Nick Saban explains how Alabama can contain Ole Miss' explosive offense

Nick Saban and the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide have their work cut out for themselves on Saturday, as they host the No. 12 Ole Miss Rebels and Lane Kiffin’s high-powered offense.

Led by quarterback Matt Corral, the Ole Miss offense has been unbeatable through three games. The offense has mustered 43, 54 and 61 points, respectively, running past Louisville, Austin Peay and Tulane. Corral is a big reason why: through three games, Corral has 997 passing yards and an impressive completion percentage of 68.8. He’s thrown for nine touchdowns, while also making an impact on the ground, rushing for 158 yards and another five touchdowns. Under Kiffin, the Rebels’ offense has been nearly impossible to beat — but Saban has a plan for withstanding the explosive Ole Miss offense.

“I think the players really have to sort be clued into some of their tells, what I call tells, their formations, their splits, because those are the things that tell you exactly what [Ole Miss is] going to do next,” Saban said Saturday on SEC Nation. “But when they go fast it’s really hard for the players to recognize these things immediately and be able to execute.”

Ole Miss has an aggressive offense in 2021, as the Rebels average 9.7 yards per pass attempt and 6.2 yards per rush attempt. Generating an average of 635.3 yards of total offense a game, Kiffin will look to give Alabama trouble and win a high-scoring, shootout game.

Saban is not unfamiliar with Kiffin’s style of play, but he’s impressed with how his former Alabama offensive coordinator has “expanded” his play calling at Ole Miss.

“I think Lane [Kiffin] has really sort of expanded some of the things that he’s done since he was here. He actually implemented a lot of the changes we made in our offense here that got us a little more current, I want to say, instead of being the old-fashioned run the ball and throw play-action passes,” Saban said on SEC Nation. “He was helpful to us and they continue to grow in what they do. The most important thing is you can’t let them dictate the tempo in terms of the players getting on their heels because they’re not getting lined up, they’re not getting the call, they’re not keying and playing their responsibility. Then you start making mental errors and have missed tackles and all of a sudden they’re making explosive plays.”

Ole Miss and Alabama are expected to put together an extremely high-scoring affair, with the game’s point total set at a whopping 79 points. So long as Alabama can stay competitive for the full 60 minutes, Saban seems to like his chances against Kiffin.

“The most important thing is [if] the players can maintain the right mindset for 60 minutes in a game. When you play an explosive offensive team, you’re never out of it one way or the other and they’re never out of it one way or the other,” Saban said. “So you have to be able to maintain your intensity for 60 minutes in the game.”