College football Week 7: Can the Tennessee Vols beat the Alabama Crimson Tide?
USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg and Dan Wolken break down the top match up of Week 7 in college football.
USA TODAY
Lane Kiffin sent a message to Tennessee football fans ahead of the Vols’ showdown with No. 1 Alabama on Saturday:
“Go Vols,” Kiffin said on “College GameDay,” which is broadcasting live from Knoxville.
Kiffin, who nearly upset Alabama in his lone season as Tennessee coach in 2009, joined ESPN’s flagship pregame college football show virtually on Saturday from Oxford, Mississippi, where’s Kiffin’s Ole Miss team is set to face Auburn at noon.
Asked what message he’d give to a hungry fan base ahead of No. 8 Tennessee (5-0, 2-0 SEC) playing No. 1 Alabama (6-0, 3-0), Kiffin said: “I mean. You think I don’t know Tennessee’s playing Alabama? Who doesn’t know that?
“I don’t know what to say except: Hey, let’s go beat the state of Alabama today. Go Vols.”
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Kiffin has a contentious and sometimes playful relationship with Tennessee fans.
He left the Tennessee job after one season for Southern Cal, where he’d been an offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll in the early 2000s. After being fired at USC in 2013, Kiffin joined Nick Saban’s Alabama staff as offensive coordinator from 2013-16.
After a stint at Florida Atlantic, Kiffin took over at Ole Miss in 2020 and returned to Neyland Stadium last season for the first time as a head coach. The Rebels won the game 31-26, but not before fans littered the field with trash while contesting a replay review. The trash delayed the game 18 minutes and included a notorious mustard bottle and a yellow golf that landed at Kiffin’s feet.
Ever the salesman, Kiffin knows how to play to an audience. He also knows what motivates Saban’s Alabama team — the Vols have been a trendy upset pick this week.
