Lane Kiffin warns Alabama's Nick Saban against using 'rat poison' ahead of SEC battle

Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin took to social media to warn Alabama coach Nick Saban against "rat poisoning" his team ahead of Saturday's showdown between the No. 16 Rebels and No. 12 Crimson Tide in Week 4 of the college football season.

Saban coined the term "rat poison" to hound media for handing out too much praise to the Crimson Tide, causing his team to become complacent and lose focus. Ahead of Saturday's game at Bryant-Denny Stadium, however, Saban praised Ole Miss on Thursday's segment of "The Nick Saban Show."

"I don't know if we've got a good enough team to beat Ole Miss or anybody else we play, but we've got a better team than we played last week," Saban said.

In a recent emoji-laden message on X, formerly known as "Twitter," Kiffin accused the legendary coach of using his "rat poison" as a weapon against the Rebels. He also used the "goat" emoji at the end of his tweet, signaling respect for Saban, his former boss at Alabama.

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While Saban was indirectly praising Ole Miss in discussing the ups and downs of his own team's first three weeks, the quote was easy fodder for Kiffin, who has been lobbing light-hearted jabs and social media posts all week ahead of the game.

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The Rebels travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to take on the Crimson Tide at 2:30 p.m. CT, as Ole Miss looks to stave off Saban's "rat poison" and come out of Bryant-Denny Stadium still undefeated on the season.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lane Kiffin warns Alabama coach Nick Saban against using 'rat poison'