Segment one: Johntay Cook II caught 45 passes for 600 yards at Syracuse and has not found consistent opportunity in Oxford. That reporting is from the Ole Miss site at Sports Illustrated, September 29 — one writer's reporting, not a school release and not a published snap chart. Put it next to Trinidad Chambliss throwing for 298 yards at Florida in a 24-point loss: the passing game is not the problem, so the question is whether this offense is being run with everything in the building.

The counterweight: Deuce Alexander is producing in that room — seven catches and a touchdown against LSU — and a staff that watches practice every day knows things nobody outside it does.

Segment two: the last public two-deep this program released came before the Charlotte game, published September 11. LT Terez Davis, LG Delano Townsend, C Brycen Sanders, RG Patrick Kutas, RT Tommy Kinsler IV with Connor Howes behind him. LSU transfer Carius Curne is not on that chart anywhere, attributed to a rough camp. Three weeks later nothing public has replaced it — no Vanderbilt two-deep, no snap counts.

Patrick Kutas said Wednesday, "I think we're in a good spot," and he is probably right. Chambliss does not throw for 298 behind a failing line. But the open week is when you find out, and the newest thing anybody outside the building knows about this line is twenty days old.

Should Carius Curne be playing? Tell me in the comments.

Sources: Ole Miss Rebels On SI, September 29, 2026; The Rebel Walk depth chart, September 11, 2026; olemisssports.com bye-week practice report, September 30, 2026.

Join the conversation on the show Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Section 205 sits in the bill's broadcasting title, not the athlete title, and it is built as a merger rule. The Congressional Budget Office's own cost estimate describes it as prohibiting large football conferences — those with annual revenues above $700 million — "from acquiring the assets, media rights, or membership of another similar conference or institution." It bars acquiring. It does not order anyone to shed members.
And nobody is near it. The SEC has 16. The Big Ten has 18. The Big 12 has 16. The ACC has 18, and 17 for football, because Notre Dame is an ACC member in everything but football. No Power Four league is at 20 — the closest are two short, and the SEC is sitting on four empty seats. The SEC also did not fight this cap: it and the Big Ten opposed the bill and then backed it on July 31, and Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida moved the number from 19 to 20 by voice vote days before passage.

Segment two is the provision doing the actual work. A school moving between Power Four conferences must first spend three consecutive years as an independent or in a conference earning under $700 million. It was five years in an earlier draft. It expires after six years. Notre Dame and UConn are exempt because they are already independent. The ACC fought it — internal ACC documents reported by SB Nation say the provisions allow "some G6 movement, but little A4 movement," and officials from at least five ACC schools including Clemson and Florida State complained to lawmakers.

The honest caveat, said on air: the verbatim text of Section 205 could not be obtained, so everything here rests on the CBO estimate, the Senate Commerce Committee's own section-by-section summary, and reporting. And none of it is law — the House does not return until November 9, and any bill not passed by January 3 dies when the new Congress is sworn in.

Is a cap that caps nobody worth this much argument? Tell me in the comments.

Sources: Congressional Budget Office cost estimate for S.4668; Senate Commerce Committee section-by-section summary; Brandon Marcello, CBS Sports; Chris Vannini, The Athletic; Jon Loesche, SB Nation; Sen. Ashley Moody's office; conference membership per each league.

Join the conversation on the show Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ole Miss walked into Gainesville already surrendering an SEC-high 159 rushing yards a game, so Saturday wasn't an outlier — it was a trend arriving all at once. John Fourcade's fix, said on this show: more man coverage, cut the call sheet to about five things, start it at Vanderbilt.
The case for it: this staff installed the system that took three years inside the building at Alabama, and installed it with eight new starters and one training camp. A defender a step late isn't a coward, he's a player thinking — and you fix thinking by handing him less of it.
Then segment two. Kewan Lacy didn't play at Florida. JT Lindsey and Mekhi Frazier carried it 19 times for 73 yards late, and everybody filed it under garbage time. File it under an audition instead — the open date is three days to find out whether either can carry a quarter.

The honest counterweight on both: simplify too far and good offenses eat simple defenses alive, and 3.8 a carry against a defense that stopped caring is not a number you build a plan on.

Who gets the carries if Lacy isn't right? Tell me in the comments.

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation #PeteGolding

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The structure, from the College Football Playoff's own site: 12 teams, seeds 1-4 sit out the first round, seeds 5-8 play at their own stadium, seeds 9-12 travel, and the No. 9 seed travels to the No. 8 seed. First-round games are December 18-19.

The honest part: the AP and coaches polls have no input into any of that. The only ranking that assigns a seed is the selection committee's, and its first release is November 3. Nobody is seeded anything today.
Then segment two. The Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act 77-22 on Monday night. Both Mississippi senators voted yes. It sets one federal NIL standard over the state patchwork, codifies revenue sharing with the cap raised to roughly $50 million a school, declines to make athletes employees, and gives the NCAA antitrust protection to enforce transfer and tampering rules.

The counterweight on both: a team that just gave up 52 points hasn't earned a home playoff game, and a bill that passed one chamber is not law — the House pulled its own version in May and isn't back in force until after the midterms.

Does a federal cap help Ole Miss or hurt it? Tell me in the comments.
Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #CollegeFootballPlayoff #NIL #SEC #RebelNation #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Segment one: over his last two games Keegan Croucher went 27-of-35 for 551 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. That is roughly 77 percent, and it is not screen-game volume. On3 has him the No. 10 quarterback in the 2027 class — a ranking, not a prediction. Accuracy under structure is the trait that shows up early and mostly stays.

Segment two: Ole Miss also has Crews Jenkins out of Brentwood Academy in the same class. Two quarterbacks in one cycle reads as a hedge and is not one. A room with two signees is a room that survives one December phone call — which is the only way anyone builds a quarterback depth chart in the portal era.

The honest counterweight, twice: high school completion percentages are inflated by schemes designed to inflate them; and signing two quarterbacks is also how you guarantee one of them eventually leaves.
Would you rather have depth or certainty? Tell me in the comments.

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #RebelNation #SEC #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Segment one: Golding runs the Alabama system — match coverage, pattern reading, assignments that change off what two other players do. At Alabama it took three years inside the building before anyone started. Ole Miss opened this season with eight new defensive starters who had one training camp. A defender who is a step late is a defender thinking.
Segment two, from Ole Miss legend John Fourcade on Locked On Ole Miss: NIL money makes benching an underperforming starter close to impossible. "They're afraid to take that starter out of there because he's not performing. That's what's ruining college football." His fix is the open date — play the backups and let the starters watch.

The honest counterweight, twice: Golding has run this system successfully for years and Florida is a good team; and Fourcade is describing a pressure he has not seen inside this building, with no Ole Miss staffer saying any such thing about this roster.

Does money decide who plays? Tell me in the comments.

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday.
Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #RebelNation #SEC #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Golding's postgame said his defense was ankle biting instead of going chest to chest, and used the words "a lack of courage." This show does not sign that one.

What goes in its place: nine players ruled out, five of them defensive backs. Kewan Lacy downgraded to doubtful hours before kickoff. Three ranked opponents inside 22 days, the last on the road in Florida heat. And Florida handing it to two backs 41 times for 302 yards.

Watch the shape of it — Ole Miss came out of the half, scored on the first possession, cut it to three. Then Florida scored on five straight possessions. A team that lacks courage folds early. A team out of bodies holds on exactly that long.

Segment two: the kickoff number is 37.8 yards per return, and that is not a kicker statistic. Florida got returns of 41 and 74 yards from London Montgomery and both set up scores. Eleven men run down the field on a kickoff and one of them kicks it.

The counterweight: tired legs do not explain a missed tackle in the first quarter, and a short kick genuinely does make coverage harder. Both things compound.

Leg or lanes? Tell me in the comments. https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC
Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss  #HottyToddy  #RebelsFootball  #SEC  #SpecialTeams  #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the postgame transcript: "Tackling the guy with the ball is a real thing on defense... it's kind of important." Then: "That starts at the top. We got to do a better job of coaching them." And then: "I told our players we got to look in the mirror as well, so we're all accountable to it."
He named the problem, put it on the staff, and only then asked the players to carry their share. That is the opposite of how a first year usually goes sideways.

Segment two: what September actually bought. Ole Miss is 3-1, 1-1 in the league, and the LSU win is still on the résumé. No game this Saturday. Thirteen days to Vanderbilt — and three ranked opponents inside 21 days after that.

The counterweight: saying it at a podium is free, and a bye does not fix tackling. Tuesday is where you find out if it was real.

Does September still count? Tell me in the comments. Daily argument and the game thread: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss  #HottyToddy  #PeteGolding  #SEC  #CollegeFootball  #RebelsFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The number that explains it, also Josh Pate's: Ole Miss went 5-for-5 in the red zone for 32 points. Every trip finished. The run game was not how they won; finishing was. That matters with the starting running back listed questionable two days out.

Segment two: three of nine defensive backs returned to this roster this season. The league ruled two Ole Miss cornerbacks out and listed three more defensive backs questionable, while the school's own practice report had Sharif Denson and Antonio Kite back in the secondary.

They draw a quarterback with 721 passing yards and six touchdowns in three games, per the Ole Miss release previewing the game. The fair side: 63 rushing yards is survival, not a plan, and practicing is not the same as playing four quarters.

Which side of the ball decides it?

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #OleMissFootball #Rebels #CollegeFootball #gators 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Those are two industries looking at the same game and reaching opposite conclusions — and only one of them loses money when it is wrong. This show does not handicap and does not issue picks; odds are cited as evidence.

Segment two: Florida has 22 penalties for 208 yards in three games, a shade under 70 yards a game, off Florida's own statistics page. Allie Peek, who covers the program, said on this show that it "has to stop, because you can't win making that many crucial mental errors against better teams."

The fair side both ways: a projection is a snapshot of a résumé, not a prediction, and Talty's rests on Ole Miss having two better wins than almost anyone. And three games is a small penalty sample for a team averaging 54 points a game.

Where does this one turn?

