Ole Miss has beaten Alabama two consecutive seasons. The Rebels beat LSU by three touchdowns last season. The rhetoric that came out of SEC Media Days was how Mississippi State was the most disrespected team on the planet. Ole Miss can probably feel its share of disrespect, too.

The Rebels were picked to finish third in the SEC West, behind the two aforementioned teams, in a year the Rebels have perhaps their best chance to win the West and finally get to Atlanta.

There are questions, sure. Does freshman Greg Little pick up where Laremy Tunsil left off? How much of a hole does Robert Nkemdiche leave? Very few players ever draw the double-team attention Nkemdiche did. Can Quincy Adeboyejo and Damore’ea Stringfellow ease the loss of Laquon Treadwell?

All legitimate questions. Alabama and LSU have their share of questions, too, yet their questions never affect their preseason respect. Alabama, for instance, must replace its entire starting backfield. So why the doubt for Ole Miss?

The Rebels have by far the best quarterback in the SEC in Chad Kelly. Stringfellow can emerge as a first-rounder.

Nov 7, 2015; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels wide receiver Damore'ea Stringfellow (3) runs the ball during the third quarter of the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Arkansas won 53-52. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

The receiving corps can challenge Texas A&M to be the best in the SEC, especially if any of the three freshmen, A.J. Brown, DK Metcalf or Tre Nixon emerge in the starting lineup. Not too many will look at you sideways for saying Evan Engram is the best tight end in America. If Little is the real deal and Kelly has another 4,000-passing and 500-yard rushing season, this team will put up points.

On the other side, Marquis Haynes is one of the most feared defensive ends in the conference. DeMarquis Gates led the team in tackles in only four starts at linebacker. Tony Conner can make his way back to the first round of the draft and is a fierce enforcer among a deep defensive back group that features a hawk in senior Tony Bridges, a rising junior in C.J. Hampton and promising redshirt freshman in Armani Linton.

If some of the ifs produce – Fadol Brown at defensive end, Rommel Mageo at middle linebacker, Akeem Judd or Jordan Wilkins at running back and guys like Javon Patterson and Robert Conyers along the offensive line – this could be way more than a third-place team, even in the loaded SEC West.

It’s great fodder to talk about how lucky Adeboyejo was to be in the right place to catch a 66-yard touchdown pass off the helmet of Treadwell at Alabama. It seems less fun for the same people to talk about how it was 30-10 in the third quarter.

Ole Miss is coming off a Sugar Bowl blowout of Oklahoma State and has become a legitimate threat under Hugh Freeze, a national brand like never before. If Treadwell doesn’t break his leg against Auburn and a 4th-and-25 disaster doesn’t happen last season in an overtime loss against Arkansas, Ole Miss just might have been in the past two playoffs.

There are no predictions worth repeating in the SEC West. It’s too unpredictable. But from a room of (ahem) media members that included two who gave Vanderbilt a pair of first-place votes, Ole Miss and its fans have every right to feel disrespected.