Vanderbilt Football Preseason Game Prediction: Ole Miss – si.com

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Looking around college football, there are fewer starts to conference play that a team has this season than what Vanderbilt has.
The Commodores begin conference play on the road against Auburn and national title hopeful Georgia. But it does not get easier after that. Vanderbilt’s SEC home opener this fall is against Ole Miss, who went to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff just a season ago.
It is the first full season Ole Miss has head coach Pete Golding in his role, but he did more than fine in the time he was the interim head coach in Oxford following now-LSU head coach Lane Kiffin’s exit to Baton Rouge. Ole Miss trounced Tulane in the first round of the playoffs before upsetting SEC Champion Georgia in the quarterfinals.
Ole Miss has a roster that feels like it has not been talked about as much as it should given how it ended the 2025-26 season. The Rebels still have Trinidad Chambliss at quarterback, who could be in the Heisman Trophy conversation by the time things are said and done in the upcoming season. And they still have a dangerously good running back Kewan Lacy in the backfield.
The other side of the ball is where teams could take advantage against Ole Miss, especially earlier in the season. Ole Miss will have six starters on a defense that was No. 49 in college football last season.
How will this matchup turn out for Vanderbilt? Here is Vandy On SI’s keys to the game and a prediction.
It is no question this game will have to be a game where Vanderbilt will need to keep up with an immensely talented Ole Miss offense. To a point, there has to be an acceptance of how difficult it will be to consistently hold Ole Miss from scoring, which means Vanderbilt is going to need to force turnovers in this game.
If the Commodores are able to force turnovers when they see the Rebels in October, they give themselves a chance to pull off what would likely be an upset at home. Vanderbilt will also need to make Chambliss as one-dimensional of a quarterback as possible. It will be far from easy, but if the Commodores eliminate the quarterback run, it would certainly help.
Offensively, Vanderbilt will no doubt need to score and score often. Regardless of who is quarterbacking the offense Oct. 10, the Commodores have to establish themselves on the line of scrimmage. This could very well be a scenario in which Vanderbilt runs the ball a lot early on before opening up the passing game.
This could also be a situation in which Vanderbilt tries its best to slow the game down and chew clock to limit the amount of time Ole Miss’ offense is on the field.
Vanderbilt having this game at home certainly helps, especially considering it went undefeated at home a season ago. The Commodores will find ways to put up points, but Ole Miss has too much firepower on offense that Vanderbilt could struggle to keep up with using an inexperienced starter.
Vanderbilt can make it close, but Ole Miss runs away with the game late.
Score Prediction: Ole Miss 35, Vanderbilt 24
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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