Ole Miss or Mississippi State: Which school has the better chance of repeating success in 2015?

Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

There is no question, we witnessed two of the best seasons to come out of the state of Mississippi in 2014. Mississippi State finished the season 10-2. The ten win season was a first for the program’s history. For five weeks in the regular season the Bulldogs stayed a top of the College Football Playoff Rankings. The program was backed by a quarterback who “really did” have Heisman talk early on in the season. Lead by head coach Dan Mullen, the Bulldogs were in the playoff contention until they played big brother.

Just a hundred miles north, another Mississippi school experienced enormous success in the 2014 season. Hugh Freeze was under year three of rebuilding a football program that experienced a two win season just a year before his arrival. He re-built the program from scratch, bringing in a new quarterback for a fast-tempo offense, and a defense that attacked at all cause. He brought an Egg Bowl victory and a bowl win in his first tenured year. Now, he has Ole Miss re-living the elite pedestal of college football that the program has not experienced in half a century.

In the 2014 campaign, the Rebels finished with a 9-3 record, ranked 9th nationally, and finished third in the toughest conference division in the nation, the SEC West. Inside the records, Ole Miss beat three conference champions, beat three teams with ten or more regular season wins, and beat two teams that were ranked number one in the CFB Playoff Rankings. It was arguably the most healthy resume in college football. The Rebels also finished the season with the number one rated defense in the nation. It was a Landshark force that allowed just 13.8 points per game, the lowest in the nation. The Rebels will now head back to Atlanta where they started their season, and will compete in their third straight bowl appearance.

With all of the success from both teams, much debate arises on which team will have a repeat of their historic seasons. Was this just a one time glimpse of glory for both schools? Or was this the beginning of a new era of domination in the SEC? These questions can only be resolved in the 2015 season. However, we can breakdown which school is most likely to repeat success in the 2015 season with analysis and bold predictions.

Next: A look at Mississippi State in 2015...