Kirby Smart likes to say “you’re either elite or you’re not,” and Lane Kiffin agrees, to the extent that’s the challenge he’s putting before himself and his Ole Miss football team.

“Our guys are really excited for this opportunity, this is the elite,” Kiffin said, talking up Saturday’s showdown between his No. 5-ranked Rebels (6-0, 3-0 SEC) and No. 9-ranked Georgia (5-1, 3-1) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Sanford Stadium.

Smart is 22-10 against Top 10-ranked teams in his tenure as UGA’s head coach, including a 7-0 mark against Top 10 teams in Sanford Stadium.

“This isn’t coach speak, it’s stats, or facts, this is the elite program in college football with top coaching,” said Kiffin, himself 9-9 against Top 25 teams as Ole Miss’ head coach. “(Georgia) continues to win at an unbelievable pace, especially rare, and especially nowadays with how challenging it is with our conference and with NIL.”

Smart would agree his Bulldogs are impressive, especially when one considers they have played six different starting offensive line combinations in six games and have a first-year starting quarterback in Gunner Stockton.

Georgia started the season as a preseason Top 10 team, but when one considers the challenging road games at Tennessee and Auburn, and the gut-wrenching home loss to Alabama, the Bulldogs find themselves in a good position.

Especially, as Kiffin pointed out on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday, with Georgia getting Ole Miss at home.

“Shoot, the last five years, you’re 28-1 at home, the last loss coming to Alabama,” Kiffin said, noting the school-record 33-game home win streak the Bulldogs had going before the Tide snapped it with a 24-21 win.

“We’ve done some good things here (Ole Miss) as a program, but then there’s another step, you know, can you go beat an elite program like we were able to do last year against Georgia, but now do it at their place?”

UGA beat a No. 9-ranked Ole Miss team by a 52-17 count between the hedges in 2023, the most recent time the Rebels have played in Athens.

The Bulldogs opened as a 6 1/2-point favorite in Saturday’s game, and that line has increased to 7 1/2 points, an indication the betting public has confidence Georgia will win by more than a touchdown.

Kiffin, a bit unexpectedly, downplayed the crowd noise generated at Sanford Stadium in marquee matchups.

“Heard Kirby talking about the noise, and (this) needed to be the loudest the stadium has ever been so I’m sure it will be,” Kiffin said. “But both people have to play in the noise, and they actually, verbally, communicate more on defense that we do on offense, which would be a rare (factor).

“(So) I think that the noise is not the biggest factor at all in the game,” he said. “It’ll be blocking, tackling, catching, throwing and taking care of the football.”