DALLAS — A few seconds after Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin walked off the Southeastern Conference football media days stage, instant analysis trickled over from the SEC Network set in the back corner of a ballroom.
Kiffin, 49, was reserved during his time at the podium — pragmatic, perhaps, even somber given the recent death of legendary coach Monte Kiffin, his father. There was nothing grandiose or boisterous about the Ole Miss coach’s address, but the pundit gallery was quick to elevate the stakes.
“More expectations,†the transition from news conference to talking heads went, “for Lane Kiffin than ever before.â€
That discounts key parts of Kiffin’s tumultuous coaching career, which included hyped-up stints in college and NFL circles. But in terms of his Ole Miss tenure, it’s true for the fifth-year head coach.
It’s arguably true for Missouri, too.
The Tigers are up for their media days appearance Tuesday. On Friday, preseason predictions for where they’ll finish in the shiny 16-team SEC will come out, likely placing Mizzou and Ole Miss in a similar tier.
Those schools won’t play each other in the regular season this year and only share four common opponents, but they have plenty of parallels — in part, that both teams are in line to reap the benefits of an expanded College Football Playoff feel.
That presents a challenge for coaches such as Kiffin and his MU counterpart, Eli Drinkwitz, who are leading programs into what could wind up being some of their most prominent campaigns ever. The test is not over whether to admit that the potential for an all-time great season is present — their players already are willing to accept this.
“It feels great,†Ole Miss wideout Tre Harris said of the preseason hype. “We understand there’s a lot of expectations on us this year.â€
The challenge is more about what verb to use when talking about that excitement. Embrace it with gusto? Not many coaches like playing up the role of expected winner. Avoid it like it’s “rat poison,†in line with the metaphor favorited by legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban and since adopted by Kiffin? Qualify or corral it with the nuance of how little any preseason talk means?
“I don’t know that you contain it,†Kiffin said, offering a verb of his own. “You just continue to talk about it — kind of like in parenting. You just continue to hit on it and hope that it sticks.
“On the plane ride down here with the three (Ole Miss players who also attended media days), just continue to remind them about that: That doesn’t mean anything. Nowadays it’s harder ... because it’s coming to their phones all day long, how great they are or you’re in the ranked here and supposed to be ranked here as the receiver or any of that stuff.â€
Later, talking with the same SEC Network crew that noted the uptick in expectations, Kiffin offered a more colorful explanation in recounting the advice Saban gave his former assistant regarding the proper handling of preseason excitement.
“I would remind them that it’s rat poison,†Kiffin recalled Saban telling him, “but I’d remind them, too, that there’s some fat guys in underwear sitting back there making these rankings up and saying this stuff about them, so they don’t know (expletive) about it.â€
How similarly Drinkwitz approaches the same notion will be one of the key themes of Missouri’s appearance Tuesday at SEC media days. But the Mizzou-Mississippi similarities extend past any shared bits of coach-speak.
There’s last year, for starters, when both teams wound up with 10-2 regular-season records. The Tigers finished ninth in the final playoff rankings while the Rebels came in 11th, causing a bit of angst in Oxford because Ole Miss had defeated Louisiana State, a team that had defeated MU.
And there’s the matter of starters themselves, particularly at quarterback. Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart and Missouri’s Brady Cook occupy the same upper-level tier of SEC signal callers in most rankings of the league’s quarterbacks, something that would be meaningless if not for other similarities.
Dart accounted for just 119 more yards of total offense than Cook last season, a difference that could be attributed to the half Cook sat during the Tigers’ season opener to allow backup Sam Horn to get some game action.
They’re both running quarterbacks prone to lowering their shoulders when their coaches would generally prefer they slide.
And they’ve got two of the best receiver rooms in the country with which to work.
Mizzou’s wideouts haven’t been shy about staking a claim to the title of best in the nation this offseason. The Tigers are bringing back the wide receivers who finished third and 20th in the SEC in receiving yards with Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr., respectively. Ole Miss has Nos. 6 and 16 back in Harris and Jordan Watkins, plus the addition of former South Carolina wideout Juice Wells, who posted nearly 1,000 receiving yards for the Gamecocks in 2022.
There are other, more niche parallels between the Rebels and the Tigers, too. Both will likely rely on transfers to fill the two starting spots on the left side of their offensive lines. Both are replacing two starting cornerbacks lost to the NFL. And both have favorable schedules.
Of the three traditional powerhouses expected to push the pace around the top of the SEC — Georgia, Alabama and conference newcomer Texas — Mississippi and Missouri each face only one. Ole Miss plays Georgia at home Nov. 9 while Mizzou faces Alabama on the road Oct. 26.
The chatter, for right now, suggests both schools could be on similar footing when the season wraps up. And maybe their trajectories will continue to run in uniquely parallel lines.