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #Gators #CollegeFootball #Rebels #CFBPlayoff

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denson on Baugh: "He run under his pads. He very strong in the weight room, very strong on the field. He good hands, good pass blocker. He really could do everything... And then obviously he break all the tackles, and his balance is just really good. So you just got to bring your feet, wrap up, gang tackle him."

And on what has changed in Gainesville: "It's a little bit more screen-heavy. Napier did used to run the twelve personnel and do all the play action... but I would say it's much more screens. And then they do a lot of unbalance." He waved off the revenge framing — different staff, and he left before he ever spoke to them.

Then, later: Ole Miss legend Bill Flowers came on the show Wednesday and disputed Pete Golding's own account of the LSU third quarter — "I know Pete said that he didn't change his defensive scheme, but I felt like it was much more conservative. The backers weren't in the third quarter."

The honest counterweight: Flowers is reading tape, not a call sheet, and he frames it himself as a feeling.

Who do you believe on that third quarter? Comment below.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

Join the Everydayers in Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC   (Rule #41 — also pin this link as the pinned comment.)

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #Gators #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And the number has not moved. Vegas has sat on Florida by three to three and a half all week, consensus Wednesday Florida -3. What did move is the total: 60.5 Monday, 58.5 Wednesday. Two points off the total, nothing off the side.

Then, later: Florida turned Saturday into a television event. Off Florida's own release — SEC Nation live from the Plaza of the Americas at 9 a.m. ET with Matt Barrie, Chase Daniel, Paul Finebaum, Roman Harper and Tim Tebow; the Finebaum show there Friday; Marty & McGee at noon. And the game is a sellout — Florida's 21st in a row.

The honest counterweight: it is a 3:30 ET / 2:30 CT kickoff, not a night game, and that is the biggest break Ole Miss got all week.

These numbers are cited as evidence. This show does not issue picks.
Crowd or kickoff time — which matters more? Comment below.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

Join the Everydayers in Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC   (Rule #41 — also pin this link as the pinned comment.)

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #Gators #CollegeFootball #TheSwamp

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The school's releases carry the rest: Chambliss at 33 completions, 363 yards and three total touchdowns against LSU, leading the SEC at 308.0 passing yards a game and 6th nationally, leading the league in completions per game at 25.7 — off a record 70,033 crowd and a fourth-and-goal stand to seal it.

Then the second argument, and it is the one that matters on Saturday. College GameDay was in Oxford last week. This week SEC Nation goes to Gainesville, which Florida announced Monday. ABC has Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy on the game. The caravan does not follow the ranking — it follows the fixture, and the fixture is a Florida team that is 3-0 for the first time in seven years.

This is the 28th meeting. Ole Miss won last year's 34-24 in Oxford. But the Swamp is its own question: per the Oxford Eagle, Ole Miss went in ranked No. 3 in 2015 and lost 38-10, and went in ranked No. 14 two years ago and lost that one as well.

The honest counterweight on both: the Bear Bryant release claims no program first, and Golding's own answer is that this team is used to it — in this league good competition is expected week in and week out.

Does any of Monday travel to Gainesville? Tell us in the comments. Join the Everydayers in the Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday.

Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #SEC #CollegeFootball #Gators #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open and the menu

0:49  The Back Who Compounds

2:16  Kalshi

2:43  The Land Of Misfit Toys

DESCRIPTION

Jon Sumrall's Monday press conference got covered as a compliment tour. The football in it is a plan he said out loud.

SEGMENT ONE: Asked about Pro Football Focus counting 13 broken tackles on 26 carries at Auburn, Sumrall said Jadan Baugh is "the type of runner who gets better with the workload" — the more carries, the better he plays, because his vision gets cleaner as the game goes. Steven Willis argues that is the most dangerous sentence in the press conference, five days before Baugh faces an Ole Miss front that did not solve LSU's ground game after halftime.

SEGMENT TWO: Sumrall said that in the middle of spring he told his offensive staff his tight end room was "the land of misfit toys" and was his biggest offensive question mark. Now he says that group has grown as much as any position group he has ever been affiliated with, and one of them was his offensive player of the week without a single catch, purely for blocking.

The honest counterweight in both segments: Pete Golding has already called Baugh an elite player and one of the best backs in the country, so nobody in Oxford is being ambushed. And coaches build their own players up every Monday — that is the job, not the news.

Which worries you more on Saturday? Let us know in the comments.

Free Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #Gators #SEC #CollegeFootball #OleMissRebels

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open and the menu

0:52  The Loss He Brought Up Himself

2:21  Kalshi

2:48  The Ones You Take

DESCRIPTION

Four days after the biggest win of his tenure, Pete Golding stood at his Florida preview press conference and brought up a loss nobody asked him about.

SEGMENT ONE: Asked whether 2024 helps him this week, Golding said his last memory of going to Gainesville was "being number fourteen in the country versus a five and five football team, and getting beat." He added that Florida is a top-25 team at home, that by his count they have won there 80 percent of the time over the last ten years, and that if anybody in the building is overlooking this game, something is wrong with them.

SEGMENT TWO: Asked whether fast turnarounds come from money, the portal or coaching, Golding said none of the three. His line: "it's always not the ones that you miss, it's the ones that you take that can't play." Steven Willis argues that is the most honest description of roster building in the revenue-share era anybody has given this season.

The honest counterweight in both segments: every coach in America says a version of the week-four warning, and self-awareness is an easy thing to claim at 3-0. Ask him again in November.

What did you make of it? Let us know in the comments.

Free Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #SEC #CollegeFootball #OleMissRebels

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Traylon Ray caught 7 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown — career highs in both catches and yards, and the first 100-yard receiving game of his career. He said afterward it had been two years since his last touchdown. Five of six pass catchers left Ole Miss in the offseason and the Rebels never replaced them from outside. On Saturday four different receivers cleared 50 yards: Ray 115, Caleb Odom a career-high 88, Deuce Alexander 60 and a TD, Horatio Fields 52. Michael Smith caught the first pass of his career.

Ray on new coordinator John David Baker: "It's similar systems, but for the most part, JDB, if you're hot, he's gonna let you be hot." The counterweight: it's one night against one defense, and with the run game held to 63 yards, some of those throws were the only option.
Second segment: the secondary. Six days before kickoff Pete Golding said of his back end, "Everybody doesn't get a my bad," and that he was disappointed the same mistake kept recurring. This show called the secondary the fatal flaw.

Then Sharif Denson made his Ole Miss debut and tied for the team lead with 8 tackles, with a TFL on LSU's opening drive. Will Echoles had a sack and a team-high 3 tackles for loss. Blake Purchase added a sack. And with under a minute left, Kam Franklin tipped a pass in the end zone and Jaylon Braxton intercepted it. Golding said the final call was a six-man blitz designed to create a one-on-one.

The counterweight: LSU still scored 17 unanswered, Sam Leavitt ran it 17 times, and the third quarter was bad. One interception doesn't settle a season.

Do you trust them in The Swamp on Saturday? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #TraylonRay #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

CHAPTERS
0:00 — The take: he was already here
0:46 — Traylon Ray's career night, and what changed
2:16 — Kalshi
2:45 — The secondary, and the last snap

7 catches, 115 yards, first 100-yard game of his career — and his first TD in two years. Then the secondary took the last snap.#OleMiss #HottyToddy #TraylonRay #SECFootball #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The personnel says he has a case. Trinidad Chambliss is completing 71 percent with five touchdowns and one interception and a 170.36 rating off the school's own stats page, 561 yards in two games with a 62-yard completion on his ledger. Deuce Alexander and Caleb Odom are the targets this staff keeps returning to, and John David Baker's offense works between the hashes.

The honest side: Lacy has not broken the long run. His best against Charlotte went 28 yards, and 139.5 rushing yards a game is not what this team wants. He is predicting a fix, not describing one.

Segment two is the part of Wednesday's SEC availability report almost nobody read — the Ole Miss half. Two players out, two questionable including one of the two men competing at right tackle, two probable. A top-10 team goes into its conference opener essentially whole, with no starting quarterback, running back or receiver on the out line.

Then there is Pete Golding, to Tiger Rag on Tuesday: the team that eliminates distractions, takes care of the football, tackles well and eliminates explosive plays wins the game. This defense is allowing 395.5 yards a game and it is the weak link in a 35-31 prediction. It does not have to be good. It has to be available, and it has to tackle.

Does this defense get the stops? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LSU #SEC #CollegeFootball #KewanLacy #CFB

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Six predictions published that same day, four of them for LSU. The A to Z Sports panel wrote it into their own copy: there have been reports Leavitt is doubtful, “but there seems to be the belief that he will play.” Pete Fiutak at College Football News named the doubtful listing and still landed LSU 31-26. ESPN's Pete Thamel reported no one on the Ole Miss staff is convinced it is sincere. CBS Sports' Richard Johnson wrote that it is doubtful anyone in Oxford believes it until kickoff. Stephen A. Smith went further on television.

The entire market of opinion priced that report at zero. To be fair, Leavitt sat out Wednesday's practice and took part in a walkthrough Thursday, per CBS — there may be something real here.

Segment two is the receipt nobody looked up. Per Bud Elliott of CBS Sports, across Kiffin's last two seasons at Ole Miss he listed a player doubtful 14 times — and exactly one of those players played. The designation meant what it said 13 times out of 14. The reputation is real, but it attaches to “questionable,” which he is renowned for overusing. Doubtful is the one he has not played games with.

And the conference put a price on getting it wrong: CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello published the policy — $25,000 for a first offense of inaccurate availability reporting, $50,000 for a second, $100,000 for a third and beyond.

Fourteen is a small sample and nobody has been fined under that policy yet. But if you are Ole Miss you prepare for the backup and hope you wasted the week. Do you believe the report? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LSU #LaneKiffin #SEC #CollegeFootball #CFB

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

   00:00 LSU Had To Go Find Its Motivation

   0:49 An Answer, Not A Taunt

   2:12 Kalshi

   2:39 Thirteen Catches, Two Thirty-Five

DESCRIPTION:

Deuce Alexander was asked on Tuesday how Ole Miss's receivers stack up against LSU's secondary. He answered it as a matchup question — and one word from the end of that answer reportedly went up on a wall inside LSU's football operations building.

