Ole Miss beat Missouri 31-3 on Saturday and is 5-1, 3-1 in the SEC. Above it, the afternoon came apart: No. 1 Georgia lost at home to Auburn, No. 2 Notre Dame lost at BYU, Indiana lost to Ohio State, Alabama lost to Tennessee and Florida beat Texas. The SEC no longer has an unbeaten team.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis said the weekend left one answer: it would not surprise him if Ole Miss won everything this season. Willis argued nothing left in the race is dominant, that every contender carries a real flaw, and that Ole Miss differs only in timing: its flaw arrived in September.
Willis said winning the league requires beating contenders, and Ole Miss gets two in Oxford: Auburn on Oct. 31 and Georgia on Nov. 7. Four remaining games are at home, two away. The program has done this before, finishing 13-2 last season with a home playoff win and a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia under Pete Golding.
Willis was blunt about what is unfinished: a road resume that allowed 52 points in one game and 38 in another, and a third quarter Ole Miss has not solved; Saturday’s was scoreless. He graded the win a B-plus, asked what an A-plus looks like, and argued a team should stay unfinished rather than peak in September.
The first test comes Saturday night in Austin, where Ole Miss kicks off at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC as an underdog against a Texas team that has lost two straight. Willis called it a swing game and said the market prices the Rebels as a good road team, not a playoff host. Win and the voters reconsider, he said; lose and Ole Miss is a two-loss team hoping for help.
Photo: Pete Golding, October 17, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 19, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.