Ole Miss jumps to No. 19 in AP poll
Published 12:01 pm Monday, October 26, 2015
Ole Miss made a leap in the rankings following its upset win over Texas A&M on Saturday.
The Rebels jumped five spots to No. 19 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday. Ole Miss, which still controls its destiny in the Southeastern Conference Western Division, tallied 368 total points from voters, three more than No. 20 Toledo.
Ole Miss (6-2, 3-1 SEC) is one of the five SEC teams in the rankings. LSU, which moved up one spot to No. 4, is the highest-ranked of the group followed by Alabama (7), Florida (11), Ole Miss and Mississippi State, which climbed back into the rankings at No. 25 following its win over Kentucky on Saturday.
Then-No. 15 Texas A&M plummeted out of the poll after the 23-3 loss to the Rebels, who rebounded from the blunder against No. 16 Memphis the previous week and can win the SEC West by winning out.
“It can only build confidence,” Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly said.
Ole Miss will travel to Auburn this Saturday before returning home to take on Arkansas on Nov. 7. The Rebels get a bye the next week before hosting LSU on Nov. 21 and finishing the regular season in Starkville against the Bulldogs on Nov. 28.
“It was huge to get this game understanding we still control everything we want to control,” linebacker C.J. Johnson said. “(Head) coach (Hugh) Freeze talked about taking it one game at a time, and I think a lot of people needed to hear that. For us to go out and not only win the game but the win the game the way we won the game I think was even bigger.”
No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Baylor remained at the top of the rankings. Clemson jumped three spots to No. 3 following its 58-0 pasting of Miami to move to 7-0. TCU dropped one spot to round out the top 5.