A caution this segment states on air: the wall is reported via a circulating photo, no outlet has named who took it, and no one at LSU has confirmed it on the record.

What makes it worth a segment is what LSU did not use. Alexander also discussed Lane Kiffin's departure and said he never really understood what happened — and in the same session said Kiffin is "still my guy," there is "no bad blood," and "we all still cool." The Associated Press summed the week up with a headline: "Ole Miss players aren't making much — at least publicly — of Lane Kiffin's return with LSU." An LSU-side outlet ran only the conciliatory half.

Segment two is the matchup the quote was actually about. Alexander leads Ole Miss with 13 catches for 235 yards and two touchdowns per the school's "First Look." Ole Miss throws for 314.5 yards a game, 22nd nationally per Hunt Palmer at LouisianaSports.net. LSU has the No. 1 total defense in America at 142.0 yards a game per the NCAA, and has allowed 124.0 passing yards a game computed off the two box scores.

The honest counterweight: every program does the wall, he did say the word, and LSU's numbers came against Clemson and Louisiana Tech, who managed 145 and 140 total yards. Alexander's own Wednesday line: "Block all the outside noise and just keep the main thing the main thing."

Has bulletin board material ever won anybody a football game? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #DeuceAlexander #LSUvsOleMiss #OleMissFootball #SECFootball #CollegeGameDay

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

   00:00 Ole Miss Paid The Bills

   0:50 Five Hundred Fifty Thousand

   2:13 Kalshi

   2:40 There Is No Neutral Referee

DESCRIPTION:

LSU defensive end Princewill Umanmielen was served in the parking lot outside LSU's football operations building on Tuesday, five days before LSU visits Ole Miss. ESPN's Pete Thamel reported it first. This episode gets the facts straight and then argues the principle underneath them.

What landed Tuesday was not a lawsuit. It was discovery — interrogatories, requests for production and requests for admission — in a case Ole Miss filed in late July in Lafayette County Circuit Court. The plaintiff is the University of Mississippi itself, not a collective.

The claim is breach of a 2026 revenue sharing agreement containing an early-departure payment. The figure is $550,000 per the Associated Press. A separate suit against offensive lineman Devin Harper seeks $400,000. Ole Miss, on the record: "The University of Mississippi has a responsibility to enforce its contractual terms... The university attempted to amicably resolve this matter prior to filing."

Segment two is the part nobody is saying: there is no neutral body that decides when a signed contract gets enforced. Duke sued its own former quarterback. Wisconsin and its collective went after Miami over Xavier Lucas. Cincinnati is in a roughly $1 million dispute with Brendan Sorsby. Arkansas retained outside counsel to collect buyouts. Every one of them picked its own date.

The honest counterweight: discovery deadlines run on their own calendar, nobody at Ole Miss has said the date was chosen, and the people calling it gamesmanship are a columnist and a defense attorney, not anyone with knowledge of the file.

Should a school ever have to explain its timing? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LSUvsOleMiss #CollegeFootball #NIL #SECFootball #OleMissFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis takes the positive side of the pressure question. Asked what his players have been saying about this game and how much they talk about it, Golding said: "to be honest with you, I mean, we really haven't had that dialogue." There has been no team meeting about Lane Kiffin. He walked through the real week instead — Sunday recap and corrections, lift, walkthroughs, the Rookie Bowl, Monday off, and "Tuesdays when we come in, it's about the opponent." Then the line that ends the argument: "whether Coach Kiffin was coaching this team or not, right, in order for their preparation to be the right way to win the game, I think it's going to be exactly the same."

He is not pretending the emotion is absent — "is there an emotional piece to this? Absolutely. And there's an emotional piece to every week" — he simply will not build a Tuesday around it. The one time he pushed on motivation: "if they can't get up for this one, I don't know why they play the game."

Segment two is what Ole Miss actually gains this week. Golding read the availability list out loud: Tommy Kinsler goes Tuesday, Caleb Odom back in on scout periods, Sharif Denson doing all of them, Antonio Kite doing some — and "everybody that we didn't have in that game, we're expecting tomorrow to be able to practice." Then the crowd, treated as football: "the helmet-to-helmet communication now in college football, it's a lot harder when you got 67,000 people screaming... so much of that communication is done from the sideline to the player now that I think crowds now can neutralize that." And his own protection: "you're constantly changing the signals... multiple ways to signal within the same game."

The honest counterweights: a calm building has never blocked anybody, and 67,000 is Golding's round figure rather than an attendance count.

So how loud does Vaught-Hemingway need to be? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #OleMissFootball #LSU #SEC #VaughtHemingway

CHAPTERS — 

0:00  Cold Open And Today's Two Takes

0:51  The Snap Count — 25 Snaps, Then 70

2:20  Kalshi

2:47  Make Him A Pocket Passer

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis argues that is not a man who is comfortable. Kiffin called the situation "unusual" three times in one session — "one team you built and then now a new team that you're building" — then said "I know obviously a lot's gonna be made about me, but this is about the players being prepared really well and playing really well." Later, plainer: "There's just gonna be so much attention, hatred, everything on me. I said, you just get to go play." Hatred is his word, volunteered; the reporter had said heckling.

Segment two is the four-day problem he named himself, and it is not the defense. On Louisiana Tech, Kiffin said LSU "didn't do well taking care of the ball in the turnover margin," that there were "a lot of negative runs," and that the issue is "the inability — everybody doing things right — to finish drives." Then the example: "one of those drives, I think it was 20 plays. It's got to be a record to go 20 plays and not get any points but give the other team 7 on the 20th play." And the verdict on his own stat sheet: "As you see the yardage, whatever, 2nd in the country, but that's — that doesn't matter. You got to finish the drives."

Add three interceptions against Louisiana Tech and a red zone that LSU's own pregame radio show placed 13th in the SEC, and that is the list he has four days to work through, in the loudest building he will visit all season.

The honest counterweight on both: his players did not choose this storyline, and shielding a locker room from a week like this is exactly a head coach's job. LSU has also scored 96 points in two games, and a coach picking at his own team in week three is coaching, not panic.

So what does he fix first? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LaneKiffin #LSU #OleMissFootball #SEC #MagnoliaBowl

CHAPTERS — 

0:00  Cold Open And Today's Two Takes

0:48  The Portal Defence — “That's Not The Case”

2:17  Kalshi

2:45  Leaks In The Building

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open and the menu

0:47  Chapter 1 — KINSLER · ODOM · DENSON · KITE

2:12  Ad — Kalshi

2:39  Chapter 2 — MAKE HIM A POCKET PASSER

DESCRIPTION

Pete Golding opened LSU week Monday and gave more roster news in ninety seconds than he has given all season. This is the roster half of what came out of the two press conferences.

The availability board, in his words: Tommy Kinsler goes Tuesday after missing Charlotte. Caleb Odom is back in scout periods after not playing at all. Sharif Denson does all the scout periods, having not played a snap this season. Antonio Kite does some of them. And everybody Ole Miss did not have in that game is expected to practice.

Mondays are an off day for this team. Tuesday is the first real practice of LSU week — and the first one all season where Golding expects a full room.

Then the scouting report. Golding on LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt: he remembered his athleticism at Arizona State, said there were questions about how he would move coming off the injury and he moves really well, said his top-end speed is better than he knew — and said it is going to be really important to make him become a pocket passer.

Put that next to Leavitt's two games: five rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns, three interceptions. Golding is not worried about the arm.

The honest counterweight: all three interceptions came in a 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech, in which Leavitt threw for 344 yards. Contain him and you still have to cover. Which worries you more? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #LSU #SEC #CollegeFootball

IG / TIKTOK CAPTION

Golding gets everybody back for LSU week — and then told you exactly what scares him about Sam Leavitt. It isn't the arm.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #LSU #SEC #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open and the menu

0:47  Chapter 1 — "THAT'S NOT THE CASE"

2:14  Ad — Kalshi

2:41  Chapter 2 — "BOTH PLACES"

DESCRIPTION

Lane Kiffin met the media in Baton Rouge on Monday ahead of his return to Oxford, and two things he said have gone almost entirely unreported. This is the institutional half of that press conference.

Asked about a former Ole Miss pass rusher now playing for him, Kiffin said: I know a lot of times people think, well, we just go and get the top of the market and outpay people. That's not the case. Then he made the case himself using Ole Miss players — Trinidad Chambliss out of Division II, who he said was choosing between Ole Miss and Temple, and Kewan Lacy, who had 100 yards the season before he arrived.

When Kiffin says us in that sentence he means Ole Miss. He is describing the portal class he signed in Oxford — and it is the best argument he has ever made for himself as an evaluator.

Then the part he would not discuss. Asked a scheme question, Kiffin said: I'm sure both places already worry about leaks within the building, getting game plans out. So I can't really do that. Both places. On the same day, Pete Golding said he is constantly changing signals and needs multiple ways to signal the same call inside one game.

The honest counterweight: Kiffin said all of it about a roster he no longer coaches, in a week he needs Ole Miss to feel the pressure — and operational security is the oldest way there is to duck a question.

Is that an evaluator talking, or a salesman? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LaneKiffin #LSU #SEC #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00 — Cold open and intro

0:49 — The run they could not get

2:45 — Who is coming back

DESCRIPTION

Ole Miss put up 420 total yards against Charlotte and Pete Golding still named something the offense could not do. Asked about the offensive line, he said you have to be able to line up, put your hand in the dirt when they know you are going to run it, and run the football — and then: "I don't know that we did that."

Look at what surrounded that answer. Kewan Lacy carried about 13 times for 87 yards and two touchdowns and sat down — his 11th straight game with a rushing touchdown. The line did it without Tommy Kinsler, with Connor Howes starting at right tackle. And in the third quarter, when everybody in the building knew what was coming, Ole Miss rushed for minus one yard. That is the exact situation Golding described, and the exact situation LSU will create on Saturday night.

