Take a lap, Lane Kiffin.

After kicking off the week by declaring that Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele wasn’t calling plays for the Tide and that those duties had shifted to cornerbacks coach Travaris Robinson following the Texas loss, the Ole Miss coach found himself in an all-too-familiar position after a day facing off with Nick Saban.

Humbled.

Humbled, Kiffin was, to watch his No. 4 scoring offense muster a single touchdown drive. Humbled, Kiffin was, to watch his offense inexplicably move at a snail’s pace while facing a 2-touchdown deficit. Humbled, Kiffin was, to lose to his former boss for the 5th time.

Well, I suppose this was only the 4th time Kiffin lost to Saban after working as his offensive coordinator. It’s the 5th time overall if you include the 2009 game he had with Tennessee wherein Terrence Cody blocked the Vols’ field goal attempt that would’ve taken down the eventual national champs.

This year’s Alabama team certainly didn’t enter the Week 4 showdown with anything close to “eventual national champs” in its DNA. But by day’s end, Kiffin’s offense certainly made the Tide defense look the part.

Humbled, yet again.

Once again, Kiffin blew a golden opportunity. And don’t tell me “how did Kiffin blow an opportunity if he was a touchdown underdog?” Up until Saturday, nothing about who Alabama and Ole Miss had been in 2023 suggested that it would be an uphill climb for Kiffin.

Ole Miss had won all 3 of its games by at least 3 scores, which was a margin that even mighty Alabama couldn’t hit in a horrendous showing against South Florida.

Kiffin is now riding a streak of 4 losses to Alabama since he took over at Ole Miss. Nobody can deny that he’s been a massive upgrade over just about any coach in program history. That explains why Kiffin got a raise to join the $9 million club.

But what can easily be denied is that Kiffin is in the top tier of the sport’s coaches. Not without that Alabama win.

Shoot, it’s not even just about the fact that Kiffin, for the third year in a row in what appeared to be a favorable matchup, couldn’t get the job done against the greatest coach of all time. The macro issue with Kiffin is he’s 1-19 against Power 5 teams that go on to win 9 regular-season games. His last such victory came when he was USC’s coach in 2011.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Alabama will win 9 games, which would mean that number is now 1-20. Yuck.

Does Kiffin put too much pressure on himself? Or does he not dissect his decisions enough?

Last year, SEC-leading rusher Quinshon Judkins got Ole Miss into the Alabama red zone with a chance to take the lead with 2:23 to play. Judkins accounted for 52 of the 61 yards on that drive … and then he didn’t get a single touch the rest of the way.

This year, Judkins appeared to be establishing some momentum early after a slow start to his season. He had a 14-yard run — his longest of the young season — to set up an Ole Miss touchdown drive in the middle of the first quarter. Judkins only got 10 more carries the rest of the day, and he finished with 13 carries for 56 yards.

Mind you, Alabama didn’t go up 2 touchdowns until 3 minutes into the 4th quarter.

Sure, maybe the defense was trying to take Judkins away after he was brilliant in last year’s matchup. Alabama’s defense racked up 10 tackles for loss. I get that. But then how were Kiffin and OC Charlie Weis Jr. unable to take advantage of that by scheming receivers open in space? And why was Jaxson Dart held to just 1 completion of 30 yards?

Dart came into the day ranked No. 2 in America with 22 passes of 20 yards. He also came in leading SEC quarterbacks in rushing, and he ranked No. 7 among FBS quarterbacks in that department. One would’ve thought that if the mysterious Alabama defense sold out to stop Judkins on the run-pass option then it would’ve created running lanes for Dart … right? Nope. Dart had 6 rushing yards because after the first quarter, there wasn’t a whole lot that fooled the Tide defense.

But wait. Shouldn’t that have been the other way around? Shouldn’t Ole Miss’ defense have been 1 step ahead of Alabama’s struggling offense? After all, wasn’t Kiffin the one who made the bold offseason move to hire Alabama DC Pete Golding while the Tide had a defense with rotating play-callers? That’s what we were led to believe.

Instead, all Kiffin could do by day’s end was give credit where credit was due — the unknown Alabama defensive play-caller.

Kiffin has indeed learned the art of taking an “L.” After his infamous “get your popcorn ready” pregame declaration ahead of his previous visit to Tuscaloosa, Ole Miss offered free popcorn to the first 5,000 fans the following week. Saban will continue to praise Saban at every turn, as he should. Saban helped get Kiffin’s career back on track following the tarmac firing at USC.

Saban also continues to set the bar for Kiffin to reach. It’s become an unreachable bar. One way or another, he finds a way to fall short. Dart said afterward that Ole Miss players felt like “this was the year to get (Alabama).”

On paper, he’s exactly right. A shaky quarterback situation? An inconsistent defense? A lack of an identity? Alabama checked all of those boxes while Ole Miss entered with an all-around team with hopes of controlling its path to perhaps its first SEC Championship appearance in program history.

But in reality, Kiffin’s inability to out-coach his former boss for 60 minutes was always going to negate whatever perceived advantage he might’ve had. It certainly isn’t a mental advantage. At this point, it’s fair to wonder if we’ll ever see Kiffin beat Saban. He didn’t come particularly close Saturday.

This wasn’t the year. If you ever think it’s going to be the year, do yourself a favor.

Take a lap.