January 8, 2026 • 10 mins
Kicking back into action tonight with the CFPs entering the semifinals, the Ole Miss Rebels mount up as they get ready to take on the Miami Hurricanes for the 2026 Vrbo Fiesta Bowl for a chance at making it to the CFP Championship. Hearing from a voice that covers the Rebels prominently, sports publisher and journalist Neal McCready joins Dan and Cole ahead of tonight's kickoff with a few pointers that could push the Rebels to the University's first CFP Championship appearance held in the modern era.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now to Rebels twenty four to seven's Neil McCready hopping
on with us for a few minutes. You can find
them on Twitter at Neil McCready. H Neil.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
If you know this ride.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Continues to keep going tonight for ole Miss and they
win this game and they get to Miami for the
National Championship, is it going to be of the career
that you've had to this point, something that even with
all the experiences, you're just like, I will never ever
experience anything like this. Again, not saying that ole Miss
won't get there, just everything leading up to this point.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
God, I hope not.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I mean, this twenty twenty five season was crazy. I
mean just it was kind of a weird season. It
is almost like the games didn't happen. Everything was all
about Lang Giffin, and then the Kiffin thing happened, and
then there was this you know, rush of days where
(00:58):
all these things were happening and you heard all these
rumors and stuff, and then lo and behold they had
games to play and now they're you know, about to
play in Arizona and against the Miami team that I
think the game's sort of a coin toss.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And yeah, I mean they could end up playing for
the national title.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I would, on one hand, and I'm really surprised, and
that when people ask that question say yeah, I mean,
I'm really surprised. On the other hand, I'd be hypocritical
if I if I pretended to be you know, uh,
Clark Griswold with his head soon to the carpet, because
if you look at the the the way that college
(01:36):
football has changed, if you're organized and you're good at
evol and you put valuations on players in a appropriate way,
you can put together a nationally competitive team, and that
is what they've done.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
No, I want to get your thoughts on this because
it got reported after the Sugar Bowl that Lane Kiffin
was trying to poach the coaches back to Baton Rouge
before this playoff game. Several are not with the team
out in Glendale. The Kevin Smith and Charlie Wise Junior
are knowing Lin Kiffin and just his personality and his
demeanor regards if how you think of him as a coach.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Lane's about Lane.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
If for some reason we see Ole Miss win tonight
and they're able to go to the national championship, could
Lane get to a level of threatening to where he
tells Kevin Smith and Charlie Wisse Junior, if you do
not come back at this point, because if I'm not
the one in charge of this team winning a national championship,
you out of the place of my staff next year.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I mean, I suppose I rule nothing out.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I will say this. I don't think he has that
type of leverage on Charlie. Charlie could get another job tomorrow.
I don't know that he would make exactly the same
amount of money.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
But Charlie is a young guy in his thirties.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
His reputation's really strong, his pedigree is very strong.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
He has NFL interest right now.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
I don't think that would threat would go over very
well with Charlie.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
As for Kevin, I don't think it matters.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I don't think Kevin Smith's presence or absence has anything
to do with whether Old Miss wins or loses.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Again.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Neil McCready rebels twenty four to seven. Hopping on with
us here for a few minutes on the morning drive
with Dan and Cole, let's just talk about the game
tonight too against Miami. I mean, this is a game
that's you know, for Ole Miss, it's going to be
a little bit of all right, how are you able
to come back from the emotional high that you just
had in New Orleans. I mean, this is a team that,
(03:31):
at least listening to Pete Tamil or Pete Tamil, Pete
Golding yesterday talk about their team of saying that you
know their focus, they're ready to go. But I mean,
is that going to be something that you're gonna be
looking for at least nearly going in this game of
Is there a little bit of a slow start and
maybe that has something to do with it?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I don't think so, because I think that could happen
to both teams, right, I mean, you know, Miami's coming
off of two emotional games, including you know, the win
over Ohio State, which was a high water mark for
their program for the past quarter century. I'm sure both
teams are tired a little. I'm sure both teams are
emotionally tired a little. I mean, you think about Ole Miss.
