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The hype behind the Ole Miss Rebels continued when USA TODAY released its preseason poll which saw the Rebels ranked No. 6, just behind coach Kalen DeBoer's Alabama Crimson Tide.
Coach Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs topped the charts with 46 first-place votes, followed by the Ohio State Buckeyes and coach Dan Lanning's Oregon Ducks to close out the top three.
It was the Rebels' highest preseason ranking in any coach's poll in 54 years. This potentially hints at several industry insiders buying into the expectations surrounding coach Lane Kiffin's team.
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College football fans on Reddit reacted to the Rebels' ranking and coach Deion Sander's Colorado Buffaloes who also got a vote in the poll.
Some fans were upbeat over the Rebels' high ranking in the preseason poll.
Ole Miss coach tempers expectation despite hype
The Ole Miss Rebels have a lot of reasons to buy into the preseason hype being lavished upon their program. They have one of the most talented quarterbacks in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) and indeed college football in Jaxson Dart.
They were also ranked the No. 1 recruiting team in the spring portal while returning most of their starters from last season's (11-2) team to boost confidence in their 2024 hopes.
Most importantly, although he was linked to the Alabama Crimson Tide job when Nick Saban retired, coach Lane Kiffin opted to stay in Oxford and continue to build his team.
While speaking to reporters after Fall camp, the Rebels coach revealed that he tried to temper his team's expectations in a meeting with his players.
"And even the players that have had previous success here or other places, that doesn’t mean anything either. Just making sure that they understand whether it’s preseason rankings, whether it’s as a team, position group, individuals, how that means nothing.
“And those (expectations) can always be the exact opposite a lot of times from what can happen by the end of the year, so we have a lot of work to do. I spent a lot of time talking to them in the first meeting about outside expectations, hype, accolades and those things and how little those mean,” Kiffin said. “This team hasn’t won any games — they haven’t played together."
The Ole Miss Rebels will be under the spotlight when the season begins in earnest with rival fans hoping that Lane Kiffin's team stumbles. However, as the rankings sugest, experts believe a first conference title of any form since 1970 might be within reach of this team.
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