I’m gonna give Lane Kiffin a little rat poison.

“Rat poison,” for those who don’t know, is what Nick Saban likened to the stuff that can kill a team if it’s overconfident. It’s the equivalent of reading your press clippings. Alternatively, “yummy” rat poison is when a team is doubted, much like Alabama entering the 2021 SEC Championship against Georgia. After the Tide handed the Dawgs their first loss of the season, he thanked the media for supplying “yummy” rat poison.

Kiffin isn’t getting the yummy rat poison from me today. He’s getting it straight.

This is his best chance to finally beat Saban. Period.

But what about the fact that it’s in Tuscaloosa, you ask? Well, what about the fact that in Alabama’s last game there, it lost by double digits against a Texas team that hadn’t beaten an AP top-5 team in 13 years?

Also of significance is that at the 59-minute mark against a South Florida squad riding a streak of 19 consecutive losses against FBS opponents, Alabama led 10-3. The Tide quarterbacks finished the day a horrendous 10-for-23 for 107 yards and 5 sacks taken.

Of course, we’re not expected to see Tyler Buchner or Ty Simpson because Saban announced that Alabama will go back to Jalen Milroe against Ole Miss. As in, the guy who has thrown an interception once every 19.6 pass attempts the past 2 seasons.

The question isn’t whether Kiffin has an advantage at the game’s most important position. It’s how many of Ole Miss’ quarterbacks would start for the Tide? Two, at least. Maybe 3.

All Kiffin needs is his 1 signal-caller to step up. So far, that’s exactly what Jaxson Dart has done in 2023. Most recently, he allowed Ole Miss to work through a banged-up backfield by carrying the rock 14 times for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns in a blowout win against Georgia Tech. He’s leading the No. 4 offense in America with some eye-popping numbers:

  • 202.5 QB rating (No. 1 in SEC, No. 6 in FBS)
  • 12.5 yards/attempt (No. 1 in SEC, T-No. 1 in FBS)
  • 213 rushing yards (No. 1 among SEC QBs, No. 7 among FBS QBs)

Dart did that against a respected Tulane defense on the road, and he was dominant down the stretch against Georgia Tech. Saturday will mark the first time that Kiffin will enter a matchup with the quarterback advantage against Saban.

(Even in 2021 when Matt Corral was in the Heisman conversation, Ole Miss had the unfortunate task of shutting down eventual Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young.)

There’s another unique advantage that Kiffin might have working in his favor. It isn’t who is or isn’t running Alabama’s defense, which made headlines when Kiffin spoke about that earlier in the week. It’s who’s running the Ole Miss defense. When Pete Golding left Alabama to take the same DC position at Ole Miss, you can bet Saturday’s matchup was a motivating factor for Kiffin. Even with a new-look Alabama offense, Golding saw plenty of those players up close during his 5 years in Tuscaloosa.

So far at Ole Miss, Golding’s group has been solid. Ole Miss ranks No. 25 in FBS with 4.4 yards/allowed and No. 26 with 2.9 yards/rush allowed. That’s bad news for an Alabama offensive line that’s been overmatched far too much in these first 3 games.

One would think that Alabama will try and put Milroe in a run-heavy offense. If OC Tommy Rees doesn’t have designed runs for Milroe, his dismal approval rating will take yet another hit.

So to recap, Ole Miss should be facing a somewhat 1-dimensional Alabama offense. And not a 1-dimensional offense like the one Kiffin ran at Alabama with Derrick Henry in 2015. Like, a 1-dimensional offense that’s not even in the top half of FBS in yards/carry (4.4).

Knowing all of that, it might come as a surprise that it’s Ole Miss and not Alabama that enters Saturday’s game as a touchdown underdog. There could be a few reasons for that.

One is obviously Kiffin’s 0-4 record against Saban (0-3 at Ole Miss, 0-1 at Tennessee). It’s still Tuscaloosa, where Alabama has just 2 losses since the start of the 2016 season.

There’s something else that’s worth remembering. During Kiffin’s time as a head coach at the college level, he only has 1 win against a Power 5 team that went on to win 9 regular-season games. It was back in 2011 when he led USC to a win against Oregon. For whatever reason, the other 86 wins of Kiffin’s college coaching career haven’t come against a single Power 5 team that won 9 regular-season games. His victories have either aged like an avocado or they’ve come against bad-to-decent teams.

We don’t know if Alabama is going to reach 9 wins in 2023. It’s starting to feel like a steeper climb than at any point in the past 15 years.

Saturday isn’t about that, though. It’s about Ole Miss having a prime opportunity to avenge last year’s blown opportunity. It’s about Ole Miss taking that next step and looking like a real contender to make the SEC Championship for the first time in program history.

And yeah, it’s also about Kiffin showing that he can capitalize on those perceived advantages and beat his former boss. Doing so in the place where he spent an eventful, but highly successful 3 seasons would probably make it taste that much sweeter.

That taste certainly beats the alternative — rat poison.