Ole Miss Football and Oklahoma Sooners Sit in Rare Territory After Major 2025 Seasons

The Ole Miss Rebels remain a hot commodity this offseason with the program generating unprecedented buzz following a chaotic 2025 season.

Once Lane Kiffin made the move to depart Oxford for the head coaching gig in Baton Rouge, Ole Miss officials wasted no time in elevating Pete Golding from defensive coordinator to full-time shot-caller where he didn't skip a beat.

Golding led the Rebels to a pair of College Football Playoff wins while assembling the No. 2 rated Transfer Portal Class in America this offseason with Ole Miss remaining a hot topic.

"The locker room is so fragile, as we all know," Walker Jones, the executive director of the Grove Collective, said to ESPN. "This is the ultimate team sport, and there's no bigger team sport than football [with] so many personalities, so many moving parts.

"You had to hire the guy that can keep the locker room and the coaching staff in sync. It was such a unique situation, first of its kind. There's no blueprint for it."

The Ole Miss fanbase has collectively bought in on the program in Oxford despite a coaching change in the Magnolia State where 2025 was a special season from an attendance perspective.

According to date collected by "D1Ticker" on X, 104 percent of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was filled on average across the 2025 season - the most in the Southeastern Conference.

Here is a list of how much of their stadium each SEC team filled for their home games in 2025 pic.twitter.com/Z1P4rycK4L
— College Football Zone (@CollegeFBonX) February 10, 2026

Ole Miss and Oklahoma sat at the top at 104 percent while the Texas A&M Aggies and South Carolina Gamecocks trailed at 103 percent and 102 percent, respectively.

Golding and Co. will now look to make a statement in 2026 for his inaugural season as the shot-caller with a challenging schedule on deck for the Rebels this upcoming fall.

Ole Miss landed at No. 7 behind the Texas Longhorns, Georgia Bulldogs, Texas A&M Aggies, Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Tigers, and Alabama Crimson Tide in the recent "Way-Too-Early" CBS Sports SEC Power Rankings.

"We might be too hard on Ole Miss in the post-Kiffin era, but with the uncertainty surrounding QB Trinidad Chambliss' eligibility case and a revamped offensive staff, it's OK to exercise some caution with the Rebels," CBS Sports wrote.

"The biggest news is the return of running back Kewan Lacy. If he had not gotten injured in the Fiesta Bowl, the Rebels might have beaten Miami and played Indiana in the national championship game."

Now, it's about making a statement and handling business with a redesigned roster via the Ole Miss Rebels' No. 2 rated Transfer Portal Class in America.

More Ole Miss News:

Ole Miss Football Pulls Off Historic Recruiting Feat After Landing No. 2 Portal Class

Ole Miss Football Recruiting Notebook: Three Targets Pete Golding Must Land in Year 1

'Growing Optimism' That Ole Miss Football QB Trinidad Chambliss Will Play in 2026

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Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and Ole Miss Rebels On SI: @OleMissOnSI for all coverage surrounding the Ole Miss program.