Lane Kiffin is not buying the 'Nick Saban dynasty is over' discussion

Alabama suffered its second loss of the regular season on Saturday for the first time since 2019 but Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin does not to want hear any talk of a dying dynasty in Tuscaloosa.

The No. 10 Crimson Tide are sitting at 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference and sitting in third place of the SEC West behind No. 7 LSU (6-2, 5-1) and No. 11 Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1).

Things may be reeling for Nick Saban and the Tide who are always favorites to make it to the College Football Playoff and a national title contender. Those hopes were all but lost in the mist that overtook Tiger Stadium after LSU’s overtime victory.

Still it did not stop national personalities and pundits, such as SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum, to try and maybe write off Alabama as a perennial championship threat moving forward.

Kiffin heard those comments prior to his weekly press conference and took umbrage with Finebaum’s sentiments.

“I texted Finebaum on my way over here, when I saw his quotes, like he normally does, that says the Nick Saban dynasty is over and all that,” Kiffin said. “Every time he does this, I tell him, all he does is, I call it like GOAT fuel. Opposite of rat poison. You’re just giving the GOAT fuel. So, I really appreciate Paul saying that right after the game.”

Kiffin has been witness to how Saban handles a loss the following week.

The third-year Ole Miss head coach was on Saban’s staff for both of the Rebels wins over Alabama in 2014 and 2015.

Knowing how Saban reacts to a rare setback during his Alabama tenure is why Kiffin is very cautious to letting any chatter of a wounded Tide squad seep into his locker room.

“There weren’t many of them,” Kiffin quipped. “There were only three and two regular season ones in three years. Both to Ole Miss. I thought (Saban) was phenomenal. You would maybe expect it to be the other way, you know. He comes in and everything’s, you know, the end of the world like some coaches do. He does a really good job of addressing exactly what it was.

“And remember, guys. Like Finebaum’s stupid statement of ‘dynasty’s over.’ They’ve lost two games by two plays. Both games could have went either way. Alabama makes the field goal at Tennessee and (LSU’s) two-point (attempt) gets stopped. Then they’re No. 1, No. 2 team in the country coming in here. So, we’re talking about two plays (against) two teams on the road in two of the hardest environments, over 100,000 people at both games. This is a great team and the best coach to ever do it.”

Ole Miss happens to be Alabama’s next opponent, playing in Oxford on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

Similar to LSU this past weekend, Ole Miss will be getting the Tide off a bye week but the stakes are not as high as many thought they could have been.

An Alabama win would have made this weekend’s game for the lead in the SEC West with two weeks to go. Still, Ole Miss has plenty to play for if a trip to Atlanta and the SEC Championship game is no longer in the cards.

Last week’s initial CFP rankings were released putting the Rebels at No. 11. The new CFP Top 25 will be announced on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT and Ole Miss might see itself move into the Top 10.

With games against Alabama, at Arkansas and Mississippi State left on the schedule the November push has plenty on the line for the Rebels.

“I’m sure it sounds crazy. We don’t sit and talk about ‘Bama week and all that, that everybody else in the country seems to do,” Kiffin said. “We got a lot of things to work on to get better and it really doesn’t matter. It matters that you do things really well. That’s how you win games. I didn’t notice anything different (at practice), but I’m glad I didn’t because that’s now how we train them. We don’t want to be a program like that. Oh we get up for these games but we don’t for these. That’s what I get mad at our fans at our fans for doing, so we’re not supposed to do that.”

Watch Kiffin’s entire Monday press conference below. Video provided by Ole Miss Sports Productions.