Kiffin talks Knoxville memories, preparation for return

OXFORD — Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin isn't feeling any anxiety about his return to Knoxville.

The No. 14 Rebels (4-1, 1-1 SEC) visit Tennessee (4-2, 2-1) Saturday (6:30 p.m. CT, SEC Network) for an SEC showdown pitting two of the conference's top offenses against one another.

The game will be something of a reunion for Kiffin, who was the coach at Tennessee in 2009. But Kiffin isn't going to let that affect his preparation. He's been through this sort of thing before.

"I would think that you would think that," Kiffin said Monday when asked if this week was extra special for him. "It'd probably normally be the case. But there's two things here: One, that was a long time ago. Two, we've done this thing. Since USC, I've gone and played against USC, played Tennessee, played Alabama. It's not like 'Hey, all of a sudden you're going back to a place you used to coach.' "

While Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2014-16, he returned to Knoxville twice. The Crimson Tide won 34-20 and 49-10 in those two meetings.

He also played USC, where he was the coach from 2001-06 and 2010-13, while at Alabama in 2016 and won that game 52-6.

In two years at Ole Miss, Kiffin has now coached against Alabama twice as well, losing 63-48 in 2020 and 42-21 two weeks ago.

Still, Kiffin said Knoxville is an "awesome" place. Of all his stops in coaching, he said the house he lived in in Knoxville was his favorite. He has friends from his year in Knoxville he remains in contact with and plans to see this weekend.

The one thing Kiffin said he won't be doing this weekend is returning to any of his favorite spots in Knoxville.

"Yeah, that won't happen," Kiffin said. "I don't think that's probably a good idea."