1. That feeling you woke up to today if you're an Ole Miss fan is one, if you're being honest with yourselves, you haven't felt in a while.

It's called relevance.

Just two games into the Lane Kiffin Era, Ole Miss is relevant. For now, that should be considered a major step in the right direction.

No, a 42-41 overtime win at Kentucky doesn't make Ole Miss a contender. The Rebels are absolutely not competing for a championship this fall. That's completely unrealistic, especially given the lack of talented depth on the defensive side of the football. Yes, losses are coming this season, likely starting with Saturday's showdown with national title contender Alabama (5 p.m., ESPN).

But Ole Miss is most certainly relevant. The Rebels are starting to take on Kiffin's personality -- hyper-competitive, loose, resilient and creative. They're starting to play with some of the swag that is Kiffin's brand.

Most importantly, now that it's no longer boring, Ole Miss is being noticed. This weekend, when Kiffin squares off against his former boss, Nick Saban, Ole Miss will be a big story. The Crimson Tide will be a prohibitive favorite, but Kiffin's presence on the Ole Miss sideline will get plenty of ink and even more air time.

Kiffin will almost certainly downplay the Saban angle, which is smart, for Saban has had a bit of a head start at Alabama in advance of Saturday's meeting. It's arguable whether this will be one of Saban's best teams, but it's inarguable that, if things go according to plan, this team will be Kiffin's worst at Ole Miss.

Saban has built a brand at Alabama. Kiffin is trying to do the same thing at Ole Miss.

"We're just getting started," Kiffin said following Saturday's win.

And it's working.

"I think this is going to work," SEC Network/ESPN broadcaster Taylor Zarzour, who visited with Kiffin via Zoom Friday in preparation for Saturday's broadcast, told me Saturday on Scoreboard Business, presented by The Rogue. "I really do. I don't know if The Pirate (Mike Leach) being down the street alters my thoughts on how successful I think it's going to be."

Zarzour pointed out that the Rebels' season-opening loss to Florida "got people talking," and then he quoted Kiffin as saying, "At a place like Ole Miss, you have to get people talking."

"He was like, 'I'm not saying we have to be Oregon, but we have to get people talking,'" Zarzour said. "He can't talk specifically about recruiting, but he can say that it's been a great week. He went on at length because of the way they played (versus Florida), it's been a great week for recruiting.

"I think it makes a lot of sense why they decided to do this."

I couldn't agree more. Kiffin at Ole Miss makes tons of sense. He embodies all that is good and all that is stereotypical about Ole Miss. He fits, even if he makes some uncomfortable with some of his edginess and aloofness.

Again, he's just 1-1. In six days, he'll be 1-2, and that last number will grow some this fall. I expect the first number to grow as well. But this is Year Zero. This is the infancy of a rebuild that I expect will be conducted with a lead foot on the accelerator.

This season was always going to be about establishing an identity and getting on the radar. Two games in, that's already happening.

Relevance does that for you.

2. Matt Corral was simply fantastic at Kentucky, completing 24 of 29 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime to Elijah Moore.

Corral added 51 yards on 13 carries, often improvising in the pocket and doing damage with his feet against a Kentucky defense that was stingy against the run.

"I'm just doing my job," Corral said. "Staying within the system is very big for me."

Corral has done that, for sure. Through two games, he's protected the football (minus a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage against Florida that resulted in an interception), made good decisions, played within himself and provided leadership.

"(Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff) Lebby puts us to work," Corral said. "It pays off."

After Kentucky scored in overtime but missed the extra point to take a 41-35 lead, Corral said he told his teammates, "The game's in our hands right now."

It's a mindset he wants the Rebels to adopt for four quarters.

"Every time we get the ball, we need to score," Corral said. "We're really just executing, making sure everybody does their job."

3. Ole Miss had to have another receiver emerge to complement Elijah Moore.

Enter Jonathan Mingo.

The sophomore wide receiver caught eight passes at Kentucky, good for 128 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Mingo was also active blocking downfield, but it was ability to make Kentucky pay for focusing on Moore that helped swing the game in the Rebels' favor.

"I'm just trying to go out there and win and help my team win," Mingo said. "I'm putting up numbers like everybody else. It was exciting (Saturday)."

Mingo said he anticipates more of his wide receiver mates enjoying breakout games soon.

"Everybody is excited about the new offense," Mingo said. "Everybody pushes each other, loves each other and gets better every day."

Mingo said he was motivated by the Rebels' 51-35 loss to Florida on Sept. 26, but not because the Rebels played the Gators close.

"We knew we had to pick it up," Mingo said. "We knew what was at stake. We knew we were the better team. Last week, we should've won that game. We let it get away. This week, whether we were behind or ahead, we kept pushing and kept punching."

Corral said Mingo has always impressed with his work ethic, so he wasn't surprised by Mingo's breakout game in Lexington. Now he's looking to expand the receiver corps even more.

"I know they're going to put their heads down and work," Corral said. "They know their time is going to come."

4. Ole Miss' defense bent -- a lot.

If we're being honest, it likely fractured a bit.

However, it did enough on Saturday to give the Rebels' explosive offense a chance to win.

Ole Miss gave up 408 yards rushing to Kentucky, an average of 7.3 yards per carry.

"Obviously we are not going to win many games like that," Kiffin said. "We made some stops there in the second half and gave us a chance to win."

The first half, specifically, upset Kiffin and the Ole Miss coaches. Kiffin said the Rebels were getting beat on both lines of scrimmage.

"We've got to become more physical," Kiffin said.

That message was delivered at the half, linebacker MoMo Sanogo said.

"We have to come out a lot harder than we did," Sanogo said. "The first half was pitiful from the defensive side. We made some adjustments but it was still not up to our standards."

Sanogo praised Kentucky's offensive line, calling it the best in the conference. Still, Sanogo said, the Rebels simply have to get more physical on defense, something he felt they did, at least to a degree, on Saturday in Lexington.

"We had a different edge about us and started answering," Sanogo said, adding that the Rebels' defense has to begin "attacking practice with a mindset of 'We have to go out there and dominate.'"

Sanogo said the Rebels' goal on defense, despite surrendering an average of some 600 yards of offense so far this season, remains the same.

"I want to have the type of season where we're dominating, letting the offense work, getting them the ball early and often," Sanogo said, adding he's not playing to his own personal standards yet this year. "I'm going to keep pushing. I'm going to get there."

5. Lane Kiffin and his coaching staff can't talk about recruiting in any specific way. However, if they could, I suspect fans would be pretty excited about what they would say.

The Rebels had a strong week on the commitment front, but it's what seems to be happening under the radar that should encourage fans most. Now that the Rebels have put two games on television for prospects to watch, recruits are excited about the product.

It's fun. It's hip. It's fresh. The offense is creative and explosive -- a pro-style attack that distributes the football to weapons in space. The defense, on the other hand, very clearly offers early playing time for impact players on all three levels.

As of Sunday morning, Ole Miss is No. 54 in the Rivals.com team recruiting rankings. However, Ole Miss is close to No. 30 in average star ranking. That's before an expected flip from Florida State to Ole Miss for four-star quarterback Luke Altmyer and it does not include a ranking for junior college defensive tackle Jamond Gordon, who committed to the Rebels last week.

Speaking to people