Alabama Football operates with certain standards of success, and therefore expects to win every game. However, some wins are sweeter than others, and there are several coaches who Bama fans would love to see the Crimson Tide beat this fall.
5. Alabama Football vs Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin
Alabama Football has a complicated history with Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. After a tumultuous one-year stint as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers in 2009, Kiffin served as the Alabama offensive coordinator for three seasons from 2014-2016.
While he produced high-powered offenses and was generally successful in Tuscaloosa, but was ultimately fired by Coach Nick Saban after announcing his intention to take another job. Kiffin left Alabama on bad terms, and many Bama fans insist that he cost the Tide a national championship with the unprofessional and distracting nature of his departure.
Kiffin has spent the past three seasons as the head coach at Ole Miss, an SEC West rival of Alabama. He has found relative success in Oxford, leading the Rebels to an 18-8 record in the last two seasons. While he is 0-3 against Coach Saban and Alabama as the coach of Ole Miss, the series hasn’t been absent of drama.
One of the Crimson Tide’s closest games in its 2020 national championship season was a 63-48 shootout in Oxford. In 2021, Kiffin’s pregame antics and trash talk helped to make the game one of the most hyped regular season contests of the year. Bama ran Ole Miss out of Tuscaloosa, turning a highly anticipated matchup into a snoozer.
Finally, in 2022, a reeling Alabama Football team that had already lost two games returned to Oxford. Though it went down to the final play of the game, the Crimson Tide survived with a 30-24 victory. Kiffin will bring his Rebels back to Tuscaloosa this fall, and it is no secret that he wants nothing more than to finally beat Coach Saban.