Lane Kiffin has a big game on his hands at Florida on Saturday as the Ole Miss continue their tear and secure a place in the College Football Playoffs.

But Kiffin, like many others around the country, took note of the showdown between Georgia and Tennessee last Saturday, as two other SEC teams locked horns with a College Football Playoff spot on the line.

Kiffin, whose Rebels handed the Bulldogs a 28-10 defeat the week before in Oxford, had an idea of what to expect even before the clock ran out on Georgia’s decisive 31-17 win over the Vols.

“First off, Georgia has been playing at a championship level for a long time, so I fully expected that to happen on Saturday, that they would play really well,” Kiffin said.

“When you get to the two losses, your backs are against the wall, and you realize what you’re about to lose.”

The Bulldogs certainly knew, as they were out of the CFP projections after their road loss to Ole Miss — their second road loss of the season, having fallen at Alabama earlier in the season by a 41-34 count.

Program image and player legacies were on the line: Would this 2024 version of Georgia football be the first to lose three games and finish ranked outside the top 7 in eight years?

“Those are championship players, a championship coach and program,” Kiffin said, having recruited some of the players and worked alongside some on the UGA staff. “So that was not surprising at all, how they played.”

Kiffin’s Rebels sit at No. 8 in the latest CFP rankings, one spot ahead of Georgia — and beneath four Big Ten teams, two of which have not beaten any Top 25 teams.

Kiffin was asked what goes through his mind when he sees teams from other conferences ranked ahead of his program despite not having proven their merit against ranked competition?

“Kirby has made mention, the SEC is different, (and) I’m not saying that because I’m here,” Kiffin said. “I see these other coaches talk about the ACC top to bottom and all that, but this, it ain’t rocket science if you watch football, OK?

“And I have, during the bye, watched football in other conferences, and the SEC is different.”

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, a celebrated defensive coordinator at Michigan State before his successful run leading the Panthers, had made the comment that “The ACC, from top to bottom, is the best conference out there. Every weekend anybody can beat anybody.”

Kiffin begs to different, and the SEC’s home stadiums are only part of the reason why.

“Playing in the SEC environments is totally different than a lot of those places those guys play,” Kiffin said. “So like Kirby said, it’s hard man, it’s hard to go on the road in this conference, which always has the most NFL players in it, and win. It’s very much like the NFL, playing in the SEC.”

Kiffin said he felt strong enough about the SEC’s power, and Georgia’s elite level of play, that he sent a text to one of the coaches he knows in another conference (the ACC): “I said, ‘try going to 100 Sanford Drive and see if you still say that.’ "

The Bulldogs have an active streak of 29 consecutive home wins -- the longest in school history, and currently in the nation -- dating back to the 2019 season.