Ole Miss has risen to No. 4 in the AP poll.
The Rebels (5-0) are one of five teams undefeated in SEC play, but they’re the only one with three conference wins.
Head coach Lane Kiffin doesn’t want his players to lose their edge as they venture out of conference play to meet Washington State (3-2) on Saturday morning in Oxford, Miss. Judging by the betting lines, the Cougars are expected to lose by more than 30 points.
“In college football, you have to come to play every week,” Kiffin said. “We’ll challenge them to not listen to the noise.”
After Saturday, Ole Miss will play five of its last six games against SEC opponents, including road games against No. 10 Georgia and No. 6 Oklahoma the next two weeks.
“We’ll worry about those other ones later,” Kiffin said.
Kiffin said starting quarterback Austin Simmons “is getting closer to 100 percent” after suffering an ankle injury in Week 2. But the coach has no need to rush Simmons back because of how well Trinidad Chambliss has played in his absence.
“We have two great starting quarterbacks,” Kiffin said, “two better than the one for most teams.”
Chambliss, a senior transfer from Division II Ferris State, has stacked up at least 300 passing yards and 50 rushing yards in each of his three starts. He was named the AP National Player of the Week last Monday after producing 385 yards of total offense and a touchdown pass while leading a 24-19 victory against then-No. 4 LSU before the Rebels entered an open date.
“Trinidad is a great story and an inspiration to kids from smaller schools, even lower-class-level high schools,” Kiffin said. “It’s really awesome.”
Ole Miss’ defense has shown dramatic improvement the last two games. After allowing 526 yards to Arkansas in a 41-35 victory four weeks ago, the Rebels held previously undefeated Tulane to 282 in a 45-10 win and LSU to 254.
Kiffin said the improvement has happened since the defense had “a hard meeting” the day after the game against Arkansas.
Washington State, which also comes off an open date, has played good defense in its three victories — holding Idaho, San Diego State and Colorado State to a combined 26 points. But the Cougars allowed 59 points in each of their losses, falling to North Texas by 49 points and Washington by 35.
Visiting Kiffin’s team will be, by far, their biggest challenge to date.
“These environments are what you live for as a coach,” said Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers. “This is the pinnacle of the sport. You’re playing the No. 4 team in the country with a really great program and a great coach that has a lineage of success throughout his career.”
Rogers is in his first season with the Cougars after two seasons as head coach at FCS South Dakota State.
“Our guys are going to have to come out and play hard and play for 60 minutes and be locked into the game and not get caught up in the emotion of where they’re at or what the score is or how many fans are there,” Rogers said.