(04:13):
They got back from New Orleans at three in the
morning on Friday. The portal started that day. They've been
slammed with portal stuff, retention acquisition. Putting in a game plan.
Charlie Weiss has gone back and forth from Oxford to
Baton Rouge at least twice, maybe more. I'm sure there's
a lot of fatigue in the building. But at the
(04:34):
end of the day, it's a national semifinal in the
Fiesta Bowl on a major stage, you know, for ole
miss an opportunity to go to the first national championship
game in.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The modern era. Maybe really, ever, I don't I don't think.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I don't think you have to look far to find
motivation to work through some fatigue. If this were a
regular season, sure this would be letdown city, but no,
not here.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Neil, how do you feel about guarding too elite defensive
lineman and ruben band in a keem mesidor because Ohio
State and Texas A and m came into the seat,
it came into their matchups giving up eleven total sacks
on the year, almost only given up eighteen. But it
really hasn't mattered. Both of them have been such a
send for Miami to be able to allow them to
put pressure on quarterbacks and to make mental mistakes. And
(05:20):
I get in the Trudead Chambliss is kind of a
wizard in his own right, and they haven't seen a
quarterback built like him, but this offensive line still has
its question marks compared to what you have with the
Hio Saint Texas A and M.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Sure, it's gonna be the story of the game, at
least on that side of the ball as can they
can they protect Chambells long enough for him to make plays.
Here's the thing about olemist that's going to be interesting
to watch tonight. They have a lot of weapons. They
don't have just like one or two primary receivers. They
have a lot of guys they trust they can throw
the ball to multiple tight ends. Lacey's terrific in pass Pro.
(05:52):
This is gonna come down to can you stay ahead
of the sticks? Can you make it third and four
instead of third and nine? And you know, if you
go back and look at the Ohio State film. We
do a show on MPW Digital with a guy named
Pete Deuis where we look at film from earlier in
the season. If you look at the Ohio State film,
say and had receivers open, but he started I don't
(06:15):
blame him, because they're really good and I'm sure when
they hit you going full speed it hurts. But he
started watching Pass Rush. He had some plays to be
made down the field. It's the thing that to this
point Chamberliss has done very very well, and that is
having great eye discipline, keeping his eyes downfield even in
the face of pressure, using his feet to extend plays
a little bit, and hurting defenses when you know there's
(06:39):
if you bring pressures, I mean someone's open somewhere.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So that's the key to the game.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
If if Miami can can take that away, Miami's gonna win.
If Chamberlas can make Miami pay for aggressiveness, ole Miss
will probably.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Win Neil past this season. Do you feel like that
this is something that can be a real stick expectation
for ole Miss and continuing seasons.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, here's why.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I mean, in the last five years, ole Miss has
won fifty two games in the SEC.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Only two teams have done more than that.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And it's not Texas and it's not Texas A and
m It's Alabama and Georgia. I thought the win over Georgia,
no matter what happens the rest of the way, even
if it ends tonight, if they go to the National
Championship game and lose, if they win the National championship,
I thought the win over Georgia was huge. It extended
their season a week. It silenced all of this Kiffin silliness. Look,
(07:38):
Lane's a hell of a coach. He's a great coach.
But there was a lot more too what Ole miss
put together than Lane Kiffen. And I think they proved
that by beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on a
night where Georgia played well without Lane Kiffin in the building.
I thought they silenced all out of that. And so yeah,
is it sustainable?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Sure? Now here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
You don't know how many times you get back to
this spot, right? How many times do you get back
to the national semifinal? I mean, look at the Thunder
right now. They just won a title and everybody was like, hey,
they're gonna win six, seven, eight, nine titles and suddenly
they've lost, you know, six of their last thirteen games.
