Nick Saban heaps praise on high-powered Ole Miss offense

Not many teams in the country have the talent to challenge No. 1 Alabama, but, according to Nick Saban, Ole Miss is one of them. The legendary Crimson Tide head coach raved about the Rebels offense, calling it “one of the best in the country.”

The statistics certainly support Saban’s claim. Ole Miss is top team in the nation in yards per game, with 76 more than second-place Ohio State on average. They also lead the country with 52.7 points per game.

The No. 1 Crimson Tide (4-0, 1-0 SEC) face the No. 12 Rebels (3-0) at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

“Ole Miss has an outstanding team,” Saban said. “I think they’ve got like 17 starters back from a team that won eight games last year. Lane does an outstanding job with their offense, their overall team is improved in every category. On defense, on special teams. They really are playing extremely well. This is one of the best offensive teams in the country, no doubt.”

Rebels redshirt junior quarterback Matt Corral is making an early case as a Heisman Trophy candidate. He has thrown for 997 yards passing and 14 total touchdowns thus far while completing 68.8% of his passes. But the Rebels are more than just their quarterback.

Ole Miss attacks with three running backs in Snoop Conner, Jerrion Ealy and Henry Parish Jr. The trio has combined for 489 yards and five scores while averaging 6.3 yards per carry.

“The quarterback is a fantastic player,” Saban said. “He understands the offense well and does a great job of executing it. They’ve got really good running backs. They’ve got lots of speed. The offensive line is returning in tact. So, a lot of good players that are really well coached. Their whole fast-ball system is something that’s always a challenge for the defense to get lined up with poise and focus on doing your job. So it’s a real challenge for us from that standpoint.”

The last time the Rebels won against the Crimson Tide was in 2015. But thanks to an offense and much-improved defense (according to Saban), that could change Saturday.

“Defensively, they’re really, really improved from a year ago in their statistics and the way they played,” Saban said. “I think they got a little different system that they’re playing. It’s Arkansas-like with a little more eight drops and they have done it extremely well. This is a really good team overall and it’ll be a real challenge for us come Saturday. But we’re definitely looking forward to it.”

Saban would know the coaching prowess of Kiffin better than most. The Ole Miss coach was the offensive coordinator for Alabama from 2014-16.