Lane Kiffin not convinced Sanford Stadium noise the biggest factor ‘at all’
Kirby Smart likes to say you’re either elite or you’re not, and Lane Kiffin agrees, to the extent that’s the challenge he’s putting before himself and his Ole Miss football team.
“Our guys are really excited for this opportunity, this is the elite,” Kiffin said, talking up Saturday’s showdown between his No. 5-ranked Rebels (6-0, 3-0 SEC) and No. 9-ranked Georgia (5-1, 3-1) at 3:30 p.m. at Sanford Stadium.
“This isn’t coach speak, it’s stats, or facts, this is the elite program in college football with top coaching,” Kiffin said on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday. “(Georgia) continues to win at an unbelievable pace, especially rare, and especially nowadays with how challenging it is with our conference and with NIL.”
Smart would agree his Bulldogs are impressive, especially when one considers they have played six different starting offensive line combinations in six games and have a first-year starting quarterback in Gunner Stockton.
Georgia started the season as a preseason Top 10 team, but when one considers the challenging road win at Tennessee (44-41, OT) and Auburn (20-10), and the gut-wrenching home loss to Alabama, the Bulldogs find themselves in a good position.
Especially, as Kiffin pointed out, getting Ole Miss at home.
“Shoot, the last five years, you’re 28-1 at home, the last loss coming to Alabama,” Kiffin said, noting the school-record 33-game home win streak the Bulldogs had going before the Tide snapped it with a 24-21 win.
“We’ve done some good things here (Ole Miss) as a program, but then there’s another step, you know, can you go beat an elite program like we were able to do last year against Georgia, but now do it at their place?”
Indeed, the Rebels are looking to build on one of the most impressive starts to a season in the program’s modern-era history.
A win over Georgia would make Ole Miss 7-0 for only the third time in the past 61 years:
• 2022 Ole Miss, 7-0, Coach Lane Kiffin
• 2014 Ole Miss, 7-0, Coach Hugh Freeze
• 1963 Ole Miss, 7-0-2, Coach John Vaught
The Bulldogs opened as a 6 1/2-point favorite and that line has increased to 7 1/2 points, so the betting public is showing confidence Georgia will win, and by more than a touchdown.
Kiffin, a bit unexpectedly, downplayed the crowd noise generated at Sanford Stadium in marquee matchups.
“Heard Kirby talking about the noise, and (this) needed to be the loudest the stadium has ever been so I’m sure it will be,” Kiffin said. “But both people have to play in the noise, and they actually, verbally, communicate more on defense that we do on offense, which would be a rare (factor).
“(So) I think that the noise is not the biggest factor at all in the game,” he said. “It’ll be blocking, tackling, catching, throwing and taking care of the football.”
Ole Miss features dual-threat quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who leads the SEC in yards per completion (15.1) and yards per pass attempt (9.9) on a unit that’s fifth in the country in total offense.
The Rebels get plays off 10th-fastest in the nation, per advanced metrics (22.9 seconds), so Kiffin could be counting on those quicker snaps mitigating what is sure to be a fired-up home crowd.
Smart is 22-10 against Top 10 teams, including a 7-0 mark in Sanford Stadium. Kiffin is 9-9 against Top 25 teams as the Ole Miss coach.
The Bulldogs beat a No. 9-ranked Rebels team by a 52-17 count two seasons ago in Sanford Stadium, the most recent time Ole Miss has played in Athens.
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
