Kiffin on Taking on No. 10 Alabama

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

No. 11 Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin met with members of the media on Monday as his team prepares to face the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday afternoon.

Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1 SEC) is coming off of a bye weekend after nine straight games.

“It was really good to see a lot of guys back healthy,” Kiffin said. “That’s the best we have looked since training camp to have so many guys moving around.”

The Rebels are returning home for the first time in almost a month since playing host to the Auburn Tigers on Oct. 15.

“Glad to be coming back home,” Kiffin said. “Extremely challenging opponent now, we have the combination of elite players with elite coaching. This is the best of the best.”

Alabama (7-2, 4-2 SEC) is rolling into Oxford after dropping a 32-31 overtime loss to the LSU Tigers in Death Valley.

“They are always ready to play,” Kiffin said. “(Alabama) always rebound over the years and you’re going to go play the best offensive player (Bryce Young) and defensive player (Will Anderson Jr.) in the country.”

Kiffin spent two seasons at Alabama under head coach Nick Saban (2014-16) as the offensive coordinator and the quarterback coach. While he was on the staff, the Tide lost three games and two in the regular season to Ole Miss.

“I thought he (Saban) was phenomenal (after a loss),” Kiffin said. “You would maybe expect it to be the other way like everything is the end of the world. He does a good job of addressing whatever it was.”

Kiffin added that Alabama was two plays away from coming into the Vaught No. 1 or No. 2 in the country. He said it will be challenging but that it’s good to be home with a long winning streak and a great crowd.

Ole Miss has been on a roll at home and takes a 13-game home winning streak into the contest that goes back to Nov. of 2020.

Ole Miss and Alabama will kick off at 2:30 on Saturday afternoon inside the Vaught and can be seen on CBS.