Lane Kiffin Talks Tide on the Weekly SEC Teleconference

Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin is preparing for arguably the biggest game of his coaching career.

The No. 15 Rebels are taking on No. 13 Alabama in the SEC opener for both squads. The Crimson Tide looks on paper about as beatable as ever in this week coming off a 17-3 victory over the South Florida Bulls.

Kiffin isn't taking the moment for granted, in fact it appears he's working as hard as ever as he was late to his time slot on the SEC coaches weekly teleconference.

"Sorry I was late, practice went over. It takes a lot of plays to try to play these guys," said Kiffin.

Ole Miss has already been on the road and beaten a ranked team when in Week 2 they went to New Orleans and toppled No. 24 Tulane. The Crimson Tide lost at home to Texas, the Aggies lost on the road to Miami and LSU lost in a neutral site game to Florida State, leaving pundits to consider the SEC West wide open and Ole Miss as the possible leading candidate to take the crown.

"I'm not worried about the West and it being wide open. We've got to go play Alabama who's got the best home record over the last decade in the entire country and we've got a number of injuries on offense," said Kiffin. "Like I said earlier in the week, we have one freshman linebacker that they went heavy after in (Suntarine) Perkins. Other than that, they took their 85 players and we had to pick from the rest. That tells you what kind of challenge it is."

Kiffin is 0-4 all-time against Nick Saban, having lost in the historic "Rocky Block" game while at Tennessee, and two close games with the Rebels over the last three years. The relationship between the two is well documented, leaving pundits and media to wonder if Kiffin is placing extra importance on this weekend?

"Ya, I'd like to say we're only playing one, like, top team in the country and you could say it's your Super Bowl, but last time I checked we play a lot of really good teams after that, including LSU the following week, who's as hot as anybody in the country, after watching them last week," said Kiffin during the teleconference.

"Then we go into Georgia at some point, the top team, longest win streak in the country. We've got a lot of challenges. It happens when you play in the west and your crossover is Georgia. This isn't about me. This is about us trying to prepare really well and play really well in a very hard place to play. We're beat up on offense so we've just got to take it one play, one series at a time and try to find a way to get some first downs."

During Saban's portion of the press conference he admitted to reporters that he believes his quarterback cake is ready to go as he named Jalen Milroe the starter during his Monday press conference. The decision allows the Rebels to prepare for Milroe's dual-threat ability, but also likely leaves defensive coordinator Pete Golding with numerous things to consider during game planning this week.

"I think he (Saban) was very clear on who he's going with. So I don't forsee multiple quarterbacks playing. He's already made this switch a couple times already. Knowing him he's going to stay in this direction," said Kiffin. "So we have a very challenging player. One we're very familiar with, with our defensive coordinator being there and knowing him. Watching him play, not just this year, but last year when he had to play the A&M game, which was a road game coming in there and took them down to the last play. So, this is a very challenging quarterback to play against."

Kiffin ended his appearance on the SEC coaches teleconference by describing how challenging it is to play against the Tide, considering the recruiting prowess over several years. He pointed to the transfer portal as a way Alabama's added to its strength as Saban has been able to use it to fill gaps and holes on the roster since its inception, 2023 not excluded.

"The challenge always against Alabama, on both sides, especially on defense for a lot of years, all the way back to being at Tennessee is the defensive personnel. I mean, elite personnel, playing with all NFL players. Now I've got a defensive end that nobody can block that's fast as can be. And now they're actually getting stronger because now they can, versus the old days, they can go pluck guys like Jaylen Key and find starters in other places like the linebacker from Georgia. So they're even more challenging personnel than ever."

The Crimson Tide and the Rebels are set to square off on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS. The current gambling odds consider Alabama as a 6.5 point favorite, leaving Ole Miss with quite a challenge as they enter Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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