'Not an evaluation game': Lane Kiffin has one thing on his mind when Ole Miss takes on Tulane
Mercer served Ole Miss with an easy and stress-free way to open its 2023 football season but despite the wishes of Lane Kiffin the Rebels next opponent is not offering up such a game.
Having dispatched the Bears with a 73-7 victory last Saturday No. 22 Ole Miss (1-0) turns its attention to the first road trip of the season and the opponent that awaits them in New Orleans this weekend.
The first top 25 matchup on the slate for the Rebels comes in the form of No. 24 Tulane who opened its season with a 31-17 win over South Alabama. Unless things go very well for Ole Miss early on in the New Orleans heat this weekend there will not be much ‘garbage time’ for Kiffin and his staff to continue evaluating his roster.
In fact there is not much about The Green Wave (1-0) that Kiffin views as an easy-going trip to the ‘Big Easy.’
“I’m not worried about evaluating. I’m worried about trying to go beat a top 25 team,” Kiffin said on Monday. “This is not an evaluation game. Going on the road for the first time with our team and then to one of the hottest teams in the country and probably the hottest quarterback in the country off almost being perfect last week. I would actually like another evaluation game but that’s not what this is.”
Ole Miss has the traditional eight-game Southeastern Conference schedule, but once again Kiffin is working the angle to try and keep his team focused by claiming there is actually a ninth SEC game on his team’s schedule.
“They asked about nine-game SEC schedule, so this is really a test of a nine-game SEC schedule,” Kiffin added. “Because (Tulane) is a SEC football team with that type of talent and beat the Heisman Trophy winner a few games ago.”
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The Ole Miss defense will get its first test of trying to slowdown a top quarterback in Michael Pratt.
Coming off four sacks in the Mercer game the Ole Miss defensive line will have more a challenge in getting to Pratt and staying in the Tulane backfield.
Pratt completed 14 of 15 pass attempts against South Alabama for 294 yards and four touchdowns for a quarterback rating of nearly 346. He also rushed for 39 yards on 11 carries.
With one game under the new-look Ole Miss defense this weekend presents a little bit smaller margin for error going against this Green Wave offense.
“Explosive offense,” said cornerback Zamari Walton about Tulane. “Fast, good quarterback. He does a good job facilitating the field with his teammates. We’ll be well-prepared.”
A Mercer offense this will not be as the Ole Miss defense, primarily the secondary is going to have a challenge in front of them this weekend. Tulane finished with 463 yards of total offense and Pratt spread the ball around to five different receivers in the win over South Alabama.
