Last season; arguably exceeded expectations. They ended the season with a whimper although it was a loss to a top ten team in Baylor. (Aranda looks to be the media's love child this season.)
Over the years we've seen how often the SEC media gets their choices wrong (they did pick Bama to win the west last season.) Ole Miss was predicted to finish 4th in the west where they finished second. As I recall they were ranked anywhere between 15-25 going into the season; finished 11th.