Ole Miss is 3-1 and ranked ninth, and the five games after its bye week will settle the season. The Rebels are at Vanderbilt on Oct. 10 and at Missouri on Oct. 17, then at Texas, 4-0 and No. 1, on Oct. 24. Auburn visits Oxford on Oct. 31, No. 2 Georgia on Nov. 7. Fourteen days separate Texas and Georgia.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis argued the bye week is not for relitigating the Florida loss but the last uninterrupted practice block before a stretch that decides whether this is a playoff team or an 8-4 team. He placed the answer between Oct. 24 and Nov. 7.
Two of those October games are on the road, and Ole Miss has played one true road game under Pete Golding, the loss at Florida. Louisville, Willis noted, was a neutral site. The resume reads better than the mood. A 41-38 win over ranked Louisville and a 32-24 win over LSU put the Rebels 2-0 against ranked opponents and 0-1 away from home.
Vanderbilt is 3-1 and unranked without a single vote, with wins over an FCS opponent, Delaware 35-26 and NC State 35-31 on a last-play fumble recovery, and a 21-15 loss at Auburn. The threat, Willis said, is a true freshman five-star quarterback who threw for 277 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions against NC State. “If they do the drop eight thing and are not aggressive defensively, they will lose this game.”
Willis said the fix is simplification: send five, send six, speed up an 18-year-old’s clock, the plan Todd Wade laid out earlier in the week. Will Echoles described the September problem as “trying to be perfect instead of just going and play football.” Willis predicted Florida beats Missouri, leaving two unranked road trips before Texas.
Photo: Trinidad Chambliss, September 26, 2026, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 2, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.