Lane Kiffin looking to avoid the rat poison ahead of Ole Miss-Vanderbilt matchup

On3 imageby:On3 Staff Report10/03/22

Now ranked in the top-10 of the AP Poll after knocking off then-No. 7 Kentucky, No. 9 Ole Miss will be looking to avoid the same fate the Wildcats just suffered. Head coach Lane Kiffin knows winning with a target on your back isn’t easy, even when you’re a big favorite like his team is in this week’s Ole Miss-Vanderbilt matchup.

Ole Miss heads into this weekend’s road game as an early 18.5-point favorite, according to consensus lines provided by VegasInsider.com.

“We spent a lot of time this morning on that,” Kiffin said on Monday. “Just like last week, you’ve got to prepare the same regardless. Last week everybody built up the game and everything. I told them it’s faceless opponent. It’s not just when you play a team that’s not ranked and that you’re favored, heavily favored with. It’s both ways.”

The Rebels are off to their first 5-0 start to a season since 2014, when Ole Miss rose as high as No. 3 in the country, winning seven straight before finally suffering a defeat.

Kiffin would certainly like to see the positive mojo continue, but he knows there’s a lot to clean up.

It starts with consistency, something Kiffin is harping on this week given Ole Miss’ inability to close out games in the fourth quarter. The third-year head coach noted his team has been outscored in the fourth quarter 17-7.

Ole Miss looking to avoid rat poison ahead of Vandy

How can Kiffin and company avoid seeing their scintillating start to the season go to waste? Not getting caught by a trap game at Vanderbilt is usually a good start.

Despite Vanderbilt losing two of its last three, the Commodores have already won more games this year than they did last. Oh, and they’re coming off a bye.

Kiffin knows his guys need to be locked in, because if they play up and down to opponents they can find themselves in a bind in a hurry. He’s been emphasizing that this week.

“How do we avoid playing like this?” Kiffin said. “So hopefully they listened. It happens every week. Like I told them, I don’t think anybody thought Georgia was going to go in and struggle like they just did at Missouri. It happens every week. Every game is independent of each other.”

The Ole Miss-Vanderbilt game is slated for a 4 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday with a broadcast on the SEC Network.

You’ll have to tune in to find out if Kiffin’s crew got his message.

“Now we teach them, as you see in our games, every quarter is independent of the quarter before, let alone the games before,” he said.