Lane Kiffin: Kirby Smart basically is Nick Saban against everybody but Alabama

Lane Kiffin believes Kirby Smart is the closest thing to Nick Saban of any current coach in college football. He just hasn’t found much success against Alabama so far.

Both Kiffin and Smart worked together as assistants under Saban on the Crimson Tide staff, with their tenures overlapping in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Now they’re both on to head coaching careers of their own with Kiffin at Ole Miss and Smart leading his alma mater at Georgia.

The pair are set to square off against each other this week when the Rebels face the Bulldogs in a top 10 matchup. Speaking Monday ahead of that game, Kiffin reflected on the success that Smart has had in Athens, comparing him to Saban.

“He’s done it a lot longer (than me) and done a great job,” Kiffin said of Smart. “Remember, he went there when I was at Alabama when he took the job and had the first year. They were not playing as well as they’d like and he kind of redid their offense and has never looked back since and really became the new Alabama and kind of built it the exact same way.

“People talk about people leaving coach Saban and what do they take — I think Kirby basically is Nick Saban in almost every area. How he is, how he coaches, everything. How he models his team. And it’s worked. Basically have repeated the program and the success, really against everybody but Alabama.”

Smart took over Georgia in the 2016 season and has since compiled an impressive 110-20 overall record. That includes winning back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022 and making four trips to the College Football Playoff.

Lane Kiffin has yet to win a national title or even make the CFP, but has also found success since he left Alabama following the 2016 season to become the coach at Florida Atlantic. He stayed there three seasons before taking over at Ole Miss in 2020, where he has been ever since. The Rebels have reached 10 wins in three of his five full seasons to this point.

Ole Miss also enters this year’s matchup against Georgia with a 6-0 record, while the Bulldogs have already lost one game to none other than Alabama, dropping Smart’s overall record to 1-7 against the Crimson Tide. The Rebels were also the victory of last season’s contest by a score of 28-10 and will hope to make it two in a row when Lane Kiffin meets Kirby Smart once again on Saturday.