Kirby Smart was confident that he won't have to complain about less attendance at the Stanford Stadium like Kiffin had to on Saturday. In fact, Smart issued it as an challenge for the Bulldofgs fans to be so loud as to disrupt the communication Kiffin uses to run his offense.
"So the issue and the challenge has been issued for our fan base to be extremely difficult for them to communicate and do things offensively that they do, especially at home and sometimes on the road when it’s not the right environment," Smart said in his press conference on Monday.
“With that, I’ll open it up.”
Kiffin could all but chuckle at Smart's words as he pointed out in his Wednesday's media appearance.
The Ole Miss Coach explained how the challenge that Smart so boldly voiced out might do more harm than good to their own squad's top strength.
"I heard Kirby [Smart] talking about the noise, and [how they] need it to be the loudest the stadium’s ever been. So I’m sure it will be. But both [teams] have to play in the noise," Kiffin said Wednesday.
"They actually verbally communicate more on defense than we do on offense, [so it] should be a rare game like that. So, you know, I think that the noise is not the biggest factor at all in the game. It’ll be blocking, tackling, catching, throwing and taking care of the football."
Both Kiffin and Smart have proved they can make shocking comebacks in the second halves of the games. So, even with the Bulldogs being a 7.5 point favorite, and the Rebels being the heavy underdogs, the game will be a down-to-the-wire thriller.
Georgia's offense has bleed imperfections at times this season, with players struggling to even stay healthy. Ole Miss' offense, on the other hand, has been exceedingly good this season, especially since QB Trinidad Chambliss stepped in.
Defensively, Kiffin's squad has struggled while Smart's has been doing pretty good, but Kiffin thinks their home ground chatter will affect that this time.
The Rebels are all in for coming out winning as the massive underdogs against Georgia Bulldogs. Good thing is, the place where they are playing might just be the X-factor they need to overpower Georgia.