Lane Kiffin is still waiting for an answer.

The Ole Miss football coach will take his team on the road for an SEC matchup with Georgia on Saturday, where he will face off with a former co-worker. Kirby Smart, Georgia's head coach, and Kiffin previously spent time together on Nick Saban's coaching staff at Alabama. And the two still stay in touch via a group chat that features various Saban disciples.

Well, usually. This will mark the first time the Rebels have played the Bulldogs in nearly four seasons under Kiffin. And the quirky coach said earlier this week his old pal has gone silent.

"I tried to get that [group chat] going on Sunday and this morning," Kiffin said during his Monday press conference, with a slight grin on his face. "Other people responded. He's not responded yet on it.

"I was asking if anybody has advice. I added [Missouri coach Eliah] Drinkwitz, so he's on there. But Kirby didn't really respond. We haven't played them before, so maybe he has a rule during the week of the game: He doesn't respond to you," Kiffin said.

Kiffin and Smart overlapped for nearly three seasons at Alabama, from 2014 to 2016, as the offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively. A few years ago, Kiffin revealed he's in a group chat with Smart, former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt and former South Carolina coach Will Muschamp. The chat took off during the 2020 COVID-impacted season, when the coaches started to bounce ideas off of each other, Kiffin said.

And, yes, those are all former Saban assistants. As Kiffin once quipped on radio's Paul Finebaum Show, the four coaches "all come from the same father."

Kiffin went on to say during his presser this week that Smart has done an "unbelievable job" at Georgia. But that almost goes without saying at this point. Smart, in his eighth season with the Bulldogs, has won more than 85 percent of his games there (90-15 record).

The Bulldogs are the two-time defending national champions, have won 26 consecutive games and haven't lost at home since 2019. Georgia is one of three teams in the nation ranked in the top 10 in both scoring offense (39.3 points per game, 10th) and scoring defense (15.4 points per game, sixth), according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Not bad. And evidence of why Kiffin likes to pick Smart's brain.

"I just think Kirby's really smart," Kiffin said. "And I really enjoy talking to smart, intelligent coaches that you can bounce things off of, or ask them how they do things, or how they deal with a player issue or injury or something. He's one of the first calls a lot of times if I'm looking for advice."

But these former Crimson Tide assistants will be on opposite sidelines on Saturday. And Kiffin knows the tall task that's ahead of him.

The last opposing head coach to win at Georgia? Muschamp, who led South Carolina to an upset victory in Athens in 2019. Kiffin joked at his press conference that he can't ask Muschamp for any advice entering the game, considering the former Gamecocks coach is now the co-defensive coordinator on Smart's staff.

Smart was asked about his relationship with Kiffin, and their group chat, earlier this week, though he glossed over the latter point and went straight to heaping praise.

"He does a great job," Smart said about Kiffin during his weekly press conference. "He's extremely intelligent. He doesn't overthink things. He keeps it simple and doesn't think that you have to overthink things sometimes as a coach. Probably doesn't get enough credit for that because he wants to beat you with fundamentals. He wants to beat you with his players doing things within their system."

Georgia, ranked second in the latest College Football Playoff poll, is coming off a 30-21 win over then-No. 12 Missouri. At the time, that was the toughest opponent, in terms of ranking, that the Bulldogs had faced this season. It won't be soon.

No. 2 Georgia (9-0) hosts No. 9 Ole Miss (8-1) at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will air on ESPN.

The Bulldogs are trying to stay undefeated on their quest for a "threepeat," while the Rebels need a win to stay alive in the SEC West race with Alabama, the only team to beat Ole Miss this season. Georgia enters the game as a 10.5-point favorite, according to Caesars Sportsbook. And an upset would throw the College Football Playoff race into chaos.

Bring it on, said Kiffin. Either way, a celebratory postgame text may be in order.

"Kind of feel like nobody gives us a shot," Kiffin said. "What do [you] got to lose when no one expects you to win?

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jqWYp51doLanssinZKShopfGbr%2FMmqmtZaGqtqbAjKCpqK2gYrCprdNmmKGdkZl6sLjEZqSiq6NitKa70aCgmmVhbYFzgY9p