Ole Miss Is About to Find Out How Good It Really Is

The Rebels are 4-1 heading into a difficult stretch to close the season.

Mississippi Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss celebrates with his teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels are coming off a 52-17 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores.

The win came after a much-needed bye week following the Rebels' first loss of the season against Florida. Following the game against Vanderbilt, Ole Miss is now 4-1 and 2-1 in conference play.

A statement win is likely to restore confidence in Ole Miss, but their upcoming stretch of games will determine if the Rebels are legitimate College Football Playoff contenders or just a talented team that lacks the consistency to make it as far as they should.

Ole Miss' Crucial Stretch of Conference Games

Mississippi Rebels head coach Pete Golding talks with defensive lineman Will Echoles on the sideline against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ole Miss will play conference games in six of their final seven games. Their conference opponents will be No. 13 Missouri this Saturday, Oct. 17; No. 7 Texas on Oct. 24; Auburn on Oct. 31; No. 1 Georgia on Nov. 7; Oklahoma on Nov. 14; and No. 16 Mississippi State on Nov. 27.

The Rebels will play Missouri, Auburn, Georgia and Mississippi State at home, but will have to travel to Austin to play Texas and to Norman to play Oklahoma.

Losing to Florida leaves very little room for error for the Rebels. If they want to make it back to the College Football Playoff, they'll likely only have room to lose one more game to finish at 10-2 and make it into the 12-team field.

Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding has his team showing signs of being able to bounce back from adversity, but it remains to be seen if the Rebels can string together multiple College Football Playoff-worthy performances to make a serious push.

So far, Ole Miss' victories have come against unranked teams and No. 22 LSU, which was an emotionally charged and hard-fought victory. The comedown the following week contributed to the blowout loss to Florida.

For Ole Miss to finish 10-2 or better, it will take Pete Golding having his team playing at a playoff level for multiple weeks in a row, which, ironically, they haven't done since last year's College Football Playoff.

The Rebels will also need to go through multiple major tests on the road, and so far the only truly challenging road game during Pete Golding's tenure as head coach resulted in the 52-28 loss to Florida.

The rest of this season will determine just how special this year's Ole Miss team is and , what level of confidence Rebel fans should have in Pete Golding going forward.

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