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Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said he learned his lesson the past two times his Rebels went on the road in marquee games, both against Alabama, and he’s not making that mistake again.

The No. 9 Rebels travel to face No. 2 Georgia on Saturday at Sanford Stadium and are 10.5-point underdogs. The Bulldogs have won 26 straight games overall and haven’t lost at home since falling 20-17 in two overtimes to South Carolina in 2019.

“I think you’ve got to watch that you don’t give off a tight, nervous vibe to your team,” Kiffin told ESPN on Wednesday. “As I’ve looked back at the two road trips like this with elite teams, the two times we went to Alabama, the players could feel me get uptight and we played that way.

“I don’t feel like that this week.”

Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 in the SEC) lost 24-10 to Alabama earlier this season in Tuscaloosa. The Rebels led 7-6 at the half but managed only a field goal in the second half in what was the lowest-scoring output for Ole Miss against an SEC opponent since Kiffin arrived in Oxford in 2020.

“I do think sometimes with age and doing it longer, and obviously I think differently now, but you’re much more like, ‘Oh gosh, we’ve got to cover every situation. What about this? What about that?’ And that’s a good thing,” Kiffin said. “But you never want your team to pick up on any of that.”

“I remember going to Alabama when I was at Tennessee in 2009,” Kiffin added, referring to a 12-10 loss to No. 2 Alabama, “and I didn’t think one time about losing or care about, ‘Man, if we lose, I’m going to have to say this or say that.’ I was like, ‘We’re going to go there and win. Who cares?'”

Kiffin coached alongside Georgia coach Kirby Smart on Alabama’s 2015 national championship team under Nick Saban when Kiffin was the offensive coordinator and Smart was the defensive coordinator. Kiffin said the two-time defending national champion Bulldogs, in some ways, have a more complete makeup than some of those Alabama teams under Saban.

“What Kirby has done from a recruiting standpoint and the consistency on offense and defense is really amazing,” Kiffin said. “Everybody thinks defense when they think about Georgia, and they’re great on defense. But they’ve put up really good offensive numbers the last few years and that wasn’t always necessarily the case in Saban’s run where it initially was great defense and some really good offensive players, but not a system where a lot of points were being scored. Georgia has done all of it.”

Georgia and Ole Miss are both among the top 15 nationally in scoring. The Bulldogs are averaging 39.3 points per game and the Rebels 38.8 points per game. Georgia is also seventh nationally in scoring defense and allowing just 15.4 points per game.

Ole Miss has a chance to win 10 games in the regular season for the second time in the past three seasons. Before the 2021 season, Ole Miss had never had a 10-win regular season. The only other SEC teams with a chance to do that over the past three years are Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

Kiffin suggested that his team was playing with house money this weekend.

“I say that because this game has a different feel,” Kiffin said. “Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country [in the AP poll]. They haven’t lost at home in four years. We’re little ol’ Ole Miss. We’re double-digit underdogs going there at night. I mean, what is there to lose? If everyone expects you to lose and all the analytics and stats say you’re supposed to lose, then there’s nothing to lose. As I said, I have a much different feeling, and it’s much different what I’m telling these guys versus the Alabama game.”

Kiffin points out that Alabama was coming off a subpar 17-3 win over South Florida and had yet to settle on a quarterback, and the whole narrative was different leading into that game back in September.

“People were all of a sudden, ‘Whoa, Alabama’s struggling. They can’t figure out their quarterback. Maybe little ol’ Ole Miss should win this game,'” Kiffin said. “I feel now a lot like I did when we got here and played Alabama the first year [a 63-48 Alabama win] and they were No. 1, went on to win the national championship, and everybody thought there’s no way we were going to win, so there’s no pressure.

“That’s what I’m saying to our players. There shouldn’t be any pressure. Just go play.”

The pressure, Kiffin said, is on Georgia, which is chasing history and trying to win three straight national titles.

“I’ve been on the other side of these streaks,” Kiffin said. “When you’re on one of these streaks, the pressure is on you because you’ve got to keep those streaks going. And if you don’t win by this many, everybody’s like, ‘Well, you’re really not that good.’

“The only thing that matters for us is playing the way we can and not worrying about anything else.”

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Sources: Sooners DT Stone hits transfer portal

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Sources: Sooners DT Stone hits transfer portal

Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, sources told ESPN.

Stone, a former five-star recruit and the No. 6 overall player in the ESPN 300 for the 2024 class, made the surprising decision to enter the portal after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman with the Sooners. The 6-foot-3 313-pounder saw limited playing time, playing 88 snaps and recording 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 sack.

Stone was expected to compete for a more significant role as a sophomore, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently praised him as the Sooners’ most improved defensive tackle this offseason.

The Oklahoma native finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Florida and was a significant recruiting victory for Venables and his coaching staff in August 2023. Stone chose the Sooners over Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Michigan State.

The SEC does not grant immediate eligibility to players who transfer within the conference during the spring transfer window, so Stone would need to sit out the 2025 season if he moves on to another SEC program.

Oklahoma returns its top three defensive tackles from 2024 in Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton and Jayden Jackson. It also added Trent Wilson, the No. 164 recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2025, as an early enrollee this spring.

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QB Browne returns to Purdue after brief UNC stint

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QB Browne returns to Purdue after brief UNC stint

Quarterback Ryan Browne has decided to transfer back to Purdue after joining North Carolina earlier this offseason.

Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.

North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.

Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.

Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.

By returning to West Lafayette, Browne will get an opportunity to compete for a starting job with Arkansas transfer Malachi Singleton, Washington State transfer Evans Chuba and Bennett Meredith, a former Arizona State transfer.

The Boilermakers lost one quarterback, EJ Colson, to the transfer portal earlier this week.

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U-M’s Underwood has up-and-down spring game

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U-M's Underwood has up-and-down spring game

Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.

Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.

He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.

“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”

As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.

“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”

Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.

Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.

“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”

Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.

“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.

Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.

‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”

He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.

Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.

Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.

“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”

Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.

“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”

Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.

“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”

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