The honest counterweight: Golding also said he thought the line did well given who was missing, and he had not watched the tape when he said either thing. He was grading a feeling — and the feeling was still negative.

Segment two: the availability board. Golding said Sharif Denson "for sure will play this week" and that Antonio Kite is hopeful but won't be known until late. Caleb Odom, who missed Charlotte, is back. Four rotation players moving toward the field in the week Ole Miss needs them — and the busted coverages everyone has argued about for two weeks happened with two fall-camp starters watching. But Golding refused the excuse: "it is definitely not a scapegoat." The problem, he said, is players not knowing where to line up. Personnel is not eye control.

Six days to LSU. Who fixes it? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #OleMissFootball #KewanLacy

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00 — Cold open and intro

0:50 — The third quarter

2:45 — The number that is zero

DESCRIPTION

Ole Miss beat Charlotte 41-9 and gave up 322 yards doing it. The score is the least interesting number on the page.

Segment one is the third quarter, and Pete Golding named it himself in his opening statement: "Really disappointed on how we came out in the third quarter." Charlotte outgained Ole Miss 116-60 in that quarter, held the ball for 11:26 of the 15 minutes while taking three penalties, and opened the half with a 43-yard run that led to points. Ole Miss rushed for minus one yard and answered with a three-and-out. What makes it a pattern rather than a bad quarter: Golding said the identical thing happened a week earlier in the fourth quarter against Louisville, up two possessions. They coached it all week and re-hit it at halftime. It happened again.

The counterweight is on the same tape: the first half was five scores on six drives, one punt, and a shutout.

Segment two, on separate evidence: Ole Miss did not record a single sack — against a line that let an FCS team live in its backfield seven days earlier. Every reaction since has gone to the secondary, and the busts are real. But coverage and pass rush are the same statistic in different jerseys. A corner can hold anyone for three seconds; if nobody gets home, three becomes five, and five seconds is how a team that lost to The Citadel throws for 178 yards.

Front or back end — which one worries you? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #OleMissFootball #Rebels

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open, intro and both topics

0:46  Chapter 1

2:46  Chapter 2

Exactly three chapter lines plus the Kalshi read at 2:12.

DESCRIPTION (8 paragraphs):

Ole Miss published its first official depth chart of the season on Wednesday — 18 days after camp closed, and after 18 days of beat writers publishing projected two-deeps because no real one existed.

The chart lists Tommy Kinsler IV at right tackle with Connor Howes behind him, settling the competition Pete Golding called open on August 25. Then Kinsler went out against Louisville and Howes played 35 snaps in his first significant college action, allowing one pressure on 21 pass-play opportunities. The unit gave up no sacks all night.

The counterweight: Brycen Sanders put two snaps over Trinidad Chambliss's head, and the first cost 21 yards and the possession. The line was not clean — it was deep.

Segment two is the backfield. Kewan Lacy left the game with what Sports Illustrated described as a third-quarter thigh injury, and there is still no official designation because Ole Miss has not published an availability report for Charlotte.

Makhi Frazier and JT Lindsey took seven carries each for 52 yards combined. Lacy carried it 306 times last season for 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns. And Joshua Dye — more than 1,800 yards and 28 touchdowns at Southern Utah — did not carry the ball at all.

Who should get the carries Saturday? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #KewanLacy #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open, intro and both topics

0:48  Chapter 1

2:49  Chapter 2

Exactly three chapter lines plus the Kalshi read at 2:15.

Ole Miss announced Jack Borris at the end of August. His background is 11-plus years at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, plus a master's in sports administration from Boston College. Not a scout. Not a former player. A finance guy.

His remit: athlete finance strategy, cap management, revenue share, NIL and roster construction — a job description that did not exist five years ago.

In July the SEC and Big Ten both voted to support the Protect College Sports Act, which moves the cap from $21.3 million to $48.8 million. More than double, and somebody has to decide where it goes. Look at what this roster already is: only three of nine defensive backs returned.

Segment two is the other structural bet. Pete Golding is in his first full season running the program and is still calling the defense himself — the opposite of what a first-year head coach normally does.

On3 reported this week that Golding is the first coach in modern college football history to open a head coaching career against four ranked opponents in his first four games, and that he is 3-1 in them.

The honest counterweight: that is On3's research rather than a record book, and it is not a one-man job either. Bryan Brown is the defensive coordinator of record and sits in the box, and Todd Cooley runs the practice structure that frees Golding up to call it at all.

What does he owe that defense on Saturday? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #PeteGolding #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Wednesday, Ole Miss published one. The line that matters is the right side of the offensive line: Tommy Kinsler IV is listed as the starting right tackle with Connor Howes behind him. Kinsler is the player who went down against Louisville; Howes is the one who replaced him — and Ole Miss did not give up a sack in that game with a backup right tackle finishing it.

The honest counterweight: a depth chart in Week 2 is a formality. The word "OR" appears all over this one — at end, strong safety, corner and tight end — and Pete Golding has named rooms rather than players all season.

In segment two — the name that is not on the chart at all. Samari Reed was voted the most improved player on the team coming out of camp, a team award rather than media chatter, and he does not appear anywhere on the first two-deep. A camp award is a reward for August. A depth chart is a decision about September.

Who plays their way onto it by October? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

CHAPTERS (measured from word counts)

0:00  The first depth chart of the season

0:49  What it settles at right tackle

2:12  Kalshi

2:46  The camp award that isn't on the chart

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

By Wednesday the SEC's case had come apart. The federal hearing in Birmingham was continued with no new date — "the court will reset the hearing by separate order" — meaning the conference asked for a restraining order and did not get one. Greg Sankey said the presidents would meet with a "revised agenda," and Ross Dellenger reported expulsion is no longer expected to be on it.

The honest counterweight: WBRZ in Baton Rouge reported the opposite, that expulsion remains on the agenda. The SEC has confirmed nothing, and no time for the meeting has been published anywhere.

In segment two — the letter. LSU President Wade Rousse wrote to Sankey: "The roster is now locked for the season. LSU complied with SEC rules. This issue is moot." Inside it is a claim about dates: Rousse says he told Sankey on September 4 that LSU would not roster the two players, and submitted a roster without them that evening. The SEC amended its complaint on September 8. Either LSU blinked Tuesday with a vote hanging over it, or the conference sought emergency relief four days after the emergency ended.

Which version do you believe? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #LSU #CollegeFootball #GregSankey

CHAPTERS (measured from word counts)

0:00  LSU folded — or the fight was already over

0:48  The roster move that ended the emergency

2:14  Kalshi

2:48  The letter that says it was over on the 4th

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open and today's menu

0:50  The play-caller question

2:13  Kalshi

2:47  The faceless week

DESCRIPTION

Asked Tuesday whether a head coach should still call his own defense, Pete Golding said he definitely feels comfortable doing both, that he never once felt unprepared or a step behind, and that it was probably the most comfortable he had been in his four games as a head coach. All four came against ranked teams.

In the same press conference he gave the numbers: 19 missed tackles, and 12 explosive plays for 324 yards — about 80 percent of Louisville's total offense.

He did not blame the calls. He said they were Day 1 camp calls that were not communicated, with no motion to create them, and described it as an open-book test: ten of eleven are doing it right and you are not.

Then the Charlotte week. Golding said the timing was the best thing that happened to him, called Charlotte "faceless" and "nameless," and said everything on the fix list is opponent-proof — block destruction, tackling angles, stopping your feet on contact, pad level. He was explicit it was never a lack of effort. Ole Miss goes live with the scout team on Tuesdays all year.

The honest counterweight: a coach who calls the defense and then grades it is grading his own paper, September is when every coach in America says the word execution, and a 47-point favorite can fix nothing and still win by 40.

What do you want to see against Charlotte? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #OleMissFootball #SEC #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00  Cold open and today's menu

0:52  What the SEC actually filed

2:17  Kalshi

2:51  Ole Miss already paid for this rule

DESCRIPTION

The SEC amended its federal complaint in Birmingham and asked for a restraining order so nobody can block, delay or interfere with a special meeting of the conference's presidents — a meeting whose stated purpose is deciding whether to terminate LSU under Section 3.1.5 of the SEC constitution.

Three things in that filing matter more than the word expulsion. The conference told the court the meeting happens even if LSU abandons its plan to add former professional players. It argued that removing a member is not a penalty but an independent right the presidents already hold. And it invoked the First Amendment right of expressive association — the claim that the SEC cannot be forced to associate with a member.

The honest counterweight: ESPN's Pete Thamel reports expulsion is not expected, and this may be leverage.

Then the Ole Miss half nobody is running. The two players named in the complaint, Zxavian Harris and Dae'Quan Wright, were Rebels last season and started all 15 games — Harris with 58 tackles, 9 for loss and 3 sacks; Wright with 39 catches for 635 yards and 5 touchdowns, per WAFB. They were available to Ole Miss too. Pete Golding said some of the players who had become available did not fit a need.

Ole Miss followed a rule that cost it a 15-game starting defensive tackle and a 15-game starting tight end, out of a receiving group that had already lost five of six. Thursday decides whether that restraint was principle or naivety.

Would you have signed them? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #LSU #CollegeFootball #OleMissFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2:10  Kalshi

2:44  Segment two

DESCRIPTION:

Pete Golding on the Ole Miss offensive line after the Louisville game, per HottyToddy's full session: "I never felt like they were an issue." Sports Illustrated's Monday report card gave that unit a C-minus and called the grade generous — the line "struggled throughout the game," and Trinidad Chambliss avoided sacks through elite pocket presence rather than protection. Jaydon Koss: he "won in spite of his offensive line, not because of it."

Both of those cannot be true. Ole Miss started two brand new tackles because both 2025 starters are in the NFL, and by the end of the night Tommy Kinsler had left hurt and Delano Townsend was out at guard.

The honest counterweight: the offense still put up 488 yards, the run game got 152, and Golding has the film. But LSU has a front that does not need help, and 11 days is not long enough to build a line.

