A wild card in the West, Ole Miss could crash potential SEC duel between Alabama, Texas A&M in 2021

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M counterpart Jimbo Fisher will headline SEC media days Wednesday, about 21/2 months after that famous little off-season offseason exchange.

In case you’ve forgotten, Fisher was asked about waiting for Saban to retire to beat ‘Bama. Nope, Fisher replied. A&M was going to kick a certain part of Saban’s anatomy while the legend was still there.

Asked about Fisher beating him, Saban responded with a deft sense of humor: “In golf?”

But there was a third party involved, too. In a very much on-brand moment, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin tweeted, cautioning against poking the Greatest of All Time immediately after another national championship.

“Just went on the wall in the weight room in TTown,” Kiffin tweeted in part in response to Fisher’s quote at the Houston Touchdown Club.

Now, a whole lot of people are wondering if Kiffin can crash a possible duel in the SEC Western Division between Alabama and the Aggies.

Even though Ole Miss went just 4-5, it played Alabama relatively close in a 63-48 loss and won four of its final five games.

Unlike Alabama, A&M and LSU, Kiffin has a proven big-time quarterback in Matt Corral. The junior from Ventura, Calif., led the FBS in total offense (384.3 ypg) while throwing for 3,337 yards and 29 touchdowns in just nine games. Corral has the advantage of working with two people who know offense in Kiffin and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, the one-time Baylor assistant during the Art Briles era.

He rebounded from a ghastly six-interception game against Arkansas to lead the stretch drive.

“I think it says a lot about him that he was able to recover from that,” Kiffin said Tuesday at SEC media days. “I get asked all the time about why didn’t we pull him? I’ve just always believed that you’re really slow to do that because you get into pulling the quarterbacks and ... their confidence is lost.”

Corral has already drawn comparisons to BYU quarterback Zach Wilson, who went from tantalizing to the second pick overall in the NFL draft.

He understands why Kiffin kept him the game against Arkansas, no matter how painful.

“They didn’t yank me,” Corral said. “They made sure that I knew that I was the guy, and I think that spoke volumes to me. That spoke volumes to the team.”

Corral will have to be good and much more consistent unless Ole Miss’ defense improves from a unit that ranked last in the SEC in scoring defense (38.3 ppg) and total defense (519 ypg).

Despite the close game last year, Kiffin was on his best behavior Tuesday praising what Saban has assembled in Alabama. And last season’s game with A&M — which might have provided a little insight for this season — fell victim to COVID-19 protocols. Twice.

“Jimbo’s done a great job there, elite coach, recruiter, and elite program,” Kiffin said. “So it will be challenging whenever we play them and look forward to it.”

Corral could be the difference maker. A&M is trying to choose a new quarterback to replace Kellen Mond between Zach Calzada and Haynes King. So is LSU. Alabama has an heir apparent to Mac Jones in former five-star recruit Bryce Young. Saban revealed Tuesday in San Antonio that Young is already nearing seven figures in name/image/likeness endorsements, something that stunned Kiffin.

“That number just blew me away,” Kiffin said. “He made a million dollars and hasn’t started a game yet? Wow, I don’t even know what to respond to that, but great for him.”

It was vintage Kiffin, whose lightning rod career is remarkable at 46. He once coached the Raiders, bolted Tennessee after one year leaving controversy in his wake and was fired on the LAX tarmac at USC. Saban hired him at Alabama and fired him ahead of a national title game because Kiffin was spending too much time preparing for a new gig at Florida Atlantic.

Now in his second year back in the SEC, he might have a say on who wins the West.

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