Rebels Could Have Their 'Hands Full' with Mercer Bears - Lane Kiffin

Rebels coach Lane Kiffin is not taking the No. 20 team in the FCS rankings for granted entering the first game of the 2023 season.

The Ole Miss Rebels kick off the 2023 season on Saturday against the Mercer Bears at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mercer has already started the season with a win, a 17-7 win over North Alabama. And the Bears boast a No. 20 ranking in the Football Championship Subdivision poll.

So yes, not the highest level of competition that the Rebels will face this season, but a good team nonetheless. And a team that has played good FBS teams in the past. Mercer has previously played Alabama and Auburn twice, and also North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina.

Rebels coach Lane Kiffin remembers one of those matchups against the Crimson Tide - a 48-14 Alabama win - and isn't taking the Mercer Bears for granted. “Even if you go back two years ago when they were at Alabama, how well they played on defense. How well they played early, but especially on defense, that game, and the problems they gave them. We’re going have our hands full, and have to prepare really well.”

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Mercer is prepared for the level of competition it's about to face. “Ole Miss, I’ve always heard … is one of the rowdiest stadiums in the SEC,” Mercer captain Lance Wise, Jr., said. “I’m ready to see how our team can face against the rowdy crowd, the hyped-up atmosphere. There’s 80,000 maybe, maybe more, fans in the stadium going crazy, so that’s gonna challenge us communication-wise.”

Last week against North Alabama, the Mercer defense was stout, allowing just 248 yards in the win. But Ole Miss is a different story, and the Bears' coaching staff knows it. 

“We’ll be real excited to play this game, we’ll go over there and throw everything we got at them and you never know what’ll happen. Good things happen when you go prepared and ready to go and like I said, our kids will play their guts out.

“We go back and look at the last two years when we played Auburn and we played Alabama. When we do what we’re supposed to do, we give ourselves a chance to execute plays,” Cronic said.

Mercer should make an appearance in the FCS playoffs this season, and one of their biggest tests come on Saturday.