'House's Money': No. 10 Ole Miss at No. 2 Georgia 'feels different' to Lane Kiffin than other big games
The week is here and No. 10 Ole Miss did everything it needed to do to make the game at No. 2 Georgia feel like one of the biggest regular season games in program history.
Five straight wins in Southeastern Conference play since losing at Alabama has the Rebels at 8-1 (5-1 SEC) and just on the outside looking in when it comes to the College Football Playoff discussion.
Georgia (9-0, 6-0) is firmly in the CFP final four and trying to secure its chance to win a third straight national championship. The Bulldogs have not lost a regular season game in three years when Florida beat them in Athens on November 7, 2020.
Kirby Smart’s squad is favored by as much as 11.5 points heading into Saturday’s primetime game on ESPN (kickoff set at 6 p.m. CT). Though this is the smallest margin Georgia has been favored in an SEC game this season.
Lane Kiffin had a calm demeanor on Monday when he was standing at the podium for his regular weekly press conference. That calmness seeped into an answer when Kiffin was asked how much the game at Georgia compares to other big games he has coached in through his career.
“I kind of feel like this one’s different. Whether that’s right or wrong,” Kiffin said. “It’s kind of more like playing with house’s money. Meaning no one expects us to win, we’re double-digit underdogs. Feel like those big games over the years, the places and stuff, they were the big game or the national game and the team’s were considered close. I think that no one’s expecting us to win or probably even play them close. So, we’ll just go in there and see what happens.”
This attitude towards Kiffin’s biggest game during his near four-years at Ole Miss is probably more of a product of getting the win over Texas A&M this past weekend.
Ole Miss has secured that eighth win and, on paper, the chance to end the season with double-digit wins regardless the outcome.
With games against ULM, which was announced Monday to be an 11 a.m. CT kickoff for the home finale, and the annual Egg Bowl against Mississippi State the two more wins needed for a second 10-win regular season in three years are there.
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Of course all three games remain to be played and everyone who is familiar with the Egg Bowl rivalry knows nothing normal transpires on Thanksgiving Night during that game.
But Kiffin is feeling looser about the final stretch of this season as compared to the 2022 closing stretch.
He even tried to hit up his friend in Smart in a well known group text the two have with other SEC coaches. Kiffin’s attempt to strike up a conversation five days before the Rebels and Bulldogs tee it up in each’s biggest game up to this point was futile.
“I tried to get (the group text) going this morning. Other people responded. (Smart) did not respond. …We haven’t played before so maybe he as a thing where the week of the game he doesn’t respond.”
The tenor is different with Kiffin when he talks about Smart, as opposed to how he is when speaking about Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher.
Kiffin was complimentary of Smart on Monday.
“Obviously, without saying he’s done an unbelievable job,” Kiffin said. “They’re in the midst of a run, they were No. 1 in the country for so many weeks. Next one to catch is the USC run when I happened to be an assistant there. That just tells you how hard it is to stay number one that long.”
