Marty Smith Believes Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin Built For 'Sustained' Success in 2024 and Beyond

College football analyst Marty Smith believes that Lane Kiffin has something special brewing with the Ole Miss Rebels.

The Southeastern Conference is a brutal group of competition, especially as the league is set to add the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns in 2024, but Lane Kiffin is seemingly building a program in the Ole Miss Rebels that is prepared to be successful in this era.

Earlier this week on Andy Staples On3, ESPN's Marty Smith discussed why he believes Ole Miss is going to be dangerous in this new SEC landscape, especially after adding plenty of talent in prep recruiting and the transfer portal in recent days.

“They are absolutely built to be sustained at that level,” Smith said. “I feel sorry, honestly, in a lot of cases for Southeastern Conference coaches — in the West and East — because they live in the Nick Saban and Kirby Smart eras, and Lane has done nothing but win. Now, he hasn’t beaten Saban, but to do what he’s done in this era where it’s such a gauntlet every week… I’m just here to tell y’all the SEC is brutal.”

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According to On3, the Rebels currently hold the No. 20 prep recruiting class in the country, and they come in at No. 3 in the team transfer rankings, a process that takes into account both incoming and exiting talent via the portal.

That paired with Ole Miss' on-field success in 2023 is reason for optimism in Oxford. The Rebels once again won 10 regular season games under Kiffin, and they have an opportunity to win 11 games in a single season for the first time in program history, should they come away with a win in the Peach Bowl against the Penn State Nittany Lions later this month.

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Kickoff in that game is set for 11 a.m. CT on Dec. 30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and the game will be televised on ESPN.