Lane Kiffin sees this week's game at No. 2 Georgia as a chance for No. 9 Ole Miss to play 'looser'

There is an eerie sense of calmness within the Olivia and Archie Manning Performance Center this week as No. 9 Ole Miss prepares for its trip to No. 2 Georgia, the biggest game of its season up to this point.

On paper this is a game that has several implications moving forward, ranging from setting the first 11-win regular season in program history to being one of the major dominoes to fall in the College Football Playoff race if the Rebels pull off the upset.

But there is the key word in this week’s showdown in Athens: Upset.

Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) is a double-digit underdog with the line currently sitting at +10.5 for the Rebels. The Bulldogs (9-0, 6-0) are the assumed winner and all but primed to secure their back in the SEC Championship game.

Herein lies the reason there is that strange quietness internally with Ole Miss to where it would almost feel like they are practicing and preparing for anyone but Georgia. Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin said it best — surprisingly out loud in front of a camera and microphone — when he noted this game is like playing with house money.

Sure, Ole Miss wants to win the game as that is the primary goal, but the season is not lost if that upset does not occur. Kiffin’s mindset this week is a complete 180-degree turnaround from what it was heading into the game at Alabama in week four.

“I think allows you to play and coach looser. Not uptight, not tense, not as stressed,” Kiffin said during the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday. “I say that because we went to go play Alabama, who we’ve played every year, and early on when we first got here it was kind of like house money because nobody expected us to win and they’re Alabama. Then this year we go and play them and they have the quarterback struggles and played the other guys the game before and the loss to Texas. All of a sudden there was a different feeling out there like, ‘Oh, Ole Miss can beat Alabama.’

“I think with this one when you’re dealing with whatever that is, 42-1 or something and not lost at home in five years and you go there and play I think that takes the pressure off. Being on the side when you’re on those streaks I think the pressure is more on the team with the streak. The game starts to go the other way or is close late there’s more pressure on you when you’re that number one team.”

Ole Miss is looking to become the first team to beat Georgia at Sanford Stadium for the first time since the 2019 season.

South Carolina beat the Bulldogs in Athens, 20-17, on October 12 of that season. Since then no other visiting team has been able to leave with a victory.

Georgia is on a run that It’s a run that rivals Alabama‘s 26-game streak from 2015-16 or USC‘s 34-game streak from 2003-05. Kiffin was an assistant coach under Pete Carroll when the Trojans were dominant in the early 2000s.

They were some of the longest streaks ever, so fortunate to be part of that,” Kiffin said. “There’s a lot of pressure that goes with that. You know, (Tim) Tebow was here last week and talked about his time at Florida and all this pressure on you, that’s tough and challenging and sometimes you can not have fun anymore. …When some teams often are great there’s always a little bit of a downside to it, too.”