest thing going against Ole Miss this year IMO is they have to play at some of the tougher locations in the SEC. If any of the games @ SC, LSU, or Florida are night games, that definitely increases the difficulty of those games. Something about night games in those places makes the teams better.
How did Tennessee do when Tennessee played @ LSU a couple of years ago?
They did great. Stomped them for 4 straight quarters. It was an early game though
OMiss, is 100% guaranteed to fall short of it’s knnjjjbig talk, because it’s big talk is 100% guaranteed to be bigger than the reality of its roster and coaching staff. In fact if you look up “overblown” in the dictionary, guess what coach’s photo appears?
Have you actually looked at Ole Miss’s roster? They have a chance this year. Their roster is talented and deeper than normal. I’m a pessimistic fan normally, but I think year will be a great one.