The No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2) will travel to Oxford, Mississippi, this Saturday to take on the No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels (8-1) in a battle for both teams to stay afloat in the SEC West. The Crimson White sat down with The Daily Mississippian’s sports editor, Aidan Gallardo, to discuss the upcoming matchup. 

Merifield: After losing last week to LSU, what is the general attitude from the Rebels towards this Alabama team? 

Gallardo: “I feel like the general attitude from the Rebels is still the same, despite Alabama’s loss to LSU last week: play hard and protect our home field. There’s not a single coach or player on Ole Miss that doesn’t believe they can defeat Alabama this Saturday. Of course, the players will have to play to perfection if they want to come out with the victory. That means winning the turnover battle, not missing tackles and scoring as many touchdowns as possible with every trip to the red zone.” 

Merifield: Although the odds are slim, Ole Miss is still very much alive with a chance to make the SEC Championship. Is that something that this team is still focused on? 

Gallardo: “I would be lying to you if I said that the team isn’t thinking about that in the back of their minds. But even if LSU loses a game during the remainder of the season, Ole Miss knows that they have to defeat the opponent that’s in front of them. That’s the main goal right now and whatever happens at the end of the season won’t matter if they don’t defeat the teams that they’re going up against.” 

Merifield: This was also a highly anticipated matchup last season, although the result was not as close as some thought it would be. What is the difference this year from last year? 

Gallardo: “With all due respect, I believe that this year’s Alabama team is much different than last year’s, talent wise. They lost so many key guys on the offensive side last year like Brian Robinson Jr., Jameson Williams and John Metchie and as we saw last week, the Crimson Tide’s offense heavily relied on Bryce Young and Jahmyr Gibbs. But the same can be said on Ole Miss’ side. The Rebels’ offense is completely different than last year. Departures from Matt Corral, Snoop Conner and Dontario Drummond, to name a few, forced Kiffin to make some splashes through the transfer portal which he certainly made. He brought in Jaxson Dart to replace Corral at the quarterback position and Zach Evans to help fill a very deep running back room. So, I don’t think this game will be similar to last year and because Ole Miss is playing at home and Alabama’s had their recent struggles, I see this game being much closer.” 

Merifield: Who are some players expected to have a big impact on Saturday for the Rebels? 

Gallardo: “On the offensive side of the ball, I expect running back Quinshon Judkins to have a great impact this week. I’m sure Nick Saban is emphasizing on stopping Ole Miss’ dynamic rushing duo of Judkins and Evans. As a true freshman, Judkins has 1036 rushing yards this season which is good for second in the SEC. He also has 13 rushing touchdowns which ranks first in the SEC and seventh among FBS schools. Although Alabama’s rush defense is great, I feel like that won’t be much of a problem for Judkins to have a solid game. On the defensive side of the ball, I expect safety A.J. Finley to have a big impact in the game. Finley is the veteran of the defense and he’s done a great job all year of preventing the big, explosive plays from happening. Despite his stats not exactly jumping out at you, if you watch him play on the field, he makes winning plays. He’s quick to the ball and he doesn’t let receivers fly by him.” 

Merifield: This Ole Miss team excels particularly at running the ball. How is this offense different from some of the past teams that we have seen? 

Gallardo: “Coming into the season, we didn’t really know what to expect from the offense. There were so many uncertainties. How will Dart fill Corral’s shoes? How will Kiffin utilize Evans? Then after watching the first game of the season, we knew exactly what the identity of the Ole Miss offense was. Run, run, run. When you see Kiffin dial up a run play on a third-and-eight, that’s when you realize that the Rebels are going to live and die by the ground game. In the past, Ole Miss leaned heavily through the air, especially last season. But one thing that stayed the same is the fast-paced Rebel offense. That hasn’t changed and why would it when it’s been effective.” 

Merifield: Let’s talk a little more about transfer quarterback Jaxson Dart. How has he stepped into this big task of replacing Matt Corral from last season? 

Gallardo: “As the season has progressed, Dart has really been shaping up to be a very good quarterback. I’ll admit, I had my doubts about him earlier in the season. He didn’t look ‘great’ during his first couple of games because he had turnover trouble and was inconsistent with his throws, especially the deep balls. But he’s been playing really well as of late and Kiffin’s mentioned that he won’t hesitate to let Dart air it out if the ground game is absolutely not getting it done. I think what really caught me by surprise was Dart’s ability to use his legs and run for yards when the play collapses. He was known as a pocket passer out of high school, but when you see him running for around 50 yards per game, it really leaves you in awe. It’ll be interesting to see how he can handle a big-time game when Alabama comes to town.” 

Merifield: Head coach Lane Kiffin has been in the news a lot lately regarding potentially taking another head coaching opportunity. Realistically, what are the chances he would actually leave? 

Gallardo: “I don’t think it’ll be realistic for Kiffin to take the Auburn coaching job because he’ll be putting himself in a worse position than he’s at right now with Ole Miss. He’ll have to rebuild that program and even if some players come with him from Ole Miss, it’ll take some time to get that team even close to being contenders. Kiffin did mention that he loves Oxford and even said that Jackson State [University] head coach Deion Sanders would be a great fit for the Auburn coaching job. At the end of the day, I really don’t think Kiffin will go to Auburn, but you never know with him. We saw what he did with Tennessee. So, I wouldn’t be too surprised if I see him headed towards Auburn.” 

Merifield: Are there any key injuries or inactives to this Ole Miss roster? 

Gallardo: “Overall, the team is pretty healthy and ready to go. Thanks to the bye week and that extra time of rest, Ole Miss was able to get healthy and ready to go this week. A player to keep an eye on is tight end Michael Trigg. Trigg suffered a broken collarbone in week 6 against Vanderbilt. There were some reports that came out and said that Trigg is expected to play this Saturday. How many snaps will he have? That’s still up in the air. But overall, this Ole Miss team is healthy and ready to go.” 

Merifield: What are some keys to victory for the Rebels to come away with the win on Saturday? 

Gallardo: “As I previously mentioned, the big keys of the game are to not turn the ball over, make tackles and capitalize on scoring opportunities. If the Rebels get rolling, particularly on offense, and the defense can feed off the crowd’s energy, because I know Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is going to be electric, I feel like Ole Miss is more than capable of coming out of the game with a win. I’m predicting a score of 34-31 and I expect a shootout in Oxford.” 

Kickoff is set for Saturday, Nov. 12, at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS. 

Questions or comments? Email Austin Hannon (Sports Editor) at [email protected]