Ole Miss Football and that Elusive Next Level

Make no mistake about it, these have been heady days in Oxford. But just when it seems like Ole Miss football is about to truly take that next step to join the Alabama’s and LSU’s of the SEC world, Debbie Downer shows up with some bad news.

Coach Hugh Freeze has recently brought the Ole Miss Rebels to a level in college football that they are not normally accustomed to. Yes they have excelled before, but to improve consistently over a four-year period, reaching 10 wins this past season and a Top 10 finish, is rarified air for Ole Miss football.

Things haven’t been crazy for Ole Miss football. Actually the win/loss totals since 2012, relatively speaking, aren’t really anything to write home about. But rather, it is the manner in which they are winning, who they are beating, their steadily increase in wins and how they are attracting 5-star talent like never before that has garnered notice.

Like it or not, Ole Miss football is living in rarified air. But, just when it seems like they are about to truly take that next step to join the Alabama’s and LSU’s of the SEC world, Debbie Downer shows up with some bad news.

Just last month, Ole Miss released the details of the NCAA investigation that had been initiated for a variety of alleged offenses perpetrated by the Rebels. Involved programs include Ole Miss football, as well as women’s basketball and track and field.

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Regarding the Ole Miss football team, the accusations mainly include academic fraud and improprieties by members of a former coaching staff. There were substantiated rumors of this dating back to the early part of the year and when Laremy Tunsil had his moment at the NFL Draft in April, you knew the wheels on the Hotty Toddy train were starting to wobble.

It is yet to be seen how this off-the-field setback will eventually affect on-the-field success for the Rebels. However, just when Ole Miss football had the momentum going their way with a climbing four-year win total of 7-8-9-10, the last thing in the world you need is something like this.

But hasn’t this always been the story for Ole Miss football? They flirt with truly sustained success (i.e., taking it to the next level), and just when you think they have finally arrived — Ms. Downer shows up again. Don’t forget, Houston Nutt led this team to a top-5 ranking at one point. The Rebels just can’t keep it together.

If it isn’t off-the-field issues, it is their inexplicable toe-stubbing on the field. And some of it is truly inexplicable.

2014 – Laquon Treadwell was millimeters away from crossing the goal line with a catch before

Nov 1, 2014; Oxford, MS, USA; Ole Miss Rebels wide receiver Laquon Treadwell (1) injures his leg on a run after a catch as Auburn Tigers linebacker Kris Frost (17) makes a tackle at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Auburn defeated Ole Miss 35-31. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports /

being yanked back — resulting in a fumble that was recovered by Auburn. To add insult to injury, he suffered a season-ending ankle fracture. A promising season for Ole Miss spiraled down following this loss.

2015 – Beat Arkansas at home and Ole Miss football has the inside track to representing the West in the SEC Championship Game for the first time. Ole Miss is the only charter member of the SEC West who has yet to fulfill this honor in Atlanta. A highly competitive game in Oxford went into overtime — and then came the horror of horrors for the Rebel faithful. A 4^th and 25 lateral to Arkansas’ RB Alex Collins somehow crazily goes 27 yards, setting up the TD and, of course, the two-point conversion for a Hogs’ win. A truly haunting loss for Ole Miss once again.

It almost seems as though the football gods are simply taunting the Rebel faithful with oh-so-close’s and what-could-have-been’s.

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Going back even further, Ole Miss had its moments to shine when national attention was squarely on them, looking to see if they had that spark to propel them to the next level. In 2003, they had a nationwide CBS audience tuning in to Oxford to see if Eli Manning and the Rebels could stifle their nemesis to the south, #3 LSU. In the end, Eli’s foot got stepped on by the center and they came up short in a close one. In 2009, a high-flying, high-scoring Ole Miss group, led by Coach Houston Nutt, traveled to Columbia, SC as the #4 ranked team in the nation. Much was expected from the Rebels in this prime-time tilt against the unranked Gamecocks. Another dud, as Ole Miss football could never get their offense on track.

Ole Miss football is littered with the corpses of dashed hopes and ever-so near misses, but I am a firm believer in the law of averages. Therefore, it is hard to imagine that the Ole Miss Football team won’t someday soon finally reach that ever-elusive “next level”. Sooner or later, the Rebels are going to bust through whatever the football gods are throwing at them and be counted among the elite in the SEC, as well as in College Football.

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This is all provided that they can somehow navigate what the NCAA has in store for them, avoid slipping from their unfamiliar and newly acquired lofty tier in the annual recruiting sweepstakes, hold on to Coach Freeze and the energy and enthusiasm he brings to the program, and maintain the Rebel brand — keeping it standing tall and proud. If they can pull this off and kick it up a notch on the field, and do so consistently every Saturday, there will be partying in the Groove at season’s end like never before experienced.

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