Lane Kiffin marches to the beat of his own drum, so it should have come as no surprise to see the Ole Miss coach show up as a celebrity guest picker on the set of ESPN’s College GameDay the day of an Ole Miss home game. The ESPN crew was in Oxford for Ole Miss-Texas A&M—a game the Rebels won—and Kiffin was on the stage running through the rest of the games that day.

One thing he said did take the crowd by surprise though: Kiffin not only picked Mississippi State to beat Auburn, but he offered up some praise to the Bulldogs’ head coach.

“Mike Leach is the best offensive coach in America,” Kiffin said. “I’m taking Mississippi State.”

And the crowd, as one would expect, booed.

But Kiffin’s prediction proved correct. Mississippi State rallied from what was at one point a 28-3 deficit to beat the Tigers 43-34. Bulldog quarterback Will Rogers went 44-for-55 passing for 415 yards and 6 touchdowns in the win.

The Bulldogs host Tennessee State on Saturday, but Leach will meet Kiffin on Nov. 25 for the Egg Bowl.

In speaking with the media on Monday, Leach responded to Kiffin’s remarks.

Ole Miss is up to 8-2 on the season after a big win over the Aggies on Saturday. It’ll play Vanderbilt on Nov. 20, what will likely be a tune-up for an offense that is humming, and then prepare to head to Starkville for the regular-season finale.

We’ll see if either coach has anything else nice to say about each other in the meantime.