The Ole Miss Rebels will open the 2025 season at home against the Georgia State Panthers, FBSchedules.com has learned.
Ole Miss and Georgia State previously signed a contract for a football game that was scheduled to be played at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., on Nov. 21, 2026. The contract was signed back in the summer of 2020.
According to a copy of an addendum to the contract obtained from the University of Mississippi via an open records request, Ole Miss and Georgia State have agreed to reschedule their 2026 contest and will now play in Oxford one season earlier on Aug. 30, 2025. The game will be the season-opener for both schools.
Ole Miss will still pay Georgia State a $1.6 million guarantee for the rescheduled football game, per the addendum. Additionally, the addendum notes that a men’s basketball game between the two schools that was slated for Nov. 20, 2026 has been canceled.
Ole Miss and Georgia State have never met on the gridiron. The Rebels have won 49-of-56 contests (two ties) against current members of the Sun Belt Conference.
With the Georgia State matchup moved to 2025, the Rebels have tentatively completed their non-conference slate for that season. The other three contests for the Rebels are all slated to be played in Oxford consecutively following the season-opener against Georgia State. The Rebels will host The Citadel on Sept. 6, Wake Forest on Sept. 13, and Tulane on Sept. 20.
SEC opponents for Ole Miss in 2025 will be the same as in 2024 but with the locations swapped. The Rebels will host Arkansas, Florida, LSU, and South Carolina and will visit Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Oklahoma.
Georgia State’s 2025 non-conference slate is also tentatively complete with the Ole Miss game move. The Panthers are slated to host back-to-back games at home against Memphis on Sept. 6 and Murray State on Sept. 13 before traveling to take on Vanderbilt on Sept. 20.
Football Schedules