LOOK: Ole Miss releases uniform combination against Tennessee
When Lane Kiffin and the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels travel to Knoxville, Tennessee this weekend, it’ll be a reuinion of sorts for Kiffin, the former Tennessee head coach.
And when Ole Miss takes the field Saturday, it will be sporting a classic look against the Volunteers, as the Rebels look to beat Tennessee in far more decisive fashion than last week. Ole Miss hardly snuck past No. 13 Arkansas last week, as the Razorbacks scored a potential game-tying touchdown with no time left, but they decided to go for two and the win instead of the point-after and overtime. Arkansas failed to convert, and Ole Miss won the shootout, 52-51.
Kiffin’s Rebels will sport a classic look against Tennessee that features a sharp blue helmet with a red “Ole Miss” decal on it. Then, they’ll wear their classic white britches, with their classic white jersey, which features red lettering and two red stripes on each shoulder.
Kiffin, Ole Miss sees familiarities between Tennessee and UCF offenses
The No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels, fresh off a thrilling, 52-51 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks, will head to Knoxville this weekend and take on a program with which Lane Kiffin is quite familiar.
First, there’s the obvious — Kiffin in 2009 served as the head coach at Tennessee, leading the Volunteers to a 7-6 record, improving from the 5-7 record Phillip Fulmer strung together the year prior. However, after an array of inconsiderate comments to recruits, administrators and others, Kiffin left after his only season at the helm to take the USC job.
But Kiffin on Monday pointed out another commonality at Tennessee, one that would make him familiar with the current team: their offense, he said, looks a lot like the UCF offense that he faced twice in his three-year span as the head coach at Florida Atlantic. And that would be because Josh Heupel is calling the shots.
Kiffin faced Heupel, then the head coach at UCF, once in 2018, losing to the No. 16 Golden Knights 56-36. He faced that same team in 2019, and the No. 18 UCF Golden Knicks won again, 48-14. As the Heupel-led Tennessee Volunteers’ offense continues to find a groove, Kiffin has noticed the similarities.
“It’s what we’ve seen for years at UCF,” Kiffin said, when asked what has allowed Heupel and the Tennessee offense to explode for 107 points in the past two weeks. “Run the ball really well, with tempo, and then hit big plays outside. So, we’ve seen it, we’ve lived it at FAU, on our side, playing against them.”
Ever since Heupel and Tennessee answered the most pressing question under center — replacing an oft-errant, inconsistent Michigan transfer Joe Milton with Virginia Tech transfer Hendon Hooker — the offense has looked light years better than before. Not only has Hooker thrown for 450 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions in the past two weeks, but as Kiffin pointed out, the rushing attack has been lethal. Junior Tiyon Evans ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns two weeks ago against Missouri, and he followed it up with 119 ryshing yards and another touchdown against South Carolina. All the while, Hooker has run for 126 yards and two scores of his own.
“The tempo aspect of it, and how that’s managed and practiced,” Kiffin continued of Tennessee-UCF similarities. “How receivers play positions and get the ball — all that stuff is the same. We’ve moved a little bit from where they’re at with different plays, just like they have with us. But the base system — not necessarily the routes, but the base system of how it’s practiced and run in the game — is the same. Which is the same as what we just played last week [against Arkansas].”
Tennessee looks worlds better than it did last season under Jeremy Pruitt, when it went just 3-7, as Heupel has led the Volunteers to a 4-2 start. As such, the unranked Volunteers are just four-point underdogs at home against Kiffin’s 4-1, top-25 Ole Miss team.