Ole Miss transformed its defense with heavy use of transfer portal - ESPN

OXFORD, Miss. — No one likes a bully, but Lane Kiffin thinks the best thing that happened to his Ole Miss football program was being pushed around a year ago by the SEC's biggest, baddest bully over the past few seasons.

Georgia did everything but take Ole Miss' lunch money in a punishing 52-17 beatdown last season in Athens, leaving Kiffin, athletic department officials and the school's NIL program, the Grove Collective, to do some serious soul-searching.

«I remember saying in the second half of that game, 'This will not happen again,' and then thinking about it on the whole plane ride home, 'How is this not going to happen again?» Kiffin told ESPN.

The answer: Ole Miss had to become the bully, and that's exactly what happened Saturday night in the Rebels' 28-10 bludgeoning of the Bulldogs in Kiffin's first signature win — a statement win, really — at the school.

The decisive victory, which helped lift Ole Miss to No. 11 in this week's College Football Playoff rankings, provided some validation after a preseason filled with hype for the Rebels, who boasted one of the more talented and higher-priced rosters in the country, a roster brimming with transfer portal heavyweights in the line of scrimmage.

«Maybe it's not as much now with the way Lane has raised our program to national relevance, but it's hard to go recruit five-star after five-star here at Ole Miss,» athletic director Keith Carter said. «But when you can go get guys that are those same caliber guys in the portal, it's an equalizer.

»We proved that our roster is as good as Georgia's."

Kiffin, the self-anointed portal king, brought in 25 transfers this offseason with an eye on getting bigger and more physical on the offensive and defensive fronts, adding a