Is Nick Saban using the rat poison tactic on Ole Miss? After all, he’s now part of the media and he knows the media gives teams more credit than they deserve. So, his praise for the Rebels on ESPN College GameDay at the Georgia vs Tennessee game in Athens turned heads. He said, “Look, man, I’ve got to use the rat poison every now and then… I love Alabama. That’s my team, that’s my guys, that’s who I’m rooting for. I said Ole Miss is playing really well.” Following this statement, Lane Kiffin retaliated with a sharp remark. 

On November 19, MPW Digital posted a video of Lane Kiffin addressing the media two days after the big Georgia win. When the Rebels HC was asked his opinion on Nick Saban’s praise for Ole Miss, he showed that he has his guard up despite the praise. He said, “He’s now become the rat poisoner then. He’s doing exactly what he complained about.” 

The rat poison phrase first came into existence with Nick Saban in 2017 when he led Alabama to a 27-19 win over Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Following their big game, the GOAT coach spoke to the media, saying, “I’m trying to get our players to listen to me instead of listening to you guys. You know, all that stuff you write about how good we are, and all that stuff they hear on ESPN, it’s like poison. You know what I mean? It’s like taking poison—like RAT poison.” So now you see why Lane Kiffin isn’t as enthusiastic as he would’ve been if it were a different scenario. 

Ole Miss stunned everyone with their huge 28-10 victory over Kirby Smart and Georgia, as they lead 8-2 (4-2) with two games left. Kiffin also mentioned that following the game, Nick Saban told him to “remind our guys the success of the past doesn’t mean you’re going to have success in the future.” And perhaps the most interesting part is that this exchange is almost a recap of last season when Nick Saban was still the HC of Alabama. 

Lane Kiffin is no stranger to Nick Saban’s rat poison

Last season, Ole Miss started with a promising 3-0 start. But ahead of their Week 4 game against Alabama in September, Nick Saban appeared on The Nick Saban Show to praise the Rebels, saying, “I don’t know if we’ve got a good enough team to beat Ole Miss or anybody else we play, but we’ve got a better team than we played last week.” Lane Kiffin had the perfect response to this sugarcoated praise.

Sharing ESPN’s post of Saban’s words, he captioned on X, “‘I don’t know if we’ve got a good enough team to beat Ole Miss’ 🤦🏻‍♂️. Don’t 🐀 ☠️ us. 🐐” Alabama went on to beat Ole Miss 24-10 in the game. So it’s easy to see where trust issues are born. Can we believe Paul Finebaum’s take on the Rebels? Ole Miss still has two more SEC games scheduled against the Florida Gators and Mississippi State. Can they win both to mirror last season’s success? Or will Saban’s rat poison start to show its work?