Can Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss take advantage of their rekindled playoff hopes vs. Georgia?

Just three weeks ago, the vibes around Ole Miss were grim. 

In an all-in, burn-the-boats season, the Rebels lost in overtime to LSU to give Lane Kiffin’s team two losses by mid-October. 

Suddenly, Ole Miss’ playoff hopes looked smoked — and you can’t even grill burgers and dogs on The Grove.  After four straight games under 27 points, Kiffin’s offense was also under fire, and many were wondering if the $10 million offseason NIL fund was a burned investment. 

Well, sometimes you just have to wait a little while longer for that ROI. Or at least we’ll see this weekend. 

With much of the rest of the college football world crashing down to earth the last two weeks, Ole Miss has quietly righted the ship with two straight wins, including vaporizing Arkansas 63-31 on Saturday.

Now the Rebels’ playoff hopes have been totally rekindled. All they have to do is beat No. 2 Georgia at home Saturday. 

“This is the test of all tests,” Lane Kiffin said Sunday. 

Ole Miss, and Kiffin specifically, have failed this test time and again in recent years. Will Saturday prove different?

Why Ole Miss’ playoff hopes are at stake Saturday against Georgia

While ‘Junior’ has raised the floor of the Rebels’ program (first 11-win season in school history), his team’s have routinely face-planted when they’ve been challenged by the top teams in the SEC. 

In 2021, Kiffin famously told a CBS sideline reporter, to “get your popcorn ready” when No. 12 Ole Miss was taking on No. 1 Alabama in 2021, and by halftime the Rebels were down 28-0 and the game was over. 

Ole Miss couldn’t handle an Alabama team that still hadn’t settled on Jalen Milroe at quarterback last season (24-10 loss), and then in this very same spot — with a potential playoff berth on the line — the Rebels got rag-dolled by the ‘Dawgs 52-17 in Athens. 

It was after that very blowout that Lane Kiffin used his postgame press conference as a call-to-action for Ole Miss’ boosters — pining for more NIL resources and funds so that his team could have similar rosters (especially in the trenches). 

The Grove Collective delivered, giving Kiffin his best roster to date, and what he’s dubbed the most talented team in school history. Ole Miss spent big, bringing back veteran stalwarts like quarterback Jaxson Dart, wideout Tre Harris and defensive lineman/goal line touchdown man J.J. Pegues. 

They went into the transfer portal and brought in a mercenary defense chalked with stars like tackle Walter Nolan, pass rusher Princely Umanmielen, linebacker Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul and safety Trey Amos. 

Kiffin wanted to add size, length and speed to Ole Miss’ defense — and he did. 

“We sat in a press conference and this really started in Athens, Georgia. I think you guys sensed my disappointment after that game in the way that I coached and some other things,” Lane Kiffin explained at Ole Miss’ post-signing day press conference in December.

“I just 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. A lot of that was signing players that are already significant players in the SEC, that we’ve seen play against these teams. We have not been a very big team. Especially defensively, we’re a very short team. I love our players, I love how hard they play, but length matters at times. That’s why the draft is drafted the way it is. We definitely have improved overall with significant players on offense, but really on defense. A lot more players that I think compete at a high level that gives you a chance to be an elite defense in the SEC.”

Thus far, Kiffin’s been proven correct. 

The Rebels don’t have two losses because they can’t stop anybody anymore. They’re playing very, very good defense. They’ve lost two games by a combined six points. 

They rank No. 3 in the SEC in yards per play (4.4). They lead the nation in tackles for loss (96) and sacks (41). They’re Top 5 in the SEC in takeaways and 3rd-down defense. 

Pete Golding’s unit has not been what’s held the Rebels back this season, but it’s what gives them a legitimate chance to beat Georgia on Saturday and remerge as a legitimate CFP team — if their offense can maintain last week’s mojo.

Quarterback Jaxson Dart had been in a funk in recent weeks, but the senior was a sniper in the rout at Arkansas, throwing as many touchdowns (six) as incompletions. He set all sorts of school records with his 515-yard performance and now he’ll get a chance to exact a bit of revenge against a UGA defense that held him to one of his worst games of his career last season (10 of 17 for 112 yards with zero touchdowns and one pick). 

“This is a big challenge,” Kiffin said. 

“Supremely talented roster, especially on defense. Like playing an NFL team.”

Only this version of Georgia doesn’t have quite as many NFL MonStars as seasons past. The Bulldogs are a very flawed team, particularly on offense where quarterback Carson Beck has thrown as many picks in the last eight quarters (six) as he did all season. They might not have top tailback Trevor Etienne (ribs) available and their offensive line is banged up. 

So can Kiffin and the Rebels take advantage? Can a program that’s constantly hitting its head on a glass ceiling finally break through?

This is the Rebels’ chance to make a statement: To prove that their investments in Kiffin and the most expensive roster in school history were worth it.

“In my opinion, anybody who’s going to win it is going to have to go through Georgia at some point,” Kiffin said. 

“It’s a great challenge this week, one we’re excited about, playing at home. We screwed two games up earlier in the year and when you do that you put yourselves in situations. 

“I don’t talk about playoffs normally and championships and all that, because I think it really doesn’t matter. It’s about how you prepare and how you play. But I told our players, because they hear it all the time, you still have that stuff alive.”

Will that still be true come Saturday night?