2023 Ole Miss Football Schedule Preview (Game-By-Game Analysis)

Chris Lee and Blake Lovell of Southeastern 14 here continuing our preview series of SEC football schedules for the 2023 season today we arrive at the Ole Miss Rebels who last year wrote a favorable schedule to a 7-0 start look great in doing it and then lost five of six down the stretch to fall out of national relevancy you had the lane kiffin distraction mixed in you know what though Blake much tougher schedule for the rebels this year and particularly to start where there's not just a lot of layups in this one as there were a year ago no there's not um that Tulane in week two at Alabama September 23rd versus LSU September 30th so I mean the the month of September feels like it's somewhat the opposite of what it was last season and um yeah I mean these are these are some tough games on the schedule you know I I would hope I think Ole Miss fans will will do their homework and understand that two-lane game um is going to be a fun one uh that is going to be very interesting I know that game's played in New Orleans uh so yeah I mean that's just looking at the first part of that schedule but when you dive in even deeper right it's at Georgia um you know you've got those games you know I got to go to Mississippi State you've still got the other West teams on there that you know I think certain people have different expectations for a m should be better uh you know Arkansas what are they going to do at Auburn where's Auburn going to be at that point in the season um you know the usual game against Vanderbilt who should be improved and I don't know if they're improved enough to win that game in Oxford but all of that you combine all that together and yeah I think it's um you know it makes for one of the more I think fascinating schedules probably in the league just based on again we're talking about an SEC West team and when you you add that to the you know just the Home and Away portion of the schedule um not a not a lot of gimmies in there for This Ole Miss team no I've got this divided into what I see is four tiers of schedule here chronologically the first I'd call the break-in portion but it's not nearly as easy as last year's break-in portion okay the first game is Ole Miss's lone FCS game that comes against Mercer Mercer is a team that is ranked 17th in athlon's preseason ratings 21st and the coaches pulled no look Ole Miss is expected to beat Mercer I would be surprised if it's not but but it may not be one of those 58 to nothing games either as you'll see some teams in the SEC schedule for this year Tulane you mentioned that one already Willie Fritz their coach stayed quarterback Michael Pratt who has been called maybe the best player in the history of the school he returns to direct the offense that offense got 45 in the AAC title game win over UCF and then led a 46-45 win against Southern Carolina bowl game did Michael Pratt didn't Georgia Tech which Ole Miss played last year and beat in a 42-nothing route that was really never close at any point that I remember no Tech plays South Carolina state the week before so it has a little bit of a layup coming into this one unlike Ole Miss will with that two-lane game and this Georgia Tech Team under coach Sprint Key who was the interim last year guided that team towards the end of the year they got much much better actually were competitive with George in the finale and I believe beat North Carolina the week before the Georgia game uh you could see Haynes King in this one that's a familiar face to SEC West fans he was at Texas A M before don't know if he wins that starting job or not but anyway Georgia Tech should be improved under coach Brent key over last year if what we saw at the end of the season holds this is an interesting break-in phase to the season for the rebels Blake yeah I'm gonna let's go back to I guess I could repeat myself on what I said about the Tulane game and I think that's the one even like you said Georgia Tech's one you look at too but I just look at that two end game is um yeah a very interesting non-conference game just given that they're gonna be the favorite to win the AAC again and talks about Pratt and what that offense could do and what they made the jump from two wins to 12. um so yeah they have a lot of momentum as a program right now and I'm not playing that game in Oxford going to New Orleans um that's a that's a fun one and even though Ole Miss should still be the favorite um I still think that's going to be a very interesting matchup to see how it unfolds and like you said how improved is Georgia Tech this season we'll find out on September the 16th because that will tell us a lot about the yellow jackets but um depending on how Ole Miss is doing at that point and how they fare against Tulane uh may tell us a little bit about the rebels too so okay Blake I'm gonna call this one the get your popcorn phase the schedule they have your popcorn ready hmm not yet I mean we're not there yet so I still got time Ole Miss friends yeah yeah the fruit popcorn yeah we're Brewing the popcorn this year so I don't know if I want to eat that okay anyway Alabama is the first game when you get your popcorn phase of the schedule followed by LSU Alabama lost the Alabama excuse me Ole Miss loss the Alabama game a year ago 30-24 that was a great game that went down to the wire and then LSU beat Ole Miss 45 to 20 and maybe that was the game that told us how good LSU wound up being um ones on the road one's at home boy if Ole Miss could get either uh that that would Elevate the season considerably well yeah I mean this is what separates you know the teams that can win the SEC West from the teams that probably won't win the SEC West because you know you go 0 and 2 in there it's a lot harder to be in that conversation because um you know you sort of expect those teams to continue on and you know then you're just kind of hoping for for losses elsewhere and you have to take care of your business elsewhere and that's what everybody wants to achieve right everybody wants to be the the champion of their division and and in the SEC West as we've talked about it's just a tough grind and you know the teams that have kind of been there at the top Alabama has been there as we know um other teams you know have shot up there and maybe took a step back at times but lsues the defending West Champion so yeah I mean those are two big games and you know how how those games unfold will tell you a lot about what Ole Miss could be you know the rest of the season given the the rest of the schedule so uh I mean here's the thing right this is what it comes down to if you're an SEC team with the way that things look right now that has Georgia Alabama and LSU on your schedule it's not ideal no matter how you slice it to have all three of those teams that quite honestly could all be top five teams um and so I think that's just it's not ideal and so yeah I guess get the popcorn ready to go because um you know Ole Miss would love to go one of those two games and if they do then they become a factor you know into that SEC West Race just based on um you know those are the two teams that are expected to battle for the SEC West title and if you beat one of them then all of a sudden you're in that conversation so yeah anybody I think other than maybe Georgia which doesn't