We continue our countdown to kick-off with our series detailing one biggest concern for every SEC team heading into 2026. Today, we head to Oxford to talk about the biggest concern for the Ole Miss Rebels this season.
Will the offense be the same without Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr., and can Pete Golding avoid the common first year pitfall?
Ole Miss returns its quarterback. The Rebels also return their running back. Both of those guys are two of the best, if not the best, at their position in the entire country. They also return a defense with several elite pieces at edge rusher and the back seven.
Ask anyone in Oxford, and it feels like the general consensus is that Ole Miss isn’t going to skip a beat from last season. Maybe they’re right. Ask most people in Oxford about the loss of Lane Kiffin, and they’ll bring up that he never won a College Football Playoff game and Pete Golding won two. Ask them about Kiffin’s offense, and they’ll immediately tell you that Weis Jr. was the one calling the plays and that someone else was behind landing Trinidad Chambliss.
Whether that’s delusional, dumb, or just one of the five stages of grief doesn’t matter. Regardless of anyone’s feelings on Kiffin and how he left Oxford, the one truth in that is that he is gone. The offense he oversaw at Ole Miss is gone, too. That’s an offense that ranked in the top nationally in scoring over the last two seasons and in the top eight in yards per game in four of the last five seasons. That’s a lot of production to replace no matter what your feelings on the former head coach are.
Ole Miss hired a new offensive coordinator who was one of the best and brightest at his position. John David Baker spent the last two seasons at East Carolina serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Baker’s offense was successful in 2025. The Pirates ranked No. 15 in total offense (460.4 yards per game), and No. 31 in scoring offense (32.7 points per game). Baker’s quarterback also put up 28 total touchdowns and just six interceptions. Will that translate?
It better.
Despite being a defensive minded coach, Ole Miss’ defense was anything but elite in 2025. The Rebels ranked ninth in the SEC in scoring defense (21.1 ppg) and allowed 30 points or more in four games last season and 20 or more in eight of their 15 contests. That includes giving up over 30 against Georgia and Miami CFP games.
Ole Miss has arrived, and no one should expect them to go anywhere anytime soon with the commitment that boosters and the administration have made to the program after the Kiffin ordeal. Golding is a tremendous recruiter and seems laser focused on ball and ball only. That’s exactly what you want if you’re an Ole Miss fan or player.
It’s also incredible what he did in the CFP last year and finishing :15 seconds short of a potential shot at the national title. But, the schedule this year is rather unforgiving if they’re hoping to get back. LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia are all on the 2026 slate. Those have to be concerning, but the bigger concern is can Golding avoid what first-year coaches in this conference rarely seem to and that’s losing to a team that you shouldn’t.
Nick Saban lost to Louisiana Monroe in year one at Alabama. He actually lost his final four games after a 6-2 start. Kirby Smart lost five games in his first year in Athens. That included losses to Georgia Tech, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilt loss was after he allowed a jet sweep on 4th-and-1 to be called with Sony Michel and Nick Chubb in the backfield.
The point is that even great coaches tend to struggle at times in year one against this league, and that is Ole Miss’ biggest concern going into 2026.
