Here is a brief look at the high points and low points for the 2018 Ole Miss football team, along with a look ahead to 2019 season.
Is there a more likable coach in the SEC than Ole Miss football head coach Matt Luke? It’s hard to imagine a better fit for the Rebels than the “Mississippi Made” former Ole Miss football player.
A year after a gutsy 6-6 season landed him the full-time job, Luke faced another challenging season dealing with the aftermath of the Huge Freeze fallout.
Ole Miss football spent 2018 under a bowl ban, but it did not stop the Rebels from racing out to a 5-2 start on the season that included an opening win over Texas Tech and showcasing a high flying offense that accounted for two 70 point outbursts in the first half of the season.
The Rebels may have ended the year on a five-game slide, but the Ole Miss football program received a boost at the beginning of November with the news that the dark cloud of an NCAA investigation had been lifted.
After two years of uncertainty, Ole Miss will be bowl eligible in 2019 and Luke will have a chance to start building the program in his image.
Hopefully, Ole Miss will give Luke enough time, but the SEC West is a brutal place to rebuild, and it could take another year or two for the Rebels to fully shake off the impact of the scandal-ridden Freeze era.