Segment two — the backfield. Kewan Lacy left late in the third and Golding said "I don't think it's anything serious," which is the only official word there is. The broadcast said leg, the AP said thigh, the radio network said the wind was knocked out of him. No diagnosis exists. What does exist: 7 carries for Makhi Frazier and 6 for JT Lindsey, both in a one-score game against a ranked opponent on national television. That is a staff that already trusts three backs.

What should the carry split be against Charlotte? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #SEC #CollegeFootball #KewanLacy

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2:12  Kalshi

2:46  Segment two

DESCRIPTION:

Seven Ole Miss players either left the Louisville game or never played it. Kewan Lacy left late in the third. Rick Cleveland of Mississippi Today reported Kam Franklin, Keaton Thomas, Delano Townsend and Tommy Kinsler all left, and that "the nature and extent of their injuries are not known." The Daily Mississippian added that Antonio Kite went out early and Sharif Denson never played.

There is no availability report. No depth chart. No captains. No jersey release. Eleven days into the season, the only official word on any of it is Pete Golding saying he does not think Lacy's injury is anything serious.

The honest counterweight: the conference does not require an injury report the way the NFL does, and Golding is not obligated to hand LSU a medical chart. That is a real competitive reason. But there is a difference between not helping LSU and telling your own audience nothing.

Segment two: Lucas Carneiro was named a co-SEC Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday — 48 to win it with no time left, a 43 earlier, 5-for-5 on PATs, 11 points. And per the Ole Miss release, it was his third career field goal of 45+ yards inside the final 15 seconds of regulation, the most by any kicker in the country in the last 30 years. He is at 160 career points, 14th in school history.

What is a kicker like that actually worth? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LucasCarneiro #SEC #CollegeFootball #PeteGolding

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Put that next to what we know. Three of nine defensive backs return. Golding teaches Lion, Free and Ram as interchangeable back-end spots — a system that depends entirely on people talking. Safety Sharif Denson, same report, says the chemistry is good "at the moment" and they build it day by day.

The honest counterweight: a closed scrimmage is exactly where you want that to surface, and a coach who tells you about it is not hiding it. Louisville has its own version with a first-time defensive play caller.

Then: the best defender on this roster has not been named in a single preview of this game, ours included. Suntarine Perkins — 2026 Chucky Mullins Courage Award winner, 81 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks last season.

That matters Sunday because Louisville's answer to a rebuilt offensive line is to run it and shorten the game. A run blueprint dies on second-and-twelve.

Who is the Ole Miss defender you are actually watching? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #OleMissFootball #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation #Louisville

CHAPTERS 

0:00 — Twelve days, no right tackle

2:12 — Kalshi

2:46 — The back, not the quarterback

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Ole Miss angle nobody is writing: three of the former Rebels — Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams Jr. — are inside the underlying eligibility case. Ole Miss could have brought any of them back and declined. Pete Golding: "some of these guys who have become available don't necessarily fit a need."

Commissioner Greg Sankey testified the same day in East Baton Rouge Parish. His affidavit says league presidents voted 15-0 for the new rules with LSU abstaining.

The honest counterweight: LSU is the defendant, not Ole Miss, and the accounts of what the judge actually did Thursday do not yet agree with one another. No ruling is stated here.

Then: the most useful thing said about Ole Miss this week came from a national voice who is not putting them in the Playoff — new OC, a head coach in his first full year, a harder schedule. He is describing risk, not decline, and that is why it is worth hearing.

Does that scare you or motivate you? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #OleMissFootball #LSU #RebelNation

CHAPTERS — 

0:00 — The Baton Rouge hearing is an Ole Miss story

2:17 — Kalshi

2:51 — Two Heisman campaigns, one trophy

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

That was eleven days ago. Since then: no depth chart, no injury report, no captains, no jersey numbers. HottyToddy previewed a Monday depth chart release on Aug. 31 and nobody has reported one ever came out.

The tell: On3's beat writers were still publishing projected depth charts on Wednesday. You don't project a depth chart that exists. Kinsler is the Miami transfer, No. 61; Carius Curne is the LSU transfer, No. 57. Both of last year's starting tackles are in the NFL.

The honest counterweight: Ole Miss plays Sunday, not Saturday, so every release slides a day — and Golding hasn't run a normal release calendar all season.

Then later: everybody has spent the week on Louisville's unknown quarterback. Isaac Brown is the one with the tape. Golding on Wednesday: “This kid is special. He's explosive on tape and really good in space.” Brown ran for 884 yards at 8.8 a carry last season, and 1,173 with 13 scores as a true freshman.

Against a run defense that finished 69th nationally at 4.2 yards a carry. The counterweight: that number belonged to a different front — Echoles, Boireau and Oatis are all in this one.

Do you trust this front more than last year's? Comments below.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #Louisville #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Law Commentary puts the plaintiff group at 33 athletes. The conference says it is prepared to contest the allegations at Thursday morning's hearing and defend its rights as a voluntary association.

Every version of this story is written as LSU against the SEC. Three of the players inside it are former Rebels: Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams Jr.

A correction we owe: Junior Tuihalamaka is NOT a former Ole Miss player. He came out of Notre Dame and was grouped in because all of them are LSU-bound.

The part nobody is covering: Ole Miss could have brought those three back and didn't. Golding: some of these guys who have become available don't necessarily fit a need.

Then later: Ole Miss is running Heisman campaigns for Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy at the same time — Times Square, the Sphere, both players. The Heisman rewards one story. Promoting two doesn't double the odds; it splits the narrative.

Would you rather have two candidates or one winner? Comments below.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #Heisman #TrinidadChambliss #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Offensive coordinator John David Baker, on Aug. 10: I don't want him to carry that ball that much. And the reason — running it that many times between the tackles, you're going to break. And he did. He had shoulder surgery in the offseason after being hurt against Tulane in the first round of the playoff. Baker's pitch: carries down, touches level.

Then on Monday, asked directly whether the deeper room means he won't carry it 300 times again, Lacy said: we'll just see how the game goes, we just got to go 1-0. That is not a man buying in.

The honest counterweight: Baker's carries-vs-touches distinction is real, and the room behind Lacy is good — Makhi Frazier from Michigan State and Joshua Dye, who put up 1,831 yards and 28 touchdowns at the FCS level.

Then later: Ole Miss isn't rotating three defensive tackles. It's five. Next to Will Echoles — first-team All-SEC, 26 pressures, most of any Power Four DT, and a new national NIL deal with SeatGeek — the competition is Jehiem Oatis, Michai Boireau, Andrew Maddox, Jamarious Brown and Kamron Beavers. Golding named three of the five; the back half has almost no SEC snaps.

Does Lacy carry it 25 times on Sunday? And who's the second-best defensive tackle on this roster? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #KewanLacy #WillEcholes #SECFootball #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

That's the right answer for a quarterback four days out. Here's the part he doesn't have to say: these are two different cases and they are not close. Chambliss was enrolled and had signed nothing. He came up from Division II, the NCAA denied his waiver, Tom Mars took it to court, and in February a judge found the association had breached its duty of good faith. The Mississippi Supreme Court refused the appeal in March.

Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris are former Ole Miss players who left for the NFL. Wright signed with Philadelphia, was released, signed with Cleveland, then won a court order restoring college eligibility. He began practicing at LSU on Monday. Both situations involve a court order — that is the entire overlap.

Then later: Ole Miss hired Jack Borris off Wall Street this week and almost nobody covered it. Eleven-plus years at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, plus a master's in sports administration from Boston College. The job: athlete finance strategy, cap management, revenue share, NIL and roster construction.

The honest counterweight: this is the correct move, every serious program is building a front office, and Ole Miss is late rather than early. A front office never wins a game by itself — but it decides which roster Pete Golding gets to coach in 2027.

Does a front office make you more comfortable or less? Comments below.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #TrinidadChambliss #CollegeFootball #SECFootball #NIL #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One: Louisville opens with a first-time defensive play caller, and Brohm volunteered that communication will be critical and that it has hurt them in years past when they were not on the same page — in the same breath as saying Ole Miss will challenge them with tempo.

Two: asked about the middle of his defensive line, he said there is inexperience there and that the strength is on the outside. Everyone has spent two weeks on Louisville's edges.

Three: it is game week and Louisville has not named a kicker or a punter. Meanwhile Golding has two specialists he trusts and says four-down territory is not what it used to be.

The honest counterweight: Brohm likes his offensive line, has about six he can rotate, and expects the interior to play well. He is not conceding anything — he just answered the questions.

Where does this game actually turn? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #Louisville #JeffBrohm #RebelNation

CHAPTERS (derived from the measured word counts above plus the 20-second read):

0:00 — Cold open, intro and the menu

0:51 — Louisville's first-time defensive play caller

3:22 — Where Louisville is actually soft

Presented by Kalshi

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the table: expulsion, membership probation, schools refusing to take the field against a team carrying a player the conference says is ineligible, and a federal lawsuit by the conference against one of its own members.

The SEC bylaws run 48 pages and the word expulsion is not in them. But Section 4.12 lets the presidents impose probation, bar a member from the championship, bar it from league competition — and impose any other penalty they consider appropriate. LSU comes to Oxford in 18 days.

Then the other half: Pete Golding kept the defensive headset for his first opener as a head coach, met both staffs in the same day, and told on his own defense — Saturday's mock game gave up explosive plays to communication, not scheme. You cannot do that and win against a top 25 team.

And in 23 minutes, nobody in the room asked him about the right tackle.

Strategy, or a man who won't let go of the wheel? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #LSU #PeteGolding #RebelNation

CHAPTERS 

0:00 — Cold open, intro and the menu

0:51 — Fifteen schools and Section 4.12

3:33 — Golding kept the headset — and told on his own defense

Presented by Kalshi

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

▪  0:00  —  Cold open and the menu

▪  0:25  —  Nine days, still no right tackle

▪  2:44  —  Perkins at 97

DESCRIPTION:

On Aug. 24 Pete Golding said: "We have this week to decide that, and then we'll probably make that decision next week." That week came and went. Camp closed Aug. 22. It is Aug. 31, six days from kickoff, and Ole Miss still has no announced starting right tackle.

