Preview: Ole Miss hosts Furman in the Rebels’ long-awaited kickoff to 2024
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss football opens its season versus the Furman Paladins today with a 6:00 p.m. kickoff in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The Rebels are coming off a historic season as head coach Lane Kiffin’s team concluded the 2023 season with 11 wins for the first time in school history, finishing 3rd in the league with a 6-2 record in the Southeastern Conference.
The Paladins also saw success last season going 10-3 and 7-1 in the Southern Conference.
What to watch for
• This game will kick off the 130th season of football at Ole Miss.
• The Rebels are 95-29-5 (.756) in season openers and have taken 22 of the last 27 on the field.
• Lane Kiffin begins his fifth season at Ole Miss and 13th overall as a head coach … Kiffin is 8-4 in season openers.
• Ole Miss is coming off its first 11-win season in program history, capped by a Peach Bowl victory over Penn State.
• Ole Miss opens 2024 ranked No. 6 in both the AP and Coaches preseason polls, the highest preseason slot for the Rebels since 1970 (No. 5) and their first top-10 preseason debut since 2009 (No. 8).
• Ole Miss has ranked within the top-10 in each of the last four seasons, the first such streak since 1961-64.
• Ole Miss is 65-17 (.793) versus non-conference opponents dating back to a 38-0 win over Tulane on Nov. 12, 1994 … Under head coach Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss is 14-2 against non-conference opponents.
• Ole Miss is 117-41-6 (.732) all-time versus non-conference opponents during September.
• The Rebels are 299-115-8 (.717) all-time at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium before vacated wins (277-112-8 after).
• Ole Miss has gone 21-2 at home since the beginning of the 2021 season … The Rebels rank third among all SEC teams in total wins in that span with 29.
• Ole Miss leads the FBS in total offense since 2020 at 498.2 yards per game.
• QB Jaxson Dart enters year three as Ole Miss’ starting quarterback.
• Of its 59 newcomers, Ole Miss welcomes in 31 new transfers as part of its No. 1 ranked transfer class.
• DT JJ Pegues was awarded the Chucky Mullins Courage Award and will wear the No. 38 jersey at home this season … Pegues will continue to wear his No. 89 on the road.
Rebels returning ton of talent
Ole Miss returns a ton of veteran talent with 16 starters returning from last year’s team. Quarterback Jaxson Dart leads the Rebels after an impressive junior season where he accounted for 3,364 yards and 23 passing touchdowns.
Dart will have plenty of weapons to work with. Senior wide receivers Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins make their return for 2024. Harris notched 985 yards and eight touchdowns in 2023, while Watkins accounted for 741 yards and three touchdowns last year. Ole Miss also gets back NFL-hopeful senior tight end Caden Prieskorn who recorded 449 yards and four touchdowns last year.
A talented defensive line
The Rebels are excited about the new-look defense going into Saturday as Coach Kiffin added a number of impact transfers on the defensive line. Former Florida defensive end Princley Umanmielen and former Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolen are ready to make a name for themselves early wrecking the Furman backfield.
Behind enemy lines
Furman begins the season ranked ninth in the AFCA FCS Preseason Poll and No. 12 in the Stats Perform FCS Poll as the Paladins make their way to Oxford. Furman returns seven starters off last year’s 10-3, SoCon championship team that advanced to the playoff quarterfinals. The Paladins have earned rankings in each of the last 21 Stats Perform FCS Polls. Furman finished last season ranked sixth and seventh in the AFCA and Stats Perform FCS final polls, the Paladins’ highest finish since 2005.
The Paladins lost their starting quarterback, top running back, and the top four offensive linemen in snaps from last year’s offense. They do return their top three pass-catchers and three linemen who started at least four games in 2023. After allowing 18.2 points per game (No. 11 in the FCS), Furman returns four of its top 15 tacklers and four of its 15 leaders in snaps. Furman bandit Luke Clark earned preseason All-America accolades after finishing 2023 with 53 tackles, including seven for-loss, and a team leading six sacks.
The Paladins are a strong FCS team. They had an effective defense in 2023, giving up just 18.23 points per game. This will be an interesting matchup versus an Ole Miss offense that averaged 35.03 points per game last season.
Furman will likely be led by QB Carson Jones who played in six games in 2023, accounting for 542 yards and seven touchdowns. Some other key players for the Paladins are ILB Evan DiMaggio and WR Colton Hinton.
Prediction
The Rebels are currently favored by -42 in Vegas and that is not surprising. Ole Miss will be too much for Furman from start to finish, defeating the Paladins by four to five scores.
The game is set to kick off at 6:00 pm central time on ESPN.
