Column: Why Not Us? Ole Miss set to start what could be remarkable season

OXFORD, Miss. — As my father and I made the trek to Omaha in 2022, after discussing all the teams that would be playing in that College World Series, we came to the same conclusion – we can win this thing. No, it wasn’t going to be easy. We’d face challenges and adversity and would have to respond to them. But we had a shot. And you know how that turned out.

With the commencement of the 2024 college football season, talks of the playoff are great and almost every prediction you see has Ole Miss included in the field or at minimum in the mix of teams on the edge. A few predict the Rebs will even win a game or two in this new 12-team format. But that’s not my expectation. Nor should it be yours. We can win this thing.

This team is extremely talented. It has depth. It has an incredibly gifted coaching staff. At least heading into the season there are no glaring weaknesses. Of course, we need a break or two along the way. But rare is the team that doesn’t on their way to a national championship. There will be a dropped pass, a fumbled snap, a blown coverage in a key situation along with numerous other things that impact the outcome in a close game. The Rebels need to be on the right side of those in almost all of their regular season contests, and all of their playoff ones. With so many new additions to the squad, they’ll also need to gel. Fortunately, on paper the early games appear to allow some time for that.

The overall schedule is favorable. You know this already. Two of the more difficult games (Oklahoma and Georgia) are at home. There’s the trip to LSU, which has derailed many a season over the years. South Carolina is typically a tough place to play, though they look to be down this year. Who knows what the mindset of Florida and Arkansas will be when the Rebels travel there. Fayetteville has certainly been a house of horrors for Ole Miss recently. But great teams are supposed to be able to win those games on the road. So, will we be great?

All I know is that no team in the College Football Playoff era who began the season ranked outside of the top six in the Associated Press poll has ever won the national championship. Ole Miss begins at #6. Check.

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox, who hadn’t won a World Series in 86 years (If you are younger than 30 you can’t imagine what a big deal this was) adopted the slogan “Why Not Us?” They played with that attitude the entire season, including when they were down three games to none to the Yankees in the ALCS. They ultimately won it all. That is my attitude heading into this football season. Should the Rebels win the whole thing? Maybe not. None of the talking heads that I’ve seen are actually going as far as to say that. But can we win it? In my mind it is the same deal as Omaha 2022—if we manage to get there, we can win it. I believe that much in Lane Kiffin.

So, when you’re asked by non-Ole Miss fans about your expectations for this Rebel squad, I suggest you look them in the eye and say, “My biggest worry is having to beat Georgia a third time. That will be a difficult challenge.”

Let’s get this thing started. It’s nice to have such high expectations heading into a football season. In my lifetime as an Ole Miss fan, they’ve never been this high. Actually, not anywhere close. Not with John Fourcade, Deuce McAllister, Eli Manning, Patrick Willis, Laramy Tunsil, Chad Kelly, or Matt Corral. But they are exceedingly high with Jaxson Dart, Tre Harris, Walter Nolan, Suntarine Perkins, J.J. Pegues, Ulysses Bentley IV, Caden Prieskorn and a host of others.

I’ll see you in Vaught-Hemingway on Saturday.

Why not us?