Ole Miss Set for Early SEC Test at Kentucky After Dominant Week 1

OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) The Ole Miss football team has an early opportunity to exact revenge from a loss a season ago, as the Rebels will open Southeastern Conference play in just Week 2 of the college football season, hitting the road to take on Kentucky.

Head coach Lane Kiffin held his weekly press conference to preview the matchup. Harrison Wallace III, Brycen Sanders and Zxavian Harris all met with the media as well to recap Week 1 and look ahead at the Wildcats.

Early Test
Ole Miss aced its first test against Georgia State, racking up the most yards in college football in Week 1 en route to a 63-7 rout of the visiting Panthers. Now sitting at 1-0, the competition ratchets up quickly, as the Rebels will begin SEC play at Kentucky, a team that upset the Rebels in Oxford, 20-17, in last year’s SEC opener.

“This is an exciting game to have up front like this, early on,” Kiffin said. “We’re going to have to prepare really well. This is an extremely well-coached team. Somehow, the last four have come down to the last play of the game. These guys always play really tough, really physical against us. We’re going to have to have a really good week of practice like we did last week and be prepared to go on the road.”

Kentucky stunned Ole Miss in Oxford last year, which ended up as the Wildcats’ only conference win. It was also the fourth straight meeting between Ole Miss and Kentucky that was decided by three points or fewer. Kiffin identified UK’s physicality up front as the difference maker in what has become a competitive conference rivalry.

“Line of scrimmages,” Kiffin said. “We try to do a lot against ourselves. We look back to last year, trying to do more this year because of that. That jump from non-conference to SEC play and us not playing well in the first time out last year…We need to go play better than we did last year.”

High IQ
Kiffin and his coaching staff spoke this offseason about identifying the right players in the transfer portal, including their talent, professional football goals and intelligence. After one week of action, it appears Harrison Wallace III was just the high-football-IQ add the Rebels were hoping to make in the receiver room, as he led the team with 130 yards and a touchdown on five catches in his Ole Miss debut, looking like a player who has been in the system for years.

“As a veteran player, the years I played, the things I’ve done over time helped me learn the playbook, take notes, things like that,” Wallace said. “I felt like it was a pretty smooth transition.”

The Penn State transfer also proved to be a weapon in the punt return game, where he totaled 67 yards on five returns, the most by a Rebel since Jordan Watkins had a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown in the 2023 season-opener against Mercer. Wallace came in with no punt return experience until one day he saw his name in that spot on the depth chart, and he’s run with it, already putting Ole Miss halfway to its season punt return totals from 2024 (126) and 2023 (117).

“That was my first time ever doing it,” Wallace said. “It wasn’t something we really talked about in the transfer portal window. It’s just a role I stepped into once I got here just practicing, competing with the guys. I felt pretty comfortable out there. Growing up playing baseball over the years, it’s kind of like playing center field.”

Bring the Fight
While Wallace was providing the fireworks on offense and special teams, Harris did the same on defense as he stepped into the lead role on the interior of the defensive line. He totaled five tackles, the team’s only sack, along with two QB hurries, a block and an interception—the first of his college career.

“Probably 10th grade,” Harris said of his last INT. “I was surprised he threw it to me. I turned around, I was looking him dead in the chest and said, ‘He’s not going to throw it to me.’ Next thing you know, ‘Oh, Lord, I caught it! I’ve got to run.'”

After a strong start to the season, Harris and the Rebels are ready for their next challenge. The senior defensive tackle stressed, as Kiffin did, the importance of physicality in this matchup, saying the Rebels are ready to bring the fight to their foe.

“We’re going to bring the fight to them,” Harris said. “Dominate. Hit them first. Every play. And don’t back down after the last game we played against them.”

Hotty Toddy! 

(Courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics)