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The hype surrounding the Ole Miss Rebels college football team in 2024 might actually surpass tailgating expectations at The Grove for once.
Coming off a historic 11-win season, a 38-25 Peach Bowl victory against Penn State, and a top 10 ranking for the first time since 1969, head coach Lane Kiffin and the Rebels are expected to outdo themselves this season.
The Rebels are ranked No. 5 in the Sporting News’ composite preseason rankings. They have a leading Heisman Trophy candidate in Jaxson Dart. The portal king Kiffin secured the No. 1 transfer class.
Insert the best college football coach of all time, former Alabama Crimson Tide legend Nick Saban, to provide a little humility.
“He said, ‘Remind those players about rat poison,’” Kiffin told Blake Toppmeyer in the USA TODAY feature of the Rebels’ head coach. “‘Remind them that those people that are writing that stuff on the internet about how great they are, … it’s probably some big fat guy in his underwear who doesn’t know (crap) about football.’”
Of course Saban, now an ESPN analyst, loves the rat poison analogy and used it often during his coaching tenure.
Is Kiffin, who was Alabama’s offensive coordinator under Saban after his allegedly famous tarmac firing from USC, following his mentor’s advice?
If you go by the USA TODAY profile, absolutely. He quotes Taylor Swift lyrics as a metaphor for his rising-from-the-ashes career renaissance gosh darn it. If you go by his social media antics, the jury is still out.
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Luckily the Rebels have the second-easiest SEC schedule according to the Sporting News’ formula. They don’t play a ranked opponent until they travel to Death Valley to play the No. 13 LSU Tigers on Oct. 12. That’ll be their seventh game of the season!
If the Rebels are undefeated going into that game, to steal Saban’s line, the rat poison will be “worse than ever.”