Ole Miss survived Saturday against Kentucky, winning 22-19 in a game that easily could have gone the other way.

The Wildcats made a number of mistakes and had several chances in the final 5 minutes to tie the game or take the lead but shot themselves in the foot time after time.

Regardless, the Rebels got the win and are now undefeated after 5 weeks of the 2022 season.

ESPN analysts Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum discussed Ole Miss in their Week 5 Recap on Sunday and both believe it’s time to pay more attention to Ole Miss.

“Ole Miss, and I said this at the beginning of the season,” Barrie said. “But with Jaxson Dart coming in from USC and Zach Evans coming in from TCU, and the defense looking it had some semblance of accountability … Ole Miss needs to be taken seriously in that SEC West, now 5-0 for the first time since 2014.”

Finebaum agreed, although he also shined a bright light on all of the mistakes Kentucky made Saturday.

“Their defense really kept them alive in that game,” Finebaum said of the Rebels. “I have not seen as many ways to blow a game that we saw by Kentucky provably since the previous week by Missouri against Auburn. It was really unbelievable to watch.

“Being with Lane (Kiffin) on Friday and just soaking in that campus, that’s a legitimate football school. And their schedule sets up moderately well. … And right now, who else are you going to take seriously in the SEC West.”

You can see the entire discussion in the video linked below: