Josh Pate Names College Football Playoff Contender That Will Be Worse This Season

Josh Pate Names College Football Playoff Contender That Will Be Worse This Season originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The 2025 college football season is approaching, with Week Zero kicking off in just over a month.

Teams are preparing for their conference media days or gearing up for the upcoming season. This year, they aim to make the necessary improvements to qualify for the College Football Playoff and ultimately win the national championship at the end of the season.

One team that has consistently come close to making the playoffs but hasn’t quite succeeded is the Ole Miss Rebels. The Rebels have won 10 or more games in three of the past four seasons; however, that has not been enough to earn them a spot in the postseason.

This year, Ole Miss aims to improve with Austin Simmons taking the starting quarterback position. He has already thrown for 282 yards and two touchdowns, although his playing time has been limited. However, on "Josh Pate's College Football Show," the college football analyst suggested that he believes the team may take a step back this season.

"Ole Miss was 9-3 last year [in the regular season]," Pate said. "Their over/under is 8.5 if you are interested. 9-3 last year. Should have made the playoffs. It's their fault they didn't. I think they'll be worse this year. If I had to guess recordwise, I think Ole Miss may fall off a game compared to what they did last year."

Pate said that he thinks the Rebels will still be good to excellent offensively. He said he's a big believer in Simmons, and there's nothing anyone needs to sell him on when it comes to the quarterback.

Simmons is replacing quarterback JaxsonDart, who had an impressive season, completing 69.3% of his passes for 4,279 yards and 29 touchdowns, while recording only six interceptions. His outstanding performance led to his selection in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the New York Giants.

However, Pate's biggest question mark is on the defensive side of the ball. He feels the defense will regress from last season, but he isn't sure how much. The Rebels were No. 14 in total defense, No. 2 in rush defense, No. 2 in scoring defense and No. 1 in sacks last season.

Ole Miss lost star defensive tackle Walter Nolen, who finished the season with 14 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks before being drafted in the first round by the Arizona Cardinals. Furthermore, Ole Miss will be missing five of its top six sack leaders from last season.

Ole Miss will kick off its season at home against the Georgia State Panthers on Aug. 30 at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Related: Paul Finebaum Names SEC Team That Could Be a 'Sneaky Good Team'

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 16, 2025, where it first appeared.