CFB Insider Josh Pate makes a massive prediction for Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss

College football insider Josh Pate shared a massive prediction for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss for 2025. Kiffin and the Rebels failed to make the playoffs last season.

Entering 2025, Ole Miss does have some question marks given quarterback Jaxson Dart is off to the NFL. Despite losing their quarterback, Pate expects Kiffin's Rebels to make the playoff this upcoming season.

"Ole Miss is the team I would go with," Pate said (31:50). "If you tell me two teams are going to make the playoffs that have never made it before, but you don't tell me who they are and I have to guess, Ole Miss is one of them.

"I know about the buzz around Austin Simmons at quarterback, so in this world, we are going best-case scenario, he pans out ... They don't have that inexplicable loss if they take care of business this year and take care of business, I think they will because that schedule sets up (well). We have it rated as the third-easiest schedule in the SEC."

If Ole Miss hopes to make the playoffs, Austin Simmons will need to play well, as Pate says. Simmons was a freshman last year and he went 19-for-32 for 282 yards and two touchdowns, as he showed some promise going into 2025.

Despite Ole Miss having the third-easiest schedule in 2025, the Rebels have notable games against Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU and South Carolina.

Ole Miss has never made the College Football Playoff. The Rebels, however, have three claimed national championships, so Ole Miss will be looking to make the playoff for the first time in program history in 2025.

Lane Kiffin says Jaxson Dart guided Austin Simmons in 2024

Jaxson Dart was the Rebels' starting quarterback in 2024 and he mentored Austin Simmons all year, Lane Kiffin said. The head coach believes Simmons learned a lot under Dart.

“Then, I look at like, the family in the quarterback room, and when you say that about Austin, he’s had this like, big brother, show him everything to do and how to do every single thing right," Kiffin told On3.

"Except for make his own plays up at the end. But that’s so valuable. It’s one thing to learn about how a guy works, but how he prepares, how he works, how he treats people, how he wins his team over. So, Austin — that’s a really awesome thing that Austin got to experience."

Simmons was a three-star recruit in the class of 2023.