Column | Adversity fueled Lane Kiffin and the 2023 Rebels; overcoming it sets the tone for what could be a sensational 2024
ATLANTA — After the 38-25 win over Penn State in Saturday’s Peach Bowl, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin offered up a prediction of things to come.
“We’re just getting started on something really special and a run here.“
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
“We are just getting started….” Lane Kiffin pic.twitter.com/uJpg5u7RxQ
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) December 30, 2023
He offered another prediction back in fall camp that has come to fruition when he talked about the chemistry and culture of this year’s Ole Miss team. “It’s easy to be a certain way in life or as a team until adversity hits, then it’s tougher when things aren’t going your way. I feel better about this team for when those situations happen,” Kiffin said then.
Those situations did indeed happen, as the team had to come from behind in some thrilling wins this year, but also had to recover from difficult losses to Alabama and Georgia, two of the nation’s best. Whether it was bouncing back from a (rare) loss or overcoming adversity in the fourth quarter to emerge with a victory, Kiffin’s team handled themselves with poise.
Back on September 10, I posted a column telling Rebel fans I thought the come-from-behind road-game win over Tulane was the kind that brings teams together and can lay the foundation for bigger things to come. I suggested fans block out the noise from those “experts” who said the win over Tulane wasn’t convincing enough, or that the Rebs couldn’t be that good because they were behind in the fourth quarter, or that the offensive line didn’t look solid enough for SEC play, or that the ground game was struggling. Take your pick, the criticisms were there.
I went so far as to say the seeds that were sown in the Big Easy that day could end up producing a banner crop.
And, it looks like that crop turned out to be all peaches, as in the New Year’s Six bowl game Ole Miss just won over Big Ten opponent Penn State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
In that September win over Tulane, Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart — who seemed to exude a leadership vibe that day he didn’t possess as much the year before — said the 2022 team would not have found a way to win that game. “Our team in this game last year would’ve lost. It just says a lot about the culture we have here and the work we put in,” he explained.
We came full circle Saturday in Atlanta, after Ole Miss started off slowly against Penn State only to come back with a dominating offensive performance against a Nittany Lions team that ranked No. 1 in the nation in total defense, giving up an average of just 223 yards per game.
Well….540 total yards later, Ole Miss was a 38-25 winner, more than doubling what the Nittany Lions gave up per game this season and more than tripling the 11-points per game they allowed their opponents to score.
After the game, Coach Kiffin referred to the work his QB had described way back in September.
“One year ago where we were, and having the memory of a really poor locker room feeling. Whatever that was, I think we’d lost four or five or something like that. We just went back to work and kept trying to add players, trying to grow as coaches, made some difficult changes, and it paid off this year, players and coaches. So really proud of those guys.”
Coach Lane Kiffin
‘We just went back to work,’ as Kiffin said, and that’s been a theme throughout the season, a season that saw the Rebels win 11 games for the first time in school history.
The players, win or lose each week, would come into the press conferences and describe how they were focused on ‘going 1-0 this week,’ not getting lost in the bigger picture of a season’s possibilities, but instead concentrating on the ‘biggest’ game — which was always the next game.
It’s hard to put into words what this season has meant for the program, the school, and the fans. We saw a team with chemistry and a love for one another that doesn’t happen every year — especially in this age of the transfer portal and so many newcomers arriving each year — fight its way through one of the tougher SEC schedules to finish with far more than the 7.5 wins the Las Vegas oddsmakers suggested they would win.
Going back to the Tulane game, Rebel defensive lineman Isaac Ukwu talked about what that type of victory could do for the team. He, too, sounded prophetic in retrospect.
“It brings people together. Comeback games really–you’re going to see later on in the season, you’re going to see us do this again, handle adversity, and you’re going to look back at what happened in the Tulane game and how we were able to fight back. Because a lot of teams can just bend over and just give up. That’ll be the culture that carries along with them throughout the entire season, but I feel like the way that we were able to step up and do our thing is really going to be a testament to what we’re able to do for the rest of the season.”
Isaac Ukwu back in September, 2023
What the Rebels were able to do this season was quite literally something that had never been done — winning 11 games. And that will serve as a springboard for what could be a very special season in 2024 with the advent of the 12-team college football playoff system.
With the No. 1-ranked transfer portal class coming in and a very solid high school group, along with a star-studded list of current players who are returning for 2024, Coach Kiffin and the team are going all in for 2024.
The culture that Coach Kiffin and his staff are growing is the kind that attracts top players and continues to lay the groundwork for bigger things. Kiffin had a message for those considering the ‘Sip.
“We’re in a really good place. We’re starting something really special. I think today’s another message, which obviously you saw all these great players around the country the last month sign up to come join these guys. Today is another message as you look at the (Peach Bowl) MVPs (transfers Jared Ivey and Caden Prieskorn) up here and the guys that came in here to do something special. Today’s another message for a couple more pieces that may be out there: Come on, join up.”
Lane Kiffin
‘Sip, ‘Sip Hooray!
Ole Miss has now notched two 10-win seasons in the last three years, including this historic 11-win season and New Year’s Six game win. Rebel fans, players and coaches all sense next year could be huge. Heck, even the outside media is begrudgingly admitting Ole Miss, with its returnees and the newcomers headed to Oxford, have a legitimate chance to start in the Top 5 next season.
Ole Miss just went 11-2, with a dominant NY6 bowl win over Penn State.
Jaxson Dart and Quinshon Judkins return next season.
Ole Miss this offseason:
• Landed the 13th best recruiting class
• #1 Transfer ClassOle Miss adds elite talent onto this Top 10 team.
Top 5 in 2024. pic.twitter.com/FhSYStm6Vx
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) December 30, 2023
One could say much of this success at Ole Miss was borne out of adversity. And as William Shakespeare writes: “Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.”
Lane Kiffin embraced that adversity with both arms and has become wiser for it.
Hotty Toddy!
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
