OXFORD — The 2024 season was deemed “The Last Dance” by Ole Miss stalwarts like Jaxson Dart and JJ Pegues. The final five regular-season games of the Rebels’ season, then, can be considered their last chance.
Following a 2023 campaign that resulted in the first 11-win season in program history, Dart, Pegues, Tre Harris, Jared Ivey and others opted to postpone their professional football dreams in favor of a shot at making history with Ole Miss. With an expanded 12-team playoff on the horizon, a team filled with hungry veterans returning and a top-ranked transfer portal class destined to take the Rebels over the edge and into college football’s elite, 2024 was going to be Ole Miss’ year. The preseason No. 6 ranking was proof people respected the Rebels.
The Rebels blew out their opposition over the season’s first four games, outscoring teams 220-22 in the nonconference portion of their schedule. Kentucky was first on the SEC slate — a game Ole Miss was favored by more than two touchdowns in — but things didn’t go according to plan. After the game’s opening drive, the Rebels struggled to find any traction offensively. A late deep-ball completion from the Wildcats set up Kentucky’s go-ahead touchdown, though the Rebels found a bit of magic late and got into field goal range to tie the game. Caden Davis’ kick sailed wide, and the Rebels had the first blemish on their record. Not the end of the world, given the expanded playoff. But a blow nonetheless.
A loss two weeks later in Baton Rouge against LSU felt like a point of no return, one way or the other.
The Rebels did not trail until the very last play of the game against the Tigers, an overtime touchdown pass from Garrett Nussmeier that sent LSU fans into a frenzy and left Ole Miss players grappling at a tough reality — the room for error just went from miniscule to nearly nonexistent. Dart told reporters the Rebels had “to win out” after the loss at Tiger Stadium; it came off as more necessity than suggestion.
Ole Miss’ hopes and dreams are still on the table. A 10-2 team from the SEC has great odds of making the 12-team playoff field. Heck, a 9-3 team could potentially get in with how unpredictable college football has been this season. When the chapter on 2024 does eventually close on these Rebels, stories will be penned about how an Ole Miss team on the verge of collapse did one of two things: it rose from the ashes and did something incredible when many left it for dead, or it stayed down and saw one of the most anticipated seasons in program history crumble like a fortune cookie that didn’t contain the right answer inside.
The ink on the Rebels’ saga is still fresh on the page. It has several blank pages remaining, too. And its authors have a chance to surprise all of us with this tale’s ending.
Dart has a chance to cement his legacy more than he ever has. Coming into the season, several school records were within his reach. He also had a chance to lead Ole Miss to its first-ever playoff appearance. The preseason narrative has shifted, though — things are always easier before adversity rears its ugly head. Dart can become the transcendent figure who, despite the odds being stacked against him and his teammates midway through the season, brought the Rebels back from certain doom. The same can be said of Pegues and Harris and all those other players who decided to come back for another dance.
Kiffin has a chance to write his legacy — and, to an extent, rewrite it — as well.
Kiffin has, in some ways, been here before. His preseason No. 1 team at USC in 2012 started the season 6-1 before losing five of six to close out the year. A season that had so much promise ended with a whimper. Kiffin finds himself in a similar predicament in 2024, though the movie and cast have both changed. Should he lead the Rebels from the brink and to the promised land, Kiffin can change the story that, right or wrong, has been written about him already. He can become a legendary figure in Ole Miss lore, the coach who saved a season that should have fallen apart.
How does the story of the 2024 Rebels conclude? No one knows yet. But when the dust settles, history will be recorded either way. How that narrative is framed in five, 10, 20 or even 50 years hinges on a select few in the Manning Center. And that small but mighty group currently holds the weight of an entire fanbase’s dreams in the palm of its collective hands.
The Rebels still have a chance at the dance they wanted all along. But only they can find the rhythm they need to create the perfect two-step.
Michael Katz covers Ole Miss Athletics for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
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