They look very immortal, and you don't know, you know,
can you get back year after year.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
It's a very hard thing to do. Very few teams
do it.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So when you have these opportunities, yep, you need to
try to capitalize.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Neil, I want to get your thoughts on this because
of Carson Beck's gonna be starting to night looking for
his shot to go to the national title.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Pete Goldi's faced him before.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
You know, a lot of people have to forget last
season that when Ole Miss went, I went and won
against Georgia in Oxford, Carson Beck was the starting quarterback,
and so there is a good gauge on how to
prepare for him. When you've gone back and you've watched
the film, you've seen him. Just be pretty much a
simplistic game manager for Miami is the key, basically saying,
take away Mark Fletcher, take was Shamar Brown and make
(09:01):
the dude who threw two god awful interceptions in that
matchup in Oxford last year be the reason why you
win a football game.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, that's what you have to do now. Now, look,
taking Fletcher away is easier said than done. But if
they can minimize Fletcher and put the game in Carson
Beck's hands, I think it's a risk they're willing to take. Now,
you can lose because Carson Beck's record is the starter's
pretty damn good.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You know, he's he's won a lot more games than
he's lost.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
But Allmoss has had success against him. Yeah, that's the plan,
you know, it's I mean, look at the end of
the day. We do all these storylines and all this stuff,
and it does come down to some pretty basic stuff.
You you want to put teams in third and long
forced quarterbacks to try to force things to make mistakes.
(09:48):
These are two hot teams, two confident teams, two pretty
determined teams.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It's kind of interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I'm sure that if you'd told Miami before the Sugar Bowl, hey,
you going to get Old missed, they would have been thrilled.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And I'm sure if you had told Ole Miss.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Before the Cotton Bowl, hey, you're gonna get Miami, they
would have been thrilled. But now they have each other
and they begin to realize these are two pretty good teams.
And but yes, to answer your question, if you're if
you're if you're Miami, you want to put Ole Miss
in third and along. You want that pass rush to
create some plays. And if you're Old Miss, you want
(10:24):
to put the game in Carson Beck's hands because you
think you can force them into mistakes.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
It's gonna be an exciting one, no question about that
Ole Miss Miami tonight out there in Arizona and this
me and Neil McCready part of Rebels twenty four to seven,
going to be all on top of it. Hey, Neil,
appreciate you waking up early with us. I know it's
an hour behind us over there in Arizona, so hopefully
we didn't wake you up too early out there, and
appreciate your time man.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Thank you guys. I appreciate you having me
Now to Rebels twenty four to seven's Neil McCready hopping
on with us for a few minutes. You can find
them on Twitter at Neil McCready. H Neil.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
If you know this ride.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Continues to keep going tonight for ole Miss and they
win this game and they get to Miami for the
National Championship, is it going to be of the career
that you've had to this point, something that even with
all the experiences, you're just like, I will never ever
experience anything like this. Again, not saying that ole Miss
won't get there, just everything leading up to this point.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
God, I hope not.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I mean, this twenty twenty five season was crazy. I
mean just it was kind of a weird season. It
is almost like the games didn't happen. Everything was all
about Lang Giffin, and then the Kiffin thing happened, and
then there was this you know, rush of days where
(00:58):
all these things were happening and you heard all these
rumors and stuff, and then lo and behold they had
games to play and now they're you know, about to
play in Arizona and against the Miami team that I
think the game's sort of a coin toss.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And yeah, I mean they could end up playing for
the national title.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I would, on one hand, and I'm really surprised, and
that when people ask that question say yeah, I mean,
I'm really surprised. On the other hand, I'd be hypocritical
if I if I pretended to be you know, uh,
Clark Griswold with his head soon to the carpet, because
if you look at the the the way that college
(01:36):
football has changed, if you're organized and you're good at
evol and you put valuations on players in a appropriate way,
you can put together a nationally competitive team, and that
is what they've done.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
No, I want to get your thoughts on this because
it got reported after the Sugar Bowl that Lane Kiffin
was trying to poach the coaches back to Baton Rouge
before this playoff game. Several are not with the team
out in Glendale. The Kevin Smith and Charlie Wise Junior
are knowing Lin Kiffin and just his personality and his
demeanor regards if how you think of him as a coach.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Lane's about Lane.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
If for some reason we see Ole Miss win tonight
and they're able to go to the national championship, could
Lane get to a level of threatening to where he
tells Kevin Smith and Charlie Wisse Junior, if you do
not come back at this point, because if I'm not
the one in charge of this team winning a national championship,
you out of the place of my staff next year.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I mean, I suppose I rule nothing out.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I will say this. I don't think he has that
type of leverage on Charlie. Charlie could get another job tomorrow.
