The red and blue confetti falling inside the Superdome was a long way from where the Ole Miss program stood five years ago.

Back then, the Rebels were 2-10 and winless in the SEC. Now, after a 48-20 thumping of Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl, Ole Miss is celebrating the program’s second 10-win season since 2003. Led by coach Hugh Freeze, the Rebels have increased their win total by one game each season starting in 2012.

Despite his off-the-field woes, QB Chad Kelly also joined Tim Couch and Johnny Manziel as the third SEC quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season.

The trifecta that every Ole Miss coach, player and fan dreams about every year — the Egg, Magnolia and Sugar bowls — are each going into the trophy case this season. And beating Alabama, LSU and Mississippi State in one season then winning in New Orleans goes a long way around Oxford, Miss.

“It means everything: for recruiting, for the program, for seniors,” linebacker C.J. Johnson told the Clarion-Ledger. “Not many teams in Ole Miss history have won the Sugar Bowl, the Magnolia Bowl and the Egg Bowl in the same season. To go out like this, man, is just special.

On a night of one highlight after another from the Rebels’ star players, it was a touchdown run on a throwback pass to offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, all 305 pounds rumbling in, that had the sideline and the fans in an uproar.

“We had a blast,” Freeze told reporters after the game. “They really prepared well. I was super confident all day.”

It was Tunsil and that recruiting class of 2013 that vowed to change the identity of the program that now has solidified it as a top-tier program across the country.

Kelly was chosen the game’s Most Valuable Player after he threw for 302 yards and four touchdowns. A runnerup MVP could have been WR Laquon Treadwell, who hauled in three TD passes. Both helped Ole Miss tie or set eight school records by halftime alone.

If the long-term feeling was how much Freeze has built the program, the short-term memory was a 42-3 loss last year to TCU in the Peach Bowl. But this bounce-back game was just what the Ole Miss faithful was looking for in the program’s first Sugar Bowl appearance since 1970.

While at least three key players — Treadwell, Tunsil and DT Robert Nkemdiche — are expected to leave for the NFL, the Rebels are stocked with a top-five recruiting class coming in to build on this momentum.