The competition is Tommy Kinsler IV (Miami) against Carius Curne (LSU). Golding said Kinsler "has probably flashed the most consistently up to this point" but must keep getting in shape for the snap volume the job carries at Ole Miss's tempo; Curne "falls into that consistency category," and Ole Miss on SI reported Friday he has been working back from spring surgery on limited reps. Both 2025 starting tackles are now in the NFL.

The take: the silence is the information. A staff sitting on a clear answer names it, because naming it buys that tackle six days of first-team reps beside the other four starters. You do not build offensive line chemistry out of a depth chart. And do not solve it by sliding Patrick Kutas to right tackle - you do not fix one hole by opening another.

Then later - Caleb Cunningham. Five of six pass catchers are gone: 185 catches and 19 touchdowns out the door. The true freshman landed on the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year watch list on Aug. 26, and Golding said he is "finally healthy again" and gives them "a different presence." That matters because John David Baker throws between the hash marks - between the hashes you need someone who wins in traffic, not a boundary burner.

Honest counterweight on both: not naming a right tackle is not the same as not knowing, and Louisville gets no free week of film either. And "finally healthy again" tells you plainly that Cunningham has not been - true freshman receivers in this league are usually a November story, not a September one.

Who is your bet for the leading receiver on this team? Drop a name.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits - quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation #GameWeek

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

▪  0:00  —  Cold open and the menu

▪  0:28  —  A Sunday opener and a six-day week

▪  2:40  —  The job Golding almost said no to

DESCRIPTION:

Every headline in America says the SEC got humiliated in court. Here is the contrarian read, and it comes from the best possible source for an Ole Miss audience.

What happened: Thursday, Dallas County judge Martin Hoffman issued a temporary restraining order naming the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey personally. Friday, Baton Rouge judge William Jorden amended his order to add the conference and Sankey, blocking the SEC from imposing the penalties it had just voted in - a half-season head-coach suspension, a fine equal to half of a sport's annual operating budget, and loss of voting rights. Saturday, the SEC told opposing counsel it would comply.

Tom Mars - the attorney who won Trinidad Chambliss his year of eligibility - posted that the conferences will ultimately prevail. His reasoning: every state-court win against the NCAA rests on breach of the implied covenant of good faith, and a player can only bring that claim as a third-party beneficiary of the NCAA's contract with its member schools. Mars argues nothing in a conference constitution or bylaws makes players third-party beneficiaries, and that the new conference rules have not been applied inconsistently, arbitrarily or in bad faith the way the NCAA's were.

The Ole Miss receipt: in February, Judge Robert Whitwell granted Chambliss his injunction and found the NCAA had breached its duty of good faith and acted in bad faith. Same lawyer, same doctrine, opposite answer. A restraining order is temporary - complying costs the SEC nothing it cannot reclaim at Thursday's preliminary injunction hearing, in federal court, or at trial.

Then later - the six days nobody has counted. Ole Miss opens SUNDAY Sept. 6 vs Louisville in Nashville, then plays Charlotte on Saturday Sept. 12. Six days between game one and game two while everyone else gets seven.

Honest counterweight: Mars is not a neutral party. He sued Ole Miss on behalf of Houston Nutt in 2017 and won a settlement and a public apology. And his analysis is a post on his own account, not sworn testimony.

Did the SEC fold, or did it wait? Make your case in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits - quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #Eligibility #RebelNation #LSU

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Deuce Alexander wears No. 1 — a number that is given at Ole Miss, not chosen. Last season he caught 44 passes for 684 yards and 2 touchdowns in 15 games, set a school record with an 88-yard touchdown catch against Mississippi State, and had a career-high seven catches in a playoff game against Tulane. He also carried it 19 times for 122 yards.

You cannot rank a quarterback sixth in America and in the same document decide nobody will catch what he throws. And this is not a list that discounts receivers: Jeremiah Smith is No. 1 overall, Malachi Toney is 5th and Cam Coleman is 7th — three of the top seven.

Then later: Johntay Cook II led Syracuse in receiving last season with 45 catches for 549 yards in 12 games, including six for 113 against Clemson. He was a five-star out of DeSoto, Texas — No. 38 nationally and the No. 7 receiver in his class. He is not on the list either. We have said on this show that Cook will be one of the two leading receivers on this team, so the list and this show now disagree in public.

Being fair: nobody in that room has produced at a top-100 level yet, 199 catches and 3,015 yards genuinely left in December, and 45 catches at Syracuse is not 45 catches in the SEC. A prediction is not production.

Does Cook finish top two on this team in catches? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #Rebels #SEC #CollegeFootball

CHAPTERS 

0:00   Cold open and the menu

0:25   Deuce Alexander

2:44   Johntay Cook Ii

IG / TIKTOK CAPTION

Locked On's Top 100 has Trinidad Chambliss 6th and not a single Ole Miss receiver anywhere in the hundred. Three of the top seven players in America are wideouts. Explain that.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #Rebels #SEC #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ohio State has one player in the top eight. Notre Dame, Oregon and Miami have one each. Texas has two. Ole Miss has two. And there is a difference: Texas's two are an edge rusher and a receiver, while Ole Miss's two are the quarterback and the running back. No other program in America has a top-eight QB and a top-eight RB on this list.

Nine months ago the head coach left for LSU, half the staff went with him and five of six pass catchers were gone. The national read was that Ole Miss was about to pay for its best season ever. Instead the two players everything runs through both came back.

Then later — the shape of those four. Six, eight, 22, and then a 75-spot cliff to 97. Texas's five sit at 2, 7, 9, 12 and 33. Georgia's five are 19, 26, 54, 70 and 88. Mississippi State put two players on this list at 48 and 86, and both rank ahead of the fourth-best Rebel.

Being fair: a hundred names out of roughly ten thousand scholarship players is a brutally small window, and depth by definition does not show up on a list like this. Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and Texas Tech each placed five.

Four names or five — which team would you rather have? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #Rebels #Top100

CHAPTERS 

0:00   Cold open and the menu

0:27   Two Of The Top Eight

2:39   Six, Eight, Twenty-Two, Ninety-Seven

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Look at what he actually said: Tommy Kinsler has flashed the most consistently and played really well for about 30 to 35 snaps in the second scrimmage, and the open item on him is conditioning — with the tempo Ole Miss plays at and the number of snaps that position has to play, they have to keep getting him in shape. That is a coach with an answer and a conditioning question, not a coach without an answer. Carius Curne got healthy for multiple weeks running and has flashed.

The honest counterweight: there is a real cost. John Garrison's line needs live reps together, and every day you split first-team snaps is a day five men are not building one thing.

But Ole Miss opens on ABC on a Sunday night against a ranked team that has to build a pass-rush plan this week. Making Louisville prepare for two right tackles costs nothing.

Then the linebackers — the room nobody previews. Every Ole Miss defensive preview is about Will Echoles and Suntarine Perkins. Golding named seven players at the second level on Monday and the starting three are still not obvious. Ole Miss gave up 4.2 yards per carry last season, 69th nationally, and that number does not get fixed by a defensive tackle.

Who is your starting three? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #PeteGolding #SEC #CollegeFootball #Rebels

CHAPTERS (derived from the measured word counts above at 155 wpm plus the 20-second ad):

00:00 The Right Tackle Silence

2:24 Sponsor break — Poncho

2:44 The Room Nobody Previews  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Per Yahoo Sports, the SEC statement says college athletes, not former professional athletes, have been at the heart of the conference. The Big Ten version carries a coach suspension of half a season plus an institutional fine. The SEC granted commissioner Greg Sankey full and unlimited authority, up to and including suspending a school from competition.

The honest counterweight: Kiffin is right that nobody told these players in December that a fifth year was coming, and that is unfair to them. That grievance belongs to the NCAA, not to the two leagues closing the hole.

Then the view from inside Ole Miss. Three former Rebels — Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams — were granted a fifth year by a Louisiana court and entered the portal on August 20. LSU is recruiting them. Ole Miss declined, and Golding's reason was a roster list, not a sermon: the available players did not fit a need, and the rooms that actually got thin in camp were cornerback and offensive line.

The version where this gets hard: if Wright played corner, it is a different call entirely.

Would you have taken him anyway? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #LaneKiffin #Rebels

CHAPTERS (derived from the measured word counts above at 155 wpm plus the 20-second ad):

00:00 The Sec Already Voted

2:31 Sponsor break — Kalshi

2:51 Ole Miss Said No 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

He said they want to be 'the aggressor' and called it an 'attack and react' team. But most people hear aggressive and think blitz, and that is not what he said. Stems and disguises matter just as much as pressure - moving the front, showing one thing and playing another, making a quarterback wrong before the snap.

Then the line that tells you everything: if you can rush three and get there, why rush five. That is not conservative, it is arithmetic. Every man you do not send is a man in coverage, and Will Echoles had 26 pressures last season - the most of any defensive tackle in the Power Four.

The honest counterweight: the whole theory rests on the front winning alone, and last season it did not. This defense gave up 4.2 yards a carry and finished 69th nationally against the run. Rushing three is a luxury you earn in September, not a plan you announce in August.

Then later: Golding said, unprompted, that freshman Jayden Curtis is 'the steal of that class,' and praised Landon Barnes and Carmelow Reed in the same answer. Five days earlier, fifth-year senior Jonathan Maldonado volunteered the same three names without being asked - 'they're some dogs,' and 'it looks like they're not even freshmen.' Which freshman actually plays in Nashville? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hit - quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #OleMissFootball #PeteGolding #SEC #RebelNation #CollegeFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here is the part getting skipped. Dellenger reported last week that the language in the Louisiana order covers SEC rules too, because league bylaws are a derivation of NCAA policy. OutKick's read of the order goes further: a school that takes one of these protected athletes cannot be punished by the NCAA or by its conference.

An attorney told Dellenger that enforcing a conference bylaw would end up back in the same Louisiana courtroom, in front of the same judge, with the same result - and that these league rules may simply make the conferences the defendant instead of the NCAA.

