Ole Miss made the Top 25 of yet another preseason poll Sunday. This time it's the AP that has the Rebels ranked at No. 18 in the country. Ole Miss is ranked 19th in the USA Today's Amway Coaches Poll.
Getting ranked in the preseason, while usually exciting, makes many Ole Miss fans cringe, and for good reason.
Some might tell you they've seen this movie before.
Ole Miss has been preseason ranked in the AP Poll 29 times since 1936, but only four times in the last 40 years. And the few times it did happen things only went downhill from there.
The last time Ole Miss was ranked in the preseason was 2009. That year the Rebels started the season 8th in the AP, but finished a somewhat disappointing 20th under Houston Nutt. That was the 2nd Cotton Bowl year, and the beginning of the end for Nutt. Not a good year (despite the bowl).
In 2000 Ole Miss was preseason ranked 18th, but David Cutcliffe's team finished 7-5 and unranked. That was the year redshirt freshman Eli Manning substituted for Romaro Miller in the Music City Bowl and nearly orchestrated a very unlikely comeback. Other than that 2nd half fun, it was a disappointing season.
Prior to 2000 you have to go all the way back to 1972 to find an Ole Miss team in the AP poll's preseason Top 20. It didn't end well either.
Of course, these are different players, different coaches, and the SEC is a different place than it was in 2000 or even 2009. Just because Ole Miss didn't meet expectations in those years doesn't mean it can't or won't this season, but history does explain the wait and see attitude of some Ole Miss fans right now. Their fingers have been burned on this hot stove before, and they're going to make good and sure it's cooled off before touching it again.
It's hard to blame them.
AP History Source