play those teams would love to go one-on-one in that phase but in any case I'll call this next portion the swing portion it seems like we've been saying this for all the SEC teams right at this juncture of the season when we get into October you've got Arkansas which beat Ole Miss last year 42-27 then a bye week Auburn that game last year against Auburn was very entertaining Ole Miss won it 48-34 Vanderbilt last year let Ole Miss at half but Ole Miss ended up routing Vandy in that game in Nashville 52-28 and they got Texas A M which the rebels won 31-28 certainly need to at least go two and two I think in this phase of the schedule if you're going to get to a New Year's bowl or whatever your goal is if you're Ole Miss this year yeah I mean we've been saying it's kind of the Swing portion because it because it involves Arkansas Auburn and a m and I feel like we've said that and all the other schedules we've done to this point it's just you know what order are those that I think a m is probably the you know the favorite of that Trio of teams but as you and I have talked about in other schedules um you know where do you think staying with Arkansas and Auburn uh what do they look like this season and I think they are two of the teams that certainly have some questions entering in and have some things to prove one with a new coach one with you know a coach where I think the fan base is wanting to see them take a step forward and you know which ones I'm talking about if you freeze the new coach Sam Pittman's the one that I think Arkansas fans want to see them really take a step forward this season uh and so yeah I mean I think that's you know those two games having the Buy in between them is probably significant because you know just depends on how those games unfold I think Ole Miss will probably be fine against Vanderbilt but um like we said earlier I think Vanderbilt should be improved and you know a m i I don't expect to repeat from a m from last season but you know what happens if you do then then what does that look like uh once you get to that point in the year so yeah I mean realistically can Ole Miss go 4-0 in this stretch yeah because three other four are at home and I think they'll be favorites probably in all three of those games uh and they'll probably be a favorite on the road against Auburn so yeah if you go 4-0 in here and so you get a win against Alabama LSU you are right there with an opportunity you know going into those that final set of game so do you think there'll be any drama leading into that Auburn game well um you know it'd be a little there will be drama there'd be a little bit more drama if it was in Oxford which it'll be half season so yeah yeah that might be to get your popcorn game in a different way but in any case we have the Finish now Louisiana Monroe if you look at our graphic across the bottom we've done our FCS composite Monroe according to this will be one of the bottom six teams in the FCS so we're not going to spend any time there Blake unless you've got something which I don't and then you got the Egg Bowl uh Mississippi State won that a year ago in Mike Leach's last game since 2011 no team has won more than two in a row in that series last time that happened State won three in a row from 2009 to 2011. now I think the the leech passing is going to take the temperature down on this rivalry a little bit at least it should uh but that is always an interesting game no matter what um you know there have been a lot of wild games throughout the the series history and yeah it's a rivalry game um you know both teams want to beat each other that's that's what it's all about um when you're playing this game and so yeah I mean that's that's another one of those games that you know we think about kind of how Ole Miss finish the season last year and well that was one of those games you looked up and said boy it felt like the missed opportunity and you know our how many I mean those games is Ole Miss going to have this season because if you really think back to last season that was the theme was missed opportunities and you know it's the way they finished after that start and I think that's what's going to be so interesting this season the way the schedule shapes up as we talked about earlier it's a little bit more difficult up front because of kind of having three potential top 20 teams on the schedule in your first five games I mean two for sure but like I said number two lane will be I think they're going to be ranked around that top 20 area probably so um yeah so I mean I think if you you look at it from that standpoint then you've talked about a lot of those swing games in the middle of the schedule gonna be hard to win at Georgia but yeah I mean it's um it's not an easy schedule for Ole Miss I'm curious to see I know we'll probably go back and sort of look back at these schedules and sort of rank them it's hard to do right now because we haven't gotten through them all but I mean this is probably one of the more you know tougher ones I would say in the SEC just based of what we we've only done probably half of them at this point but just having all those those games on there as we said again sort of top tier teams and then just having the SEC West Slade and yeah it's not easy so I'm getting George from the East I mean again I left one game out and it's its own tier and that's Georgia yeah I mean and holy cow Alabama LSU and Georgia in the same year well it's like Auburn right I mean when we get to Auburn schedule you just happen to you know that's just happens to be the way your schedule Falls where you know you're going to get all three of these teams every year and LSU is you know certainly taking a big step forward and now you've got all three of those to deal with so it just it sets in A Hard Road to you know get to that sort of title type scenario because you do have all three of those teams on the schedule but um hey that's where maybe Lane kiffin will have something cooked up um for for one of those three teams that are probably projected around the top five right now so like there there are different kinds of of eight and nine win years and sometimes that's when you you schedule yourself for really easy games out of conference and maybe have a weak Division if Ole Miss gets to eight or nine wins with this schedule it has accomplished something for sure and we will have our game by game predictions for um Ole Miss coming up probably early next month where you this is kind of the first set of schedule previews and then we'll have Blaine on with us and we'll go through and pick all these games in the SEC and go through everybody's schedule and tell you what our record our projection is heading into the season and this will be a hard one this will be one of the tougher ones to predict I think because as of right now if I had to pick it I'm like I don't know what record I would give Ole Miss because yeah this is uh quite quite an interesting schedule so good morning oh I think you're muted I am thank you for watching our preview video of Ole Miss's schedule we're going to do these for every single SEC team best way to get those hit the Subscribe button enable your notifications and hit the like button that helps our Analytics he is Blake Lovell I am Chris Lee we are southeastern 14. we'll see you again soon with more SEC content