Lane Kiffin has no delusions about Mississippi’s nonconference schedule.
Most of the Southeastern Conference-caliber competition Kiffin’s sixth-ranked Rebels have faced entering Saturday’s league opener against Kentucky has been teammates in practice.
“I’m a realist. I don’t think our opponents have really prepared us for the SEC,” he said. “My hope is that our practice and our fall camp prepared us, because we play against really good players on both sides of the ball.”
The results so far have been impressive, if not entirely unexpected. The Rebels (4-0) have outscored opponents by a combined 220-22, a 198-point margin that is the largest through four games by an SEC team.
The Wildcats (2-2) have gotten off to a rocky start in league play, losing 31-6 to South Carolina before falling just short in a 13-12 loss to No. 2 Georgia. This is the first road game for Mark Stoops’ Wildcats.
He’ll pit the nation’s No. 6 defense against a team that leads the nation in passing, scoring and total yards.
“Really amazing, eye-popping statistics,” was Stoops’ summation.
The Rebels are favored by 17 1/2 points, according to BetMGM.
Dart’s start
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart has racked up 1,554 passing yards, the most through four games in the SEC since Kentucky’s Tim Couch had 1,577 in 1998. He’s leading the nation in five categories: passing yards, passing yards per game, total offense, pass efficiency rating and yards per attempt.
Kentucky’s defense
Dart will face a stout defense. The Wildcats are allowing just 217 total yards per game and rank 10th in run defense (74.8 ypg) and 15th in scoring defense (12.5 points per game). They limited Georgia and quarterback Carson Beck to 262 total yards and haven’t allowed an opponent to reach 300 yet.
“They want to be explosive and put that constant pressure, and that’s where we just got to be dialed in and locked in at all times because the moment you’re not they’re going to hit you with a big play,” Stoops said
The Rebels’ D
Ole Miss leads the nation in run defense (34.5 yards allowed per game) and is tied with Texas for the top scoring defense (5.5 ppg) under second-year defensive coordinator Pete Golding. Stoops said the Rebels’ “big jump” has come defensively.
“Defensively, Pete being in his second year and what they’ve done with recruiting in general and what they’ve done in the portal, they’ve really built an unbelievable football team,” the Wildcats coach said.
100th career win
With a career record of 99-49, Kiffin has a shot at reaching No. 100. He doesn’t have much to say about that milestone.
“That’s a lot of really good coaches and players to help do that,” Kiffin said. “I don’t really have much thoughts on that. This is a really big game against a really good team that we’ve gone down to the wire both times we ’ve played them.”
Small steps
Kentucky’s offense overcame its two-game touchdown drought with four rushing scores against Ohio, including two by senior Demie Sumo-Karngbaye. The Wildcats also totaled a season-high 206 yards rushing on 41 carries and may be developing a rotation between Sumo-Karngbaye (274 yards, three TDs) and freshman Jamarion Wilcox (133).
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AP Sports Writer Gary B. Graves contributed to this report.
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