I don't know that he would make exactly the same
amount of money.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
But Charlie is a young guy in his thirties.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
His reputation's really strong, his pedigree is very strong.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
He has NFL interest right now.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
I don't think that would threat would go over very
well with Charlie.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
As for Kevin, I don't think it matters.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I don't think Kevin Smith's presence or absence has anything
to do with whether Old Miss wins or loses.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Again.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Neil McCready rebels twenty four to seven. Hopping on with
us here for a few minutes on the morning drive
with Dan and Cole, let's just talk about the game
tonight too against Miami. I mean, this is a game
that's you know, for Ole Miss, it's going to be
a little bit of all right, how are you able
to come back from the emotional high that you just
had in New Orleans. I mean, this is a team that,
(03:31):
at least listening to Pete Tamil or Pete Tamil, Pete
Golding yesterday talk about their team of saying that you
know their focus, they're ready to go. But I mean,
is that going to be something that you're gonna be
looking for at least nearly going in this game of
Is there a little bit of a slow start and
maybe that has something to do with it?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I don't think so, because I think that could happen
to both teams, right, I mean, you know, Miami's coming
off of two emotional games, including you know, the win
over Ohio State, which was a high water mark for
their program for the past quarter century. I'm sure both
teams are tired a little. I'm sure both teams are
emotionally tired a little. I mean, you think about Ole Miss.
(04:13):
They got back from New Orleans at three in the
morning on Friday. The portal started that day. They've been
slammed with portal stuff, retention acquisition. Putting in a game plan.
Charlie Weiss has gone back and forth from Oxford to
Baton Rouge at least twice, maybe more. I'm sure there's
a lot of fatigue in the building. But at the
(04:34):
end of the day, it's a national semifinal in the
Fiesta Bowl on a major stage, you know, for ole
miss an opportunity to go to the first national championship
game in.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The modern era. Maybe really, ever, I don't I don't think.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I don't think you have to look far to find
motivation to work through some fatigue. If this were a
regular season, sure this would be letdown city, but no,
not here.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Neil, how do you feel about guarding too elite defensive
lineman and ruben band in a keem mesidor because Ohio
State and Texas A and m came into the seat,
it came into their matchups giving up eleven total sacks
on the year, almost only given up eighteen. But it
really hasn't mattered. Both of them have been such a
send for Miami to be able to allow them to
put pressure on quarterbacks and to make mental mistakes. And
(05:20):
I get in the Trudead Chambliss is kind of a
wizard in his own right, and they haven't seen a
quarterback built like him, but this offensive line still has
its question marks compared to what you have with the
Hio Saint Texas A and M.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Sure, it's gonna be the story of the game, at
least on that side of the ball as can they
can they protect Chambells long enough for him to make plays.
Here's the thing about olemist that's going to be interesting
to watch tonight. They have a lot of weapons. They
don't have just like one or two primary receivers. They
have a lot of guys they trust they can throw
the ball to multiple tight ends. Lacey's terrific in pass Pro.
(05:52):
This is gonna come down to can you stay ahead
of the sticks? Can you make it third and four
instead of third and nine? And you know, if you
go back and look at the Ohio State film. We
do a show on MPW Digital with a guy named
Pete Deuis where we look at film from earlier in
the season. If you look at the Ohio State film,
say and had receivers open, but he started I don't
(06:15):
blame him, because they're really good and I'm sure when
they hit you going full speed it hurts. But he
started watching Pass Rush. He had some plays to be
made down the field. It's the thing that to this
point Chamberliss has done very very well, and that is
having great eye discipline, keeping his eyes downfield even in
the face of pressure, using his feet to extend plays
a little bit, and hurting defenses when you know there's
(06:39):
if you bring pressures, I mean someone's open somewhere.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So that's the key to the game.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
If if Miami can can take that away, Miami's gonna win.
