re: Will Ole Miss ever be good at football?

Define good. Mixing 5-8 win seasons with one or two 9 and 10 win seasons a decade? Sure.

Consistently competing for the SEC west? No. Mississippi has some disadvantages not shared by the rest of the conference. Auburn and Alabama have good sized student bodies and a state, that for its problems, seems to be trending upward. Auburn has good ties to Georgia and both schools are shaking off some of the traditional Alabama reputation as being sports-only. LSU has a state to itself and a major city that loves it. UGA does too in large part, and the school has blown up in size.

Meanwhile, you have Ole Miss, in a stagnant small state, sharing talent with another school, located in a small town. You don't have a booming area to feed it, although Memphis will always be there.

Ole Miss has great tradition and does what it can despite being heavily outgunned. But in reality, to compete with the rest of the conference on a regular basis, I think you'd need some pretty serious cultural changes at both OM and in the state generally. To be honest, I think the tradition will ultimately hold Ole Miss back from doing what other schools on the rise are doing.