The honest counterweight: writing the rule is still the right move. A league that does nothing has no argument at all when it gets to court, and the calendar may accomplish what the bylaw cannot, because the season starts in 11 days and lawsuits are slow.

Then later: Deuce Knight. A five-star on On3's board, the No. 6 quarterback in the 2025 class, who threw for 239 and ran for 162 with six total touchdowns in his only college start. Ole Miss signed him when Trinidad Chambliss's eligibility was in real doubt. How comfortable are you with him, 1 to 10? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hit - quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #OleMissFootball #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation #DeuceKnight

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The receipt: Ole Miss went 13-2 last season, 7-1 in the SEC, beat Georgia 39-34 in the Sugar Bowl and reached a national semifinal. Tiger Rag's Glenn Guilbeau, who covers LSU, pushed back on the quote in his own column.

The honest counterweight: before Kiffin arrived, 7-5 genuinely was a normal Ole Miss season. He is the reason that sentence sounds insulting now. He built the standard he is mocking, and that deserves saying out loud.

Then later: the coaches' preseason All-SEC teams named eight Ole Miss spots and, across the entire conference, zero transfer portal players on any of the three teams. Ole Miss alone signed the nation's No. 2 portal class with 29 additions and replaced almost an entire secondary.

Does Kiffin get booed or ignored on September 19? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LaneKiffin #SEC #CollegeFootball #OleMissRebels

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00 — Cold open: the waiver was never the hard part

0:28 — Take one: the SEC ruling and Aug. 31 are the real gates

2:52 — Take two: Louisville is telling you the plan, aimed at the run defense

DESCRIPTION

Cleveland waived former Ole Miss tight end Dae'Quan Wright on Sunday, and by Monday afternoon he was through the NFL side of a move to LSU. The whole sport treated that like the finish line. It is not.

Two gates are left, and they are the hard ones. The SEC has not ruled: Ole Miss to LSU is an intraconference transfer, and Greg Sankey put it in writing on Aug. 13 that those rules stand until waived or changed. Wright's attorney Ryan Downton told FootballScoop the side has “reached out to the SEC to discuss” — which tells you they know it is a real obstacle.

The second gate is Aug. 31. Ross Dellenger reported the Louisiana judge set the injunction hearing for that day, five days before LSU plays Clemson. Everything Wright holds is a temporary restraining order, and the 10th Circuit already stayed the Colorado ruling on Friday.

The honest counterweight: CBS Sports reported multiple SEC schools privately believe the intraconference ban would not survive a court challenge, and the conference declined to say whether it would. Downton may be right on the law.

But right is not the same as cleared. Wright can enroll at LSU and still not be eligible to play Ole Miss in September, and that is the part that matters.

Then later: Louisville's staff has told everyone the plan. New starter Lincoln Kienholz ran for 1,435 yards and 24 touchdowns as a high school senior, and offensive coordinator Brian Brohm says they intend to use him in the QB run game. Ole Miss gave up 4.2 yards a carry last season, 69th nationally — and Pete Golding calls this defense himself.

Which worries you more, the courtroom or the read option? Comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #LSU #SEC #CollegeFootball #Louisville #Rebels

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The honest counterweight is substantial. Louisville went 9-4 last year, Jeff Brohm's third straight season at nine wins or better, and they finished it with a bowl win. It is a neutral site, not Vaught-Hemingway. Ole Miss has a first-year head coach who is also calling the defense.

Then take two. North Dakota State is laying that exact same number on Saturday against Jacksonville State — in the first FBS game in the history of the program. This take says out loud why that is arithmetic rather than disrespect, and then hands you the number that actually is a verdict: FanDuel has Ole Miss at 7.5 regular-season wins, tied for sixth in the SEC with Oklahoma.

For contrast on that same board, Florida State is laying 30.5 and USC is laying 38.5. That is what a sportsbook saying it does not believe the opponent belongs on the field looks like. Nobody is saying that about Louisville — and nobody is saying it about Ole Miss either.

CHAPTERS

0:00 — The first real number of the season

0:25 — Ole Miss -6.5, 55.5, -250: what that price actually says

2:47 — The Week 0 board, North Dakota State, and the 7.5 win total

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on Ole Miss football and Rebel athletics every weekday, from the Locked On Podcast Network. Hosted by Steven Willis.

Want the full 25 minutes on this team? Search "Locked On Ole Miss" wherever you get your podcasts, or hit subscribe on the main channel.

Odds referenced were accurate at the time of recording and move constantly. Nothing in this video is betting advice.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #Week0 #CFBOdds #Louisville

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is not a conspiracy take, and the show says so out loud. Awful Announcing, which wrote the toughest version of this story, concluded that ESPN does not have a Jimmy Sexton problem — it has a disclosure problem. That is the argument here, and it is the one that actually holds up.

Then take two. On January 1, that same panel filed its picks for the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal. Saban picked Georgia. Herbstreit picked Georgia. Desmond Howard picked Georgia. Pat McAfee picked Georgia. Ole Miss won 39-34.

On September 19, that set comes to the Grove.

CHAPTERS

0:00 — The segment nobody disclosed

0:33 — Nov. 29: two CAA clients lobby for a third

3:28 — Jan. 1: four picks, zero Rebels, 39-34

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on Ole Miss football and Rebel athletics every weekday, from the Locked On Podcast Network. Hosted by Steven Willis.

Want the full 25 minutes on this team? Search "Locked On Ole Miss" wherever you get your podcasts, or hit subscribe on the main channel.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #CollegeGameDay #SEC #CollegeFootball #OleMissRebels #NickSaban #KirkHerbstreit

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The door he walked through is a temporary restraining order out of Louisiana. Thirty-three athletes sued the NCAA over the five-year eligibility clock; sixteen are football players. The order lets men in NFL training camps return to college if they're released before September 1 — four days after NFL rosters cut to 53.

The most damning thing said about it came from the man who cut him. Browns head coach Todd Monken said he wondered why Lane Kiffin had reached out a week earlier. Now he knows. He didn't call back, and he guesses he should have. A head coach in the SEC called a head coach in the NFL about a player on an NFL roster.

Then take two: three former Rebels got that same court order — Wright, Zxavian Harris, Wydett Williams. Ole Miss brought back zero, and Pete Golding explained why. The segment reads his answer honestly rather than flattering it: that was roster math, not a moral stand. And it concedes the other side too — LSU is breaking no rule, and a court said the man is eligible.

And then the argument, stated plainly as opinion: LSU is a rogue program, and until somebody treats them like one they will keep leaning on every limit in this sport until there is nothing left of college athletics to push on. The presidents have to take control. If a professional football player takes one snap for LSU this season, vote them out of the SEC and hand the seat to Tulane.

And the part that should tell you something on its own: you only go shopping on an NFL waiver wire in the last week of August if you are not happy with your own roster. Ole Miss looked at its room and stood pat.

The one part worth being proud of: Pete Golding didn't do it.

CHAPTERS

0:00 — Cut Sunday, committed to LSU by Monday

0:27 — The Louisiana order, the NFL cut window, and the Monken quote

2:41 — Why Ole Miss passed, and why the presidents have to act

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on Ole Miss football and Rebel athletics every weekday, from the Locked On Podcast Network. Hosted by Steven Willis.

Want the full 25 minutes on this team? Search "Locked On Ole Miss" wherever you get your podcasts, or hit subscribe on the main channel.

Calling LSU a rogue program, and the proposal to remove them and seat Tulane, are the host's stated opinion and are labeled as such in the video. Everything else is sourced reporting.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #LSU #TransferPortal #NCAA #DaeQuanWright

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Keegan Croucher made his first start for Baylor after transferring in from Cheshire Academy: 172 passing yards and a 39-yard touchdown to Antwaun Adams (MaxPreps). Baylor head coach Erik Kimrey afterward: "I thought that Keegan Croucher made some incredible plays." On the other sideline, Crews Jenkins threw for 230 yards and two scores — 67 yards to Lexton Baskin, 80 to Kesean Bowman.

The conflict is with the twenty-year-old book on this program that Ole Miss cannot recruit a quarterback. Croucher picked the Rebels last October over Oregon and Penn State. Georgia and Kentucky both worked on him this spring, per Chad Simmons of Rivals. Jenkins committed in May knowing Croucher was already in the class.

The honest counterweight: Croucher's ranking has moved — top five at the position in the Rivals300, closer to tenth in the industry composite. These are not equivalent prospects, and an August commitment in a senior year is not a signature.

Then: sixteen days from Louisville, Ole Miss still has not named a right tackle. Tommy Kinsler IV from Miami against Carius Curne from LSU, per Sports Illustrated's Tanner Shapiro. Four of five spots are settled. This is the fifth.

Which tackle do you want on that edge in Nashville? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #RebelsFootball #SEC #CollegeFootball #Recruiting #OleMissFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Three former Ole Miss starters are in that group: tight end Dae’Quan Wright (Cleveland Browns), safety Wydett Williams Jr. (Arizona Cardinals) and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, waived by New Orleans on Aug. 8.

The honest counterweight, and it is Pete Golding’s own: he already made the calls. On Aug. 6 he said "there was conversations with a couple of those guys from 22 that are in other camps," framed entirely as injury insurance — if someone got hurt in camp, "you would have a body to go to that has actually been in this system." If Ole Miss loses a player at a thin spot this week, that call is the right move.

But in the same answer Golding said there are "no new additions and umbrella like they did in Covid." No expanded roster, no exemption. The House settlement cap and roster limits still apply. Ole Miss is 17 days from a ranked opener with 50 new players — Golding’s number — still learning each other. This is roster math, not an argument about three players.

Then later: both starting quarterbacks in tonight’s ESPN2 high school game are committed to Ole Miss. Baylor School hosts Brentwood Academy in Chattanooga at 8 p.m. ET — MaxPreps has them No. 12 and No. 13 nationally. Keegan Croucher, a four-star and a top-five QB in the Rivals300, quarterbacks Baylor. Crews Jenkins, who threw for about 1,800 yards and 22 touchdowns last fall, quarterbacks Brentwood. Jenkins committed in May knowing Croucher was already in the class.

