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Jacksonville State W - Former South Panola star Darius "Tig" Barksdale will finally play in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium - if he has no issues between now and Sept. 4. The Gamecocks are usually very good at their level and shouldn't be taken lightly. Ask Florida State.
Tulane W - The Green Wave will benefit from a handful of transfers on defense, but offense has been a problem through camp.
Vanderbilt W - Quarterback struggles for Vanderbilt will make it hard for the Commodores to have much success against an amped up Ole Miss front seven playing its SEC opener. New coach Robbie Caldwell was a hit at Media Days with his home-spun charm, but that may be the most favorable news coverage Vanderbilt receives this season.
Fresno State L - The schedule is set up for a 5-0 start, but the Rebels will lose one they're not expected to, and it's this one. New Ole Miss cornerbacks will be pushed for the first time by a veteran quarterback and receivers. Fresno has concerns defensively, but the Rebels will have to find their playmakers in the first three games to take advantage.
Kentucky W - Refocused, the Rebels limit the damage by Kentucky's versatile Randall Cobb and set the tone at the line of scrimmage where the Cats return only one starter on the offensive line.
Alabama L - At this point the Crimson Tide will have the most balanced offense the Rebels will have seen, and the guess is that years of consistent recruiting will have it in position to replace its defensive losses.
Arkansas L - This is the year the Hogs get their former coach, Houston Nutt. Bobby Petrino comes up with a plan to give quarterback Ryan Mallett more protection than he got in Oxford last year when he was 12 for 34 passing. Petrino may have no personal beef with Nutt, but he knows how badly his bosses want this game.
Auburn W - Ole Miss will go 1-2 against the SEC's "A" teams, and this game is on Oct. 30, almost November, which is a month that Nutt's team's typically do pretty well. He's 7-1 in the month in two years at Ole Miss.
Louisiana-Lafayette W - The Rebels will have to expend more energy than they did against Northern Arizona in this slot last year, but they get the win.
Tennessee W - Not a bad time to make a road trip to Rocky Top.
LSU L - Two straight wins by the Rebels have added some spark to this series. It means more to the Tigers now. By this stage of the season LSU could be in the midst of something special or playing with an interim coach, but it will be hard to get a third-straight win against the rival.
MSU W - Nutt will have this one circled the way Dan Mullen did last year. Having beaten MSU 10-straight times before last season, Nutt and the Ole Miss coaches approach the game with a renewed sense of purpose. It's different playing the Bulldogs when you're the Ole Miss coach and not the Arkansas coach.
Parrish Alford (parrish.alford@djournal.com) covers Ole Miss for the Daily Journal. He blogs daily about the Rebels at NEMS360.com.