Lane Kiffin Discusses Biggest Challenge For Ole Miss Rebels During Egg Bowl Week
Thursday night will mark Lane Kiffin's fourth Egg Bowl at the helm of the Ole Miss Rebels program, and while this rivalry is one of the more-heated meetings in college football, that hasn't been the coach's biggest adjustment since he arrived in Oxford.
Instead, it's having to play earlier in the week.
Last season, the schedule prior to the Egg Bowl did not favor Ole Miss. The Rebels had to travel to Fayetteville the Saturday before Thanksgiving and face the Arkansas Razorbacks in an SEC night game before having a quick turnaround and facing Mississippi State at home. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, hosted East Tennessee State at 11 a.m. the weekend before the Egg Bowl, and Kiffin believes that made a difference in his team's "freshness" for the rivalry bout.
This season, both Ole Miss and State are coming off of 11 a.m. home games against Sun Belt opponents, so the playing field is a little more level in that regard. Still, having a short week is never advantageous, and that's something that led the Rebels to game plan a little early for this year's Egg Bowl.
"I think a lot of things have been different," Kiffin said on Monday. "One, we game planned last week, which is very unusual to do that in another opponent week. Our play count [against ULM] was much lower than playing an SEC game on the road. I would certainly hope they would never set that up scheduling-wise again where one team's playing 11 o'clock non-conference at home, and one's playing at night on the road in the SEC. I think our bodies will be a lot better."
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
© Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
The 5-6 Bulldogs have been through a rough stretch this season, firing head coach Zach Arnett just 10 games into the schedule. Greg Knox has taken over as the team's interim head coach, and that brings some unfamiliarity to game preparation.
Kiffin has used the term "playing with house money" before in regards to his own team, but he thinks that could be relevant on Mississippi State's side this week.
"I think there's some danger in that," Kiffin said. "Kind of like an all-out factor of we don't know whether this guy is their head coach for another game, or maybe he could be the permanent head coach. Sometimes that doesn't work, and sometimes it works well. Usually a coach in these situations just brings energy and is creative. It's hard to change philosophies and Xs and Os in just two weeks."
The Egg Bowl means a lot each year to Mississippians, but Kiffin and his players don't put an extra emotional emphasis on this meeting. Outside of some early preparation due to the short week this week, this is business as usual.
"We've just got to prepare really well and play really well," Kiffin said. "We don't really build it up and do different things. I don't worry too much about [the players] being too excited for it because in this day and age, a lot of the guys in the room haven't been a part of this rivalry, which sometimes can be good too. Not be over-excited and get penalties."
Ole Miss and Mississippi State are scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, and the game will be televised on ESPN.
