OXFORD, Miss. — Coming off of their victory against the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in Lexington, the Rebels’ head coach Lane Kiffin spoke with reporters on Monday about the much-anticipated match-up against No. 2 Alabama this weekend.
The storyline coming into the game will be about Kiffin’s team facing off against his former boss’s team, Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide, on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Kiffin praised Saban’s team and said despite that being a storyline, he does not think of it as that big of a deal.
“We worked together for three years, learned a lot from him. Had a great run,” Kiffin said. “I think we won 24 or 26 straight games when I was over there. Very productive times with a lot of great players and a lot of great wins. Only two regular-season losses were to Ole Miss. Good time and obviously very grateful to him.”
Though there will be a lot of talk about Saban and Kiffin’s history, Kiffin is focused on trying to get his first win at home against the powerhouse on Saturday. In their first to games of the season, Alabama outscored their opponents, 90 to 71.
Kiffin said he and his coaching staff must find a way to slow down Alabama’s offense.
“Every year is new. Every year is different. We’ve got to play better. We got to limit explosive plays, keep the ball in front of us. Now they have another receiver I’ve never even heard of that went for 150 that runs by everybody. I thought there were two, now there’s three. We got to find a way. No one else has found a way for a while,” Kiffin said.
At the same time, Kiffin knows his team will need to play at a high-level all four quarters, mainly his defense. Kiffin said he plans on doing a lot of different things with his secondary to match-up against Alabama.
Kiffin also said this is a difference Saban led offense from what he faced a little more than a decade ago.
“You’ve got to mix things up,” Kiffin said. “We played different coverages. Not just all these guys just have great players, they have great offensive coordinators. This is a different world than 11 years ago when you used to go play them, and you knew they were going to be in the I-formation and be able to keep the game close. They’d pound it out, and now they don’t do that at all.”
In addition to the Rebels’ defense playing at an elite level, their offense must click as well. Quarterback Matt Corral has been dominant thus far. Corral, this season, has completed 46 of his 60 passes for 715 yards.
Not to mention, Corral has seven touchdowns on the season with only one interception.
Kiffin said he is pleased the way his quarterback has been playing and thinks he should just settle down in the pocket, so he can really thrive.
“Just calming down and cleaning up his feet in the pocket,” Kiffin said. “He’s kind of moving around a lot, making a lot of plays. At the same time, there are times he could stay in there and set himself a little more.”
The Rebels will play host to Alabama on Saturday, Oct 10. at 5 p.m.
