Ole Miss Preps for Top 25 Matchup Against Tulane

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

The No. 22 Ole Miss Rebels prepare to travel to New Orleans Saturday to take on the No.24  Tulane Green Wave at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Ole Miss opened the season with a 73-7 victory over the Mercer Bears.

Head coach Lane Kiffin met with the media on Monday for his weekly press conference to talk about this upcoming match.

“Any time you win a game 73-7 you have to have a lot of things go right,” Kiffin said. “I feel like the guys had good energy and execution. That was great to see in the first game of the season.”

Kiffin added that with the number of new players and coaches he was excited about the execution.

Tulane is coming into this week after a 37-17 victory over South Alabama. The Green Wave’s quarterback Michael Pratt threw for 294 yards with four touchdowns.

“We’re coming into a big challenge this week playing a Top 25 team and the Cotton Bowl champs,” Kiffin said. “Going on the road it will be challenging and we’ll have our hands full. We’ll have to perform really well and practice well this week.”

Two seasons ago the Rebels faced Pratt as a sophomore in a 61-21 victory in the Vaught.

“Every year is different for every team and there is no certain thing that they would go 2-10 that season,” Kiffin said. “I thought they were going to have a really good season. They took Oklahoma right before us down to the last series. They’re a much different team now with a lot of success, last year’s 12 wins and playing at a really high level.”

Kiffin added that Tulane’s coach Willie Fritz, has done an amazing job turning them around. 

“(Pratt) played as well as you can on air last week with one incompletion,” Kiffin said. “He’s a very savvy veteran, sharp and accurate.”

This week, Jaxson Dart is listed first on the depth chart at quarterback with Spencer Sanders behind him at two.

“Jaxson has played really well and had a really good camp and spring,” Kiffin said. “He is the starting quarterback. I’ve said all along that we are extremely excited about the depth in the room.”

Kiffin added Walker came in (against Mercer) and played really well.

“I always say within the team, each position group is a team within itself,” Kiffin said. “Our goal each year is to improve that in the off-season and that position has been dramatically improved.”

Ole Miss will kick off against Tulane on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN2.