Where could Ole Miss land in the first 2023 College Football Playoff rankings?

The first College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Halloween at 6 p.m. during a nationally televised broadcast that will very likely last way too long.

But who are we kidding? We’ll be watching every damn minute.

It’s simply because Ole Miss will likely land in the top 12 of the playoff rankings with a resume that includes seven wins and only one loss on the road at Alabama. There’s top 25 wins against LSU and Tulane as well while the Rebels are currently on the outside looking in for the SEC Western Division title.

If it were up to me, here’s how my vote would fall in the CFP rankings going into November.

1. Georgia
2. Florida St.
3. Ohio St.
4. Michigan
5. Washington
6. Oregon
7. Texas
8. Alabama
9. Oklahoma
10. Ole Miss
11. Penn St.
12. Louisville
13. Oregon St.
14. LSU

That’s as far as I’m going to go for now, but I’d say Notre Dame and Air Force et al are close behind the Tigers for now. If LSU can upset Alabama on Saturday, then the landscape changes rapidly for teams like Ole Miss and everyone between 5-12.

I don’t see how the committee will leave Georgia out of the top spot as the two-time defending champions even though its strength of schedule is not tough. Ultimately, the Bulldogs are beating who is on the schedule and the toughest part of it is over the next three weeks with top 25 Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee on deck.

For now, it’s a fever dream for the Rebels to be able to get into the playoff conversation. It would take winning out first and foremost including that road trip to Athens, and some shuffling among the top ten. The only good part of that improbability is college football can get very chaotic come November, so here’s to chaos. Cheers!