Lane Kiffin and No. 11 Ole Miss will have a prime opportunity to put the nation on notice when they host No. 9 Alabama on Saturday.

Ole Miss is still in the running with LSU for the SEC West title, so a victory against Alabama would keep the Rebels in the hunt.

Kiffin went on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Friday to discuss the critical clash. The former Alabama offensive coordinator says this game is no different for him despite his ties to the Crimson Tide. Kiffin was on Nick Saban’s staff from 2014-16.

“Our week’s exactly the same and everything. I’m sure our fans are excited and there’s a history here of the upsets in this stadium. And there’s a lot of great players in this matchup,” Kiffin said. “This is the best program in all of college football over the last 10 years by far to come in here. It’ll be exciting, we’ll have a great environment and we’ll have to play really well.”

Kiffin went on to effusively praise Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. Kiffin believes Young might even be improved this season based on some of his comeback magic.

“I think Bryce has done an unbelievable job. To win the Heisman and then come back and in ways, he’s played better this year because I kind of say he’s had to play Superman in some games,” Kiffin said. “They’ve gotten down in some games and he’s put the cape on, and put everybody, put the whole team on his shoulders and come back and won games. Playing injured, too.”

Kiffin added that Young is difficult to contain because of his elusiveness and accuracy.

“He’s had an unbelievable career, and an unbelievable year and he’s really a problem because he’s an elite passer, he has elite quickness with his feet,” Kiffin said. “He’s not a great long runner like some of the quarterbacks around. But he’s very hard and rarely does the first guy ever tackle him.”

Meanwhile, Kiffin isn’t hopping on the bandwagon of the Alabama dynasty crumbling because of the 2 losses this season. Kiffin thinks there’d be more cause for concern if those losses were blowouts, not narrow defeats.

“When you see programs coming down from the top, you don’t see them losing two, one-play games,” Kiffin said. “When you see teams losing by 14, 17 points, then you start to say, ‘OK, are they not the same anymore?'”

Alabama-Ole Miss is slated for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff and will be televised on CBS.