Kiffin to Ole Miss: Got ‘absolutely nothing to lose’ vs

• Chris Low, ESPN Senior WriterNov 8, 2023, 07:55 PM ET

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  • College football reporter
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin stated he discovered his lesson the past two times his Rebels went on the roadway in marquee games, both versus Alabama, and he’s not making that mistake again.The No. 9 Rebels

take a trip to deal with No. 2 Georgia on Saturday at Sanford Stadium and are 10.5-point underdogs. The Bulldogs have won 26 straight games total and have not lost at home since falling 20-17 in 2 overtimes to South Carolina in 2019.

“I think you’ve got to enjoy that you do not release a tight, anxious ambiance to your group,” Kiffin told ESPN on Wednesday. “As I have actually recalled at the two journey like this with elite groups, the 2 times we went to Alabama, the players could feel me get uptight and we played that way.

“I do not seem like that this week.”

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Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 in the SEC) lost 24-10 to Alabama previously this season in Tuscaloosa. The Rebels led 7-6 at the half however handled just a field goal in the second half in what was the lowest-scoring output for Ole Miss against an SEC opponent considering that Kiffin showed up in Oxford in 2020.

“I do believe in some cases with age and doing it longer, and obviously I think differently now, but you’re a lot more like, ‘Oh gosh, we have actually got to cover every scenario. What about this? What about that?’ Which’s a good idea,” Kiffin stated. “However you never want your team to detect any of that.”

“I remember going to Alabama when I was at Tennessee in 2009,” Kiffin added, referring to a 12-10 loss to No. 2 Alabama, “and I didn’t believe one time about losing or care about, ‘Guy, if we lose, I’m going to have to say this or say that.’ I resembled, ‘We’re going to go there and win. Who cares?'”

Kiffin coached together with Georgia coach Kirby Smart on Alabama’s 2015 championship game team under Nick Saban when Kiffin was the offensive organizer and Smart was the protective organizer. Kiffin said the two-time defending national champion Bulldogs, in some methods, have a more complete makeup than a few of those Alabama teams under Saban.

“What Kirby has done from a recruiting standpoint and the consistency on offense and defense is actually remarkable,” Kiffin said. “Everyone thinks defense when they think of Georgia, and they’re terrific on defense. However they’ve set up really good offensive numbers the last couple of years and that wasn’t constantly necessarily the case in Saban’s run where it at first was excellent defense and some really excellent offensive players, however not a system where a great deal of points were being scored. Georgia has actually done all of it.”

Georgia and Ole Miss are both amongst the top 15 nationally in scoring. The Bulldogs are balancing 39.3 points per game and the Rebels 38.8 points per game. Georgia is also seventh nationally in scoring defense and enabling just 15.4 points per game.Ole Miss has a possibility to win 10 games in the routine season for the second time in the previous three seasons. Before the 2021 season, Ole Miss had never had a 10-win routine season. The only other SEC groups with a possibility to do that over the previous three years are Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.Kiffin recommended that his team was having fun with home cash this weekend.”I state that due to the fact that this game has a different feel, “Kiffin said.” Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country [in the AP poll] They have not lost in your home in four years. We’re little ol’ Ole Miss. We’re double-digit underdogs going there in the evening. I imply, what is there to lose? If everyone expects you to lose and all the analytics and stats state you’re expected to lose, then there’s nothing to lose. As I stated, I have a much various sensation, and it’s much different what I’m informing these guys versus the Alabama game.”Kiffin mentions that Alabama was coming off a substandard 17-3 win over South Florida and had yet to decide on a quarterback, and the whole story was different leading into that game back in September.”Individuals were all of a sudden,’Whoa, Alabama’s struggling.

They can’t determine their quarterback. Possibly little ol’ Ole Miss ought to win this game, ‘”Kiffin said. “I feel now a lot like I did when we got here and played Alabama the very first year [a 63-48 Alabama win] and they were No. 1, went on to win the championship game, and everyone believed there’s no way we were going to win, so there’s no pressure.”That’s what I’m saying to our players. There should not be any pressure. Simply go play.

“The pressure, Kiffin stated, is on Georgia, which is chasing after history and attempting to win 3 straight

national titles.”I have actually been on the other side of these streaks,”Kiffin stated.”When you’re on one of these streaks, the pressure is on you due to the fact that you have actually got to keep those streaks going. And if you don’t win by this many, everyone’s like,’ Well, you’re really not that excellent.'” The only thing that matters for us is playing the method we can and not worrying about anything else.”