Lane Kiffin is ready to silence doubters with Ole Miss team good enough for Georgia

by Junna Base November 9, 2024

Lane Kiffin sat in Georgia’s visiting team media room last season, coming off a devastating loss to the Bulldogs, and made it clear that if Ole Miss were going to compete with a team like the one they had just faced, then he had to rebuild his roster to resemble the one Kirby Smart had on the field.

It was more of a realization moment for the Ole Miss head coach, still trying to conform to the idea that what he’d done before that game wasn’t going to work. The Rebels needed to look like an SEC powerhouse, and not just rely on the high-speed offense to get them over the hump.

If anything, Lane Kiffin sat in front of those reporters in Athens and made it clear that the off-season was going to be spent on putting together a roster that was the size of a team like Georgia. For some fans it felt like an excuse, but for the folks around Oxford that handle recruiting and NIL, this was a warning that if they were going to succeed, it was time to put it all on the table.

Ever since that transfer portal period started last year, the only goal has been to compete for an SEC title, and make the college football playoff. Long gone are the days of being okay with coming in fourth place, or almost reaching the postseason. And Lane Kiffin knew that with the college football playoff expanding to 12 teams, this was the opportunity to go all-in for a shot at the title.

One Year Later, There Have Been Speed Bumps, But The Plan Is Working

A full year since that 52-17 loss in Athens, I wouldn’t say everything has gone according to plan for the Rebels, but they have built a roster from the transfer portal and NIL that can compete with Georgia, and look like it on the field.

“I said ‘We’re going to do everything in our power to change the way that we look. As a team, but especially defensively.’ We might not be very good, but we’re going to look a lot better in our uniforms,” Lane Kiffin discussed last year. “A lot of that was signing players that are already significant players in the SEC, that we’ve seen play against these teams.”

But the notion that spending over $10 million on a roster is going to buy you a season without many bumps in the road along the way is rubbish. When Kentucky strolled into Oxford in September and upset the Rebels, there were folks scratching their heads, wondering what they had just witnessed.

A trip to Baton Rouge last month posed another hurdle when it lost to LSU in overtime after the offense stalled, forcing Ole Miss to kick four field goals after allowing one in the first half Explosion came that had people on the Rebels sideline thinking they were leaving with a win. But once again the Rebels were offended and Louisiana suffered a humiliating defeat that could eliminate them from the playoffs.

Everything that Lane Kiffin and his staff had done in the offseason to put together a roster capable of playing for a national championship was beginning to weigh on them.

A win over Arkansas last weekend showed this team is up to the challenge, but now the season comes down to a game against Georgia. A story that began in the visitors’ locker room last season is now upon us and Lane Kiffin is preparing for the biggest game of his Ole Miss tenure.

The stage is set for Ole Miss to prove the doubters wrong

If ever there was a game that featured Jaxson Dart and this Rebels attack with a gunslinger mentality, this is it. Deep down inside most of you outside of Oxford there is a feeling that Lane Kiffin has wasted enough opportunities to win the Big Game that your heart is telling you this will be just another example of jumping in too soon.

I understand it. There’s a stigma surrounding Kiffin and those matchups against teams you think you’ll have a good chance of beating, only to end up disappointed. Do you think that doesn’t eat him up at night? As much as he loves poking the bear, Kiffin has been much more reserved this season. Be it because he’s nervous about the end result, because he knows everything that happened in this 2024 season, or because he’s evolved into a quieter public figure along the way.

He and his players don’t need to be told how big this game is. You know, I promise. For everything that happened last year. Despite all the preparation for this season and the expectations placed on this team, only for them to fall short in their previous two defeats, there is still a swagger in this Oxford football building.

Georgia is currently on a winning streak that is certainly overwhelming for the rest of college football. Kirby Smart has a 48-0 record against teams not named Alabama over the last four years. According to Vegas, Georgia is expected to reach 49-0 after today’s game. And while that may be the case, you can’t tell me this is the same type of Ole Miss team we all saw in Athens last season when they were throttled.

This leaves us with two scenarios. Georgia strolls into Oxford and destroys any hope of making the playoffs for Ole Miss fans and the football program.

The other scenario would be that Lane Kiffin and the Rebels finally overcome the crisis and win a game that puts them on a collision course with the College Football Playoff and forces the doubters to remain silent into the night.

For all the fun Kiffin is having on social media while snapping a few photos of current events in the sport, there’s nothing he’d rather do than finally silence the people who have been involved in monumental events during his career have doubted him while playing.

This afternoon his team will have the opportunity to speak on the field for their head coach. .

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