If Chamberlas can make Miami pay for aggressiveness, ole Miss
will probably.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Win Neil past this season. Do you feel like that
this is something that can be a real stick expectation
for ole Miss and continuing seasons.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, here's why.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I mean, in the last five years, ole Miss has
won fifty two games in the SEC.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Only two teams have done more than that.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And it's not Texas and it's not Texas A and
m It's Alabama and Georgia. I thought the win over Georgia,
no matter what happens the rest of the way, even
if it ends tonight, if they go to the National
Championship game and lose, if they win the National championship,
I thought the win over Georgia was huge. It extended
their season a week. It silenced all of this Kiffin silliness. Look,
(07:38):
Lane's a hell of a coach. He's a great coach.
But there was a lot more too what Ole miss
put together than Lane Kiffen. And I think they proved
that by beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on a
night where Georgia played well without Lane Kiffin in the building.
I thought they silenced all out of that. And so yeah,
is it sustainable?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Sure? Now here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
You don't know how many times you get back to
this spot, right? How many times do you get back
to the national semifinal? I mean, look at the Thunder
right now. They just won a title and everybody was like, hey,
they're gonna win six, seven, eight, nine titles and suddenly
they've lost, you know, six of their last thirteen games.
They look very immortal, and you don't know, you know,
can you get back year after year.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
It's a very hard thing to do. Very few teams
do it.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So when you have these opportunities, yep, you need to
try to capitalize.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Neil, I want to get your thoughts on this because
of Carson Beck's gonna be starting to night looking for
his shot to go to the national title.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Pete Goldi's faced him before.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
You know, a lot of people have to forget last
season that when Ole Miss went, I went and won
against Georgia in Oxford, Carson Beck was the starting quarterback,
and so there is a good gauge on how to
prepare for him. When you've gone back and you've watched
the film, you've seen him. Just be pretty much a
simplistic game manager for Miami is the key, basically saying,
take away Mark Fletcher, take was Shamar Brown and make
(09:01):
the dude who threw two god awful interceptions in that
matchup in Oxford last year be the reason why you
win a football game.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, that's what you have to do now. Now, look,
taking Fletcher away is easier said than done. But if
they can minimize Fletcher and put the game in Carson
Beck's hands, I think it's a risk they're willing to take. Now,
you can lose because Carson Beck's record is the starter's
pretty damn good.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You know, he's he's won a lot more games than
he's lost.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
But Allmoss has had success against him. Yeah, that's the plan,
you know, it's I mean, look at the end of
the day. We do all these storylines and all this stuff,
and it does come down to some pretty basic stuff.
You you want to put teams in third and long
forced quarterbacks to try to force things to make mistakes.
(09:48):
These are two hot teams, two confident teams, two pretty
determined teams.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It's kind of interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I'm sure that if you'd told Miami before the Sugar Bowl, hey,
you going to get Old missed, they would have been thrilled.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And I'm sure if you had told Ole Miss.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Before the Cotton Bowl, hey, you're gonna get Miami, they
would have been thrilled. But now they have each other
and they begin to realize these are two pretty good teams.
And but yes, to answer your question, if you're if
you're if you're Miami, you want to put Ole Miss
in third and along. You want that pass rush to
create some plays. And if you're Old Miss, you want
(10:24):
to put the game in Carson Beck's hands because you
think you can force them into mistakes.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
It's gonna be an exciting one, no question about that
Ole Miss Miami tonight out there in Arizona and this
me and Neil McCready part of Rebels twenty four to seven,
going to be all on top of it. Hey, Neil,
appreciate you waking up early with us. I know it's
an hour behind us over there in Arizona, so hopefully
we didn't wake you up too early out there, and
appreciate your time man.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Thank you guys. I appreciate you having me
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