The expectations were out the roof this season at Ole Miss. The Rebels started the season ranked in the Top 10 and got all the way up to No. 4 before coming back down to reality in an ugly 16-10 loss to South Carolina in a Thursday night game in Columbia.

The Rebels (8-4, 4-4) were an enigma most of this season. They looked pretty average at times, and at other times, looked like one of the top three or four teams in the league.

Eight wins in the SEC is never anything to sneeze at, and it’s also the first time since 1989 and 1990 that Ole Miss has won at least eight games in back-to-back seasons. But with the talent on this team, and especially with the number of seniors playing key roles, there was a real expectation for this club to at least compete for the West title.

But thanks to losses to South Carolina and Alabama by the second week of October, the Rebels were never really in contention. The other thing that waters down their eight wins is the fact that their nonconference schedule was one of the easiest in the country and included two FCS schools.

There were still some highlights, and Ole Miss finished strong enough to get a second straight invitation to the AT&T Cotton Bowl. The Rebels had impressive wins over Tennessee and LSU, but then put a damper on things by getting smacked around by Mississippi State in the regular-season finale.

Offensive MVP: Dexter McCluster, RB. Had Houston Nutt played McCluster at tailback full time from the beginning of the season, he might have been a Heisman Trophy candidate. McCluster was the best player in the league the last half of the season and has a chance to become the first player in SEC history to have 1,000 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving in the same season.

Defensive MVP: Kentrell Lockett, DE. This was a tough one to pick, because Tyrone Nix’s defense was balanced this season and played well with the exception of the Auburn and Mississippi State games. But Lockett gets the nod. He was second on the team with 10 tackles for loss, tied for second with five sacks and led the team with 11 quarterback hurries.

Turning point: It was obvious after the South Carolina loss the third game of the season that Ole Miss wasn’t a genuine contender in the West. That’s also the game where it really started to go south for quarterback Jevan Snead, who threw an SEC-high 17 interceptions.

What’s next: Nutt admitted this week that he had discussions with Kansas about the Jayhawks’ head coaching job, but said the Ole Miss administration convinced him that the program was headed in the right direction. The Rebels lose a lot of their key players from this team, particularly on offense. These next two seasons will be critical for Nutt to get his own players into the program and continue winning at a high level.