The counterweight there: Georgia, Kentucky and Indiana all pushed to flip Croucher this spring, per Chad Simmons of Rivals. Croucher said in April he is locked in with Ole Miss. An August commitment is still not a signature.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #RebelNation #SEC #CollegeFootball #Recruiting

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00 — Deuce Knight stopped being a one-read quarterback

2:49 — Bryan Brown won't claim this defense beats 2024

4:44 — Closing

DESCRIPTION

Two takes out of Ole Miss fall camp, and both of them come from people who were actually in the building.

First: Deuce Knight. Trinidad Chambliss was in for about one series in Sunday’s scrimmage, and Harry Harrison of the Ole Miss Radio Network called Knight the star of the day. What makes it matter is the before-and-after. Harrison watched Knight in the spring and called him tentative, a one-hit wonder who threw to the first receiver whether he was open or not. Sunday, Knight found the hot receiver against pressure, worked progressions and threw down the field.

John David Baker said on Aug. 10 that Knight is a sponge who rarely puts the ball in the wrong spot. 247Sports had him No. 56 overall in the 2025 class, the No. 6 quarterback, before he redshirted at Auburn. The counterweight: Will Echoles and Suntarine Perkins were held out, and this was a second and third-team defense. The second scrimmage this weekend is the real test.

Second: Bryan Brown was asked whether this defense can be more elite than the 2024 unit and refused the easy yes. That 2024 group allowed 14.4 points and 80.5 rushing yards per game, both second nationally, led the country in tackles for loss and sacks per game, and set school records with 52 sacks and 120 tackles for loss, per HottyToddy.

Brown: "I wouldn’t say right now that this group is going to be better than that group. We have a chance to be if we do things right." What he claimed was depth. On the secondary he called it a work in progress, with a couple of players dinged up and consistency still missing.

A coach selling you an elite defense in August has nothing left to sell in November. Is the back end the thing that decides this season? Tell us in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #DeuceKnight #BryanBrown #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2:49 — Defending the Progressive logo at the Vaught

4:44 — Closing

DESCRIPTION

Everybody spent two days arguing about who won Ole Miss’ first fall scrimmage. Defensive coordinator Bryan Brown answered a completely different question on Tuesday, and it reframes the entire weekend.

Brown said the staff played a lot of guys specifically to see players who had not been in that stadium environment, with no coaches on the field, to find out who can communicate and make plays without help. Harry Harrison of the Ole Miss Radio Network reported that Trinidad Chambliss was in for about one series, that Will Echoles and Suntarine Perkins were held out, and that some of the secondary and some of the interior offensive line were held out too.

The real reveal: Brown will work from the coaches’ box this season as Pete Golding’s eyes in the sky while Golding continues to call the defense. That communication chain did not exist a year ago, and Ole Miss was rehearsing it in an empty stadium 18 days before kickoff.

The honest counterweight: Chuck Rounsaville called it a pseudo scrimmage rather than full contact — thud work — and Harrison said they were playing two-hand touch on the quarterback, which makes the run game close to impossible to evaluate.

Then later: Progressive is adding on-field branding at Vaught-Hemingway through a Learfield deal covering 13 schools nationally and exactly two in the SEC, Georgia and Ole Miss. Vice chancellor Keith Carter called it an investment in the continued growth of Ole Miss Athletics. You can hate how it looks and still understand what it pays for.

Is on-field branding a line you did not want crossed, or is it just Tuesday in 2026? Drop it in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #RebelNation #SEC #CollegeFootball #PeteGolding #FallCamp

IG / TIKTOK CAPTION

Bryan Brown just told you what the scrimmage was for, and it was not who won. Plus: yes, there is an insurance logo coming to the Vaught, and I will defend it.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Take one: Louisville went into Miami last October and beat the No. 2 team in the country 24-21 by intercepting Carson Beck four times. That is the same Carson Beck who beat Ole Miss 31-27 in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Louisville's secondary did to him in October what Ole Miss could not do in January, and that defense returns. Brett Ciancia of Pick Six Previews has the Cardinals 19th nationally, second in the ACC, and in his conference title game.

Take two: Ciancia graded every Ole Miss position group. Quarterback first in the SEC and first nationally, running back second, linebacker second and fifth nationally, defensive line fifth and 11th nationally, receivers and tight ends fifth, offensive line fourth. The defensive backs come in seventh in the league — the only Rebel unit outside the SEC's top five, and the cleanest answer to why Ole Miss is ninth and not third.

The honest counterweights: Louisville is starting a transfer quarterback who has never started a game at this level, and the Ole Miss secondary is dramatically better than last year's, with eight four-star transfer defenders in a No. 2-rated portal class and a projected climb from outside the top 40 into the top 25.

Is the secondary still the softest spot on this roster? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #Louisville #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

CHAPTERS (derived from the measured word counts above plus the 20-second ad)

0:00 — Louisville is not a tune-up — the Carson Beck tape

2:43 — The only Ole Miss unit outside the SEC's top five

4:37 — Closing 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Take one: nine is exactly right, and being ranked correctly is a bigger milestone for this program than being ranked high. The resume says third — 13-2, a Playoff semifinal, No. 3 in the final AP poll. The question says three games, which is Pete Golding's entire head coaching sample. Brett Ciancia of Pick Six Previews independently landed on 10th nationally and fourth in the SEC, and ESPN's draft-talent tiers put Ole Miss alongside Ohio State and Georgia. Three separate methods, same answer.

Take two: John Talty at CBS Sports wrote Monday that it is understandable to think Ole Miss steps back without Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. The premise assumes the scheme left with them. It did not. John David Baker is in his fourth year at Ole Miss, was here when the offense led the SEC in total offense in 2021, took a bottom-10 East Carolina offense to top-25 in a year, and is on record with On3 keeping this one about 80 percent the same.

The honest counterweights, both of them: nine is fair because Golding has not proven anything across a full season, and Baker has never called a play in the Southeastern Conference. Not one snap. Those are the real arguments against everything above.

Is this offense better or worse in 2026? Tell me in the comments.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy.

#OleMiss #HottyToddy #APPoll #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelNation

CHAPTERS (derived from the measured word counts above plus the 20-second ad)

0:00 — Nine is exactly right — and why that's the milestone

2:39 — CBS says a step back is understandable — the Baker resume

4:32 — Closing

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00 — Stop panicking about Kewan Lacy — the plan is the point

2:46 — Terrez Davis is the best story on this roster

4:30 — Closing — follow the Hits, and Locked On Ole Miss

DESCRIPTION:

Start with what isn't in dispute: John David Baker confirmed Kewan Lacy had shoulder surgery in the offseason, both beat reporters trace it to the Tulane playoff game, and Michael Katz adds a hamstring pull in the Fiesta Bowl. Lacy is practicing.

What isn't settled: Tyler Komis said on Locked On Ole Miss this week that Lacy is 100 percent and good to go. Daylan Flowers says he's hearing not quite — that the staff is going step by step toward Louisville. Both men are in the building. We're not picking the answer we like better.

The take is the opposite of the panic. Two credentialed reporters reading a recovery curve slightly differently in the second week of August is the most normal thing in this sport — and what's underneath it is a program protecting the best running back in America instead of using him up.

Baker said out loud he will not hand Lacy 306 carries again — same touches, different ways — and then added Makhi Frazier and Joshua Dye so he'd have the bodies to mean it. A staff that slow-plays a star in mid-August is a staff that expects to need him in January.

The caveat that would make this take wrong: if Lacy is still being managed when Ole Miss lands in Nashville, that stops being a reporting difference and becomes a problem. That is not what's in front of us right now.

Then later: Terrez Davis, the best story on the roster. Basketball until his junior year of high school, tight end that year, offensive line as a senior — then two starts as a true freshman at Maryland, at Oregon and at Penn State. This is year three at the position and year four playing football. Pete Golding says he's playing it about as well as anyone he can remember. Davis had portal interest in January and stayed, citing line coach John Garrison and loyalty. The honest counterweight: Golding is his head coach, so that's advocacy; Davis got hurt in camp last year and has never started a full SEC season.

Who's the best story on this Ole Miss roster? Comment below. Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy. #OleMiss #HottyToddy #KewanLacy #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelsFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

0:00 — The Ole Miss standard: five rooms, one story

2:55 — The receiver panic that has been wrong for fifteen years

4:38 — Closing — follow the Hits, and Locked On Ole Miss

DESCRIPTION:

Trinidad Chambliss was asked at Ole Miss Media Day about building chemistry with four or five new receivers. He said he's teaching them how fast the offense plays, how explosive plays happen — and that he's teaching them the Ole Miss standard. Almost nobody picked it up.

Then it shows up everywhere else. Caleb Odom said there are live reps in 12 personnel where he doesn't know the full call, so he looks at Luke Hasz and Hasz tells him. Terrez Davis named offensive line coach John Garrison twice unprompted, and said the interior veterans teach him what they've already seen. Makhi Frazier transferred in knowing the job was taken. Four players from four rooms credited their position coach by name without being asked.

Why it matters: insecure rooms don't teach. The veteran doesn't help the transfer who's coming for his job, and the starter doesn't answer the backup's question. None of that is happening here — and that's a better indicator right now than any depth chart.

The honest counterweight: all of it is testimony, not tape. Camp is closed, availabilities are a few minutes, and nobody has watched this football team play football.

Later: the receiver replacement panic. Five of six pass catchers are gone and every preview is asking the same question the same voices asked last August — when the answers turned out to be De'Zhaun Stribling and Harrison Wallace. AJ Brown, DK Metcalf, Elijah Moore and Jonathan Mingo came out of this room. The honest counter: Chambliss and Deuce Alexander are the only pair who've done it together here, and Baker says he wants five or six receivers he trusts and has rarely had more than three or four.

Who's the surprise in the Ole Miss receiver room? Comment below.

Locked On Ole Miss Hits — quick takes on the Rebels every weekday. Subscribe and hit the bell. Hotty Toddy. #OleMiss #HottyToddy #TrinidadChambliss #SEC #CollegeFootball #RebelsFootball

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.