The Ole Miss Rebels ranked No. 6 in the initial 2025 CFP rankings, and it was probably the closest to the expectations among all 12 teams; not too low, not too high.
The best part is that it came with a good scope to climb up the rankings. All that the Rebels need to do is take care of the rest of their schedule and the committee might bump them up to the Top 5.
J.D. Pickell explained how the Rebels maintaining their record as a one-loss team could help them down the road in the final CFP rankings.
"I'm not really worried about Ole Miss from where I'm ranked. I think it makes all the sense in the world, like 'Hey, we can't rank you higher than six, because Bama's been awesome'. Bama beat Georgia. Georgia's the team that beat you. They're at five," Pickell said on his show, The Hard Count.
"Just handle business is pretty much what I would want to say to the good folks out there in Oxford. Just be excited about where you're at. Get us in that college football playoff setting and we'll handle business from there."
Lane Kiffin's philosophy perfectly matches the plan
And that has exactly been the Rebels' head coach Lane Kiffin's philosophy from the beginning. Instead of focusing on the rankings each week, Kiffin advises his squad to focus on the game they have each week.
"Like I told the players, there's only one ranking that ever matters. That's your final ranking. All the other stuff means nothing," has been Kiffin's clear philosophy on rankings ever since he took over the Ole Miss program back in 2020.
"Yeah, I really hadn’t thought much about that. This isn’t coach speak. I really don’t, you know, because it’s still so early and so much left to play," Kiffin added, repeating what he has stood by all these years when asked during his Monday press conference previewing Citadel week.
Ole Miss has been following the mentality since Kiffin started coaching them, and will do so in the remaining games of the 2025 season.
If they manage it, and other factors work out to be in their favor, there is a real chance that the Rebels would end up in the Top 5 CFP rankings by the final week.