Lane Kiffin knows Ole Miss will face an SEC-caliber opponent on the road against Tulane
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss may have taken Mercer to the proverbial woodshed last week, but the Rebels know this week’s opponent is no joke.
After the drive down Interstate 55 Saturday, the Rebels will find Tulane awaits in New Orleans.
The Green Wave took care of South Alabama Saturday. The defending Cotton Bowl champions won by 20 points and are ranked just two spots behind Ole Miss at the moment.
“It’ll be a challenge, playing a top 25 team, the Cotton Bowl champs,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said in his Monday press conference.
“I said, you know they ask about a nine-game SEC schedule — so this is really a test of nine-game SEC schedules because this (Tulane) is an SEC football team with that type of talent.”
Lane Kiffin on Tulane
Quarterback Michael Pratt threw for 294 yards and four touchdowns in the win and the Green Wave ran for another 142 more yards in the 37-17 win over South Alabama.
Michael Pratt was on FIRE last night 🔥
🏈 333 Total Yards
🏈 4 Passing TD’s
🏈 7 20+ yard completions
🏈 96.5 QBR
🏈 37-17 Tulane WinPicking up where he left off for the Wave. pic.twitter.com/dSgzwo1Hjz
— Boot Krewe Media (@BootKreweMedia) September 3, 2023
On Monday, Pratt was named Week 1 AAC Player of the Week.
🏈 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 🏈
Michael Pratt x @GreenWaveFB #AmericanFB pic.twitter.com/KsD64vlhPz
— The American (@American_Conf) September 4, 2023
The Green Wave’s success did not shock Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin even though the Rebels torched Tulane two years ago in Oxford.
“A great job by (Tulane head coach) Willie (Fritz) for turning them around like that. I’m sure that was one of the biggest turnarounds in the history of college football in one year. Really good coaching, good players. Usually when you have that type of turnaround, it usually means that you have a good quarterback too, which they do.“
Lane Kiffin on Tulane’s turnaround
Ole Miss lit up the scoreboard on opening day, crushing Mercer 73-7. But Kiffin is not looking behind him, he is looking to improve against a quality opponent.
“I’m not worried about evaluating (my players),” Kiffin said when asked if this will be an evaluation game for the Rebels.
“I’m worried about trying to go beat a top 25 team. So this is not an evaluation game, you know on the road for the first time with our team against one of the hottest teams in the country and probably one of the hottest quarterbacks in the country off of almost being perfect last week.”
Lane Kiffin on Tulane
Pratt is one of the hottest quarterbacks in the nation, but some of the Rebels are looking at the other side of the ball, too.
“They’ve got a really good defense,” wide receiver Jordan Watkins said at Monday’s presser.
“They got really good players, a really good scheme. Their coach knows what he’s doing. So we have to come with our A game. They’re a really good football team.”
Jordan Watkins on Tulane
Tulane gave up just 265 yards last week and caused three turnovers. If fans are looking for an early out-of-conference battle, this could be one on which to focus.
Game info
Ole Miss and the Wave kick off at 2:30 p.m., and the game can be seen on ESPN2.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
