As the calendar shifts to 2020 we again provide dates for the year that should be significant to the overall picture of Ole Miss athletics. The Rebels changed the chancellor, the athletics director and the football coach in 2019, as well as moves at the top of the volleyball and softball programs. It was a year of transition that has led to a time of excitement for Ole Miss fans.
Here's our list for 2020.
Date: January 1, 2020
Significance: It's symbolic, but today is a fresh start to a new year and a new decade for Ole Miss fans. The majority of the past several years were mired in the NCAA mess and a lack of trust from supporters toward the administration. With the trio of major job changes in 2019 and the NCAA period truly moving to the back of most peoples’ minds, it’s clean slate. The Rebels ran a competent coaching search and looked like an SEC team in the process, which is the main thing fans have wanted to see for some time. There’s excitement, energy and competency in key places. There’s no way to predict the success on the fields and courts, but there’s no denying it’s a different environment as 2020 arrives.
Date: January 7, 2020
Significance: This is somewhat cheating, but it’s our list, so we’ll do with it what we want. Ole Miss plays Texas A&M in College Station to start Southeastern Conference play, and the Rebels surely don’t need to have an 0-2 road stretch with the Aggies coming three days after a date at Wichita State. Ole Miss is 9-3 on the season and No. 53 in the NET with no bad losses and some missed opportunities for good wins. Wichita is 11-1 with a No. 10 NET and provides another opportunity. A&M, meanwhile has struggled with a 190 NET and 6-5 record. That’s a road landmine to be avoided, thus Ole Miss needs a productive few days before the SEC schedule gets going.
Date: March 15, 2020
Significance: An annual occurrence on this list, Selection Sunday is this spot, as the Rebels learn their NCAA fate. With the SEC taking more games on the chin than expected in the preseason, Ole Miss likely needs double digit conference wins to make it to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in as many seasons under Kermit Davis. The Rebels were a No. 8 seed and lost to Oklahoma in 2019.
Date: March 29, 2020
Significance: Three SEC series and seven weekends will be completed when Ole Miss and Arkansas wrap up their three-game set in Oxford. The young Rebels, likely with true freshman Derek Diamond in the rotation, will have faced Louisville, LSU, at Texas A&M, Arkansas and a tournament that includes East Carolina and Indiana at that point. There will be seven weeks left still, but Ole Miss doesn’t need to get off to a sloppy start since five of the first seven weekends are at Swayze Field.
Date: April 18, 2020
Significance: Spring games aren’t typically top-10 events for a fanbase, but it’ll be Lane Kiffin’s first time to wear a headset as Ole Miss head coach, so it’s an easy decision. The Grove Bowl is part of a big weekend in Oxford, as the baseball team hosts defending national champion Vanderbilt that weekend, as well. On Friday of the weekend, you’ll likely get Doug Nikhazy vs. Kumar Rocker, and Kiffin will put his team through some semblance of a spring game on that Saturday.
Date: May 25, 2020
Significance: It’s selection show day for college baseball, as Ole Miss tries to host a regional for the fourth time in five seasons. The Rebels failed to get out of its home tournament in 2016 and 2018 but swept through the field last season before falling at Arkansas in a three-game super regional. It’s a young team and somewhat of a reload for Mike Bianco, but this date has added importance since Keith Carter didn’t roll Bianco’s contract over at the end of last season. It’s fair to think the postseason will have some bearing on that situation this year, also, and this is the day Ole Miss finds out its potential path toward the College World. Series.
Date: September 5, 2020
Significance: There have been times in the past when Ole Miss and Baylor to start the college football season in Houston didn’t exactly seem like appointment viewing, but now it should be a game with national eyes, as Kiffin returns to the SEC. Baylor is 11-2 and faces Georgia in the Sugar Bowl later today. Matt Rhule has returned the Bears to the Big 12 spotlight, though NFL teams are kicking the tires on the former Temple coach. It should be a showcase game for two programs moving away from negative years during this past decade.
Date: September 12, 2020
Significance: Ole Miss opens its home schedule with Southeast Missouri for the second time in eight seasons. It’s Kiffin’s first game in Oxford, and attendance will be far better than if no change had been made. In 2013, on the heels of that signature signing class under Hugh Freeze, 60,815 was the announced attendance against SEMO. A similar number isn’t out of the question and will be evidence of one of the reasons Kiffin is in Oxford, as he has energized the fans and stabilized ticket sales and donations.
Date: October 18, 2020
Significance: Ole Miss has a brutal first half of its schedule. Baylor, Auburn, LSU, Alabama and Florida — all teams that spent time in the top five in 2019 — are among the first seven games of the season, along with Southeast Missouri and Vanderbilt. Can the Rebels steal one of those and make sure they win in Nashville? The schedule softens with UCONN, Georgia Southern, Arkansas and Mississippi State — along with a tough game in College Station versus A&M — after that stretch, but it’s pivotal for Ole Miss to keep its head up should the early portion go poorly.
Date: December 6, 2020
Significance: Can Ole Miss make a bowl game in Kiffin’s first season? The destination of that hypothetical postseason would be announced this day, as the Rebels shoot for a return to a bowl for the first time since the Sugar Bowl. The 2017 team finished 6-6 but was ineligible. Freeze used a 7-6 season to springboard his recruiting efforts in his first season, and it’s logical to think Kiffin would gain a similar bump if he can show recruits some immediate results. There’s a path — on paper — to bowl eligibility, but the schedule strength potentially limits the ceiling.
Date: December 16, 2020
Significance: The early signing period begins, and it's a critical day for Ole Miss football. Arguably the most important day of the year. Kiffin will have a full year to get this class together and should have the bump of a first year in his pocket, as well. Ole Miss needs to reestablish itself as a formidable opponent in recruiting and take advantage of a good in-state class while using relationships in Texas, Florida and other places. Kiffin intends to recruit nationally, and this is the tone-setter early in his tenure.
