Ole Miss had an easy time winning its season opener.
Kentucky had more difficulty but won its opener, too.
One game is all the two Southeastern Conference rivals get before jumping into conference play when the No. 20 Rebels face the Wildcats in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday afternoon.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin was mostly happy about a team featuring 15 players making their first start for the program that rolled to a 63-7 victory against visiting Georgia State last week.
The Rebels’ offense gained 695 yards — 400 passing — and the defense allowed just 69 passing yards.
But Kiffin doesn’t have to look far back to show his players that non-conference success doesn’t necessarily translate into SEC success.
The 2024 Rebels rolled to a 4-0 start against non-conference opponents, outscoring them 220-22. Then came the SEC opener, and visiting Kentucky upset Ole Miss 20-17.
“Look back to last year and we’re trying to do more preparation this year because of that jump from non-conference to SEC play,” Kiffin said. “Us not playing well the first time out last year, hopefully it’ll help us this year.”
Ole Miss’ point total against Kentucky last season matched its season low, but the Rebels bounced back to win five of their last seven, finishing 10-3 and narrowly missing the College Football Playoff.
“It’s been a long season and a long offseason since we played them last,” Kiffin said. “We just need to play better than we did last year.”
Kiffin noted a couple of ways in which his team can play better than it did last week. The Rebels turned the ball over twice, and the coach said defense’s tackling can use improvement.
One of the players making his Ole Miss debut last week was Missouri transfer Kewan Lacy, who rushed for 108 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. Redshirt sophomore Austin Simmons took over as the quarterback after watching Jaxson Dart for two seasons and completed 20 of 31 passes for 341 yards.
Defensive lineman Zxavian Harris had five tackles, including the Rebels’ only sack, an interception and two quarterback hurries.
The Wildcats unveiled a new starting quarterback of their own in a 24-16 victory over visiting Toledo in the opener, but three-time transfer Zach Calzada wasn’t as productive as Simmons was for the Rebels.
“I think Zach was really pressing,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “He did some good things. He put the ball in some places that we needed to convert, then he missed some. There’s a lot that he can improve on.”
Calzada completed 10 of 23 passes for 85 yards, but Dante Dowdell rushed for 129 of the Wildcats’ 305 total yards and a touchdown while the defense limited the Rockets to 59 yards rushing. Kentucky had three sacks and six tackles for loss.
The victory over Ole Miss last season improved Kentucky to 3-2, but the Wildcats won just one more time and didn’t win another SEC game, finishing 4-8 and 1-7.
“It’s not easy to put last year in the rear-view mirror,” Stoops said. “But that’s what we all do. You always learn from every game, good or bad.”
