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Ole Miss capped off an extraordinary regular season with an impressive blowout victory in the Sugar Bowl to win 10 games for the first time since 2003. The road back to 10 victories, however, will be a steep climb for the Rebels.
In addition to facing the usual difficult opponents from the SEC West, Ole Miss will play Georgia as one of its crossover opponents. Furthermore, Ole Miss has a tough test on its non-conference schedule against Florida State.
It won’t take long to find out if the Rebels will be true contenders. Ole Miss plays three of those five opponents — Florida State, Alabama, Georgia — in September. Fortunately, the Tide and Bulldogs will visit Oxford while the Rebels will face the Seminoles in Orlando, Fla. In fact, Ole Miss won’t play its first true road game until the middle of October.
After a bye week on Oct. 8, Ole Miss will visit Arkansas and LSU the next two weeks and then travel to Texas A&M in Week 11. The Rebels also will visit crossover rival Vanderbilt. In the second half of the season, home SEC games for Ole Miss will be against Auburn and Mississippi State.
Even the other non-conference games won’t be easy. Wofford is a strong FCS team that runs an option offense. Ole Miss also faces Memphis and Georgia Southern, another option team. Memphis beat Ole Miss in 2015 while Georgia Southern won nine games and took Georgia into overtime.
Let’s take a closer look at the schedule.
SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Home games (6): Wofford (Sept. 10), Alabama (Sept. 17), Georgia (Sept. 24), Memphis (Oct. 1), Auburn (Oct. 29), Georgia Southern (Nov. 5), Mississippi State (Nov. 26)
Road games (6): Arkansas (Oct. 15), LSU (Oct. 22), Texas A&M (Nov. 12), Vanderbilt (Nov. 19)
Neutral sites (1): Florida State (Sept. 5)
Longest home stretch: 4 games (Wofford, Alabama, Georgia, and Memphis)
Longest road stretch: 2 games (Arkansas and LSU) (Texas A&M and Vanderbilt)
OPPONENT BREAKDOWN
2015 ranked teams (final regular season): No. 1 Alabama, No. 16 LSU, No. 20 Oklahoma State, No. 25 Florida
2016 ranked teams (early projections): No. 3 LSU, No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Florida State, No. 20 Arkansas, No. 24 Georgia
Potential trap games: Georgia (a week after visiting Alabama); Vanderbilt (a week after ).
Toughest SEC games: Alabama, at LSU, at Arkansas
FULL SCHEDULE
| Week | Opponent | Venue |
| 1 | Florida State | Citrus Bowl Stadium |
| 2 | Wofford | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| 3 | Alabama | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| 4 | Georgia | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| 5 | Memphis | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| 6 | Open | |
| 7 | at Arkansas | D.W.R. Razorback Stadium |
| 8 | at LSU | Tiger Stadium |
| 9 | Auburn | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| 10 | Georgia Southern | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| 11 | at Texas A&M | Kyle Field |
| 12 | at Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt Stadium |
| 13 | Mississippi State | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
Dave covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
