Honestly, the Ole Miss Rebels were a bit surprising over the weekend. Sure, they lost 28-20 to the California Golden Bears after being favorites at home. But the game came down to a horribly blown call at the end, and they never should have been favorites to begin with if anybody actually saw how this team looked the previous weeks.
As a result, the close loss to an undefeated top 25 team resulting from bad officiating was enough for us to actually move these guys up one spot in our SEC Power Rankings. What else can you say about a program that had to face the toughest Group of Five team in the nation on the road to open the season and then an undefeated Cal team?
Matt Luke’s kids are still undefeated in conference play, and they have a great chance to still be decent. The offense has to work on some things, but Saturday showed that these guys can compete with some of the better programs.
It won’t show this Saturday, as they visit the Alabama Crimson Tide. But afterward, they get a three-game stretch to really test themselves, including the Vanderbilt Commodores at home for a likely win, the Missouri Tigers on the road for a great opportunity, and then another home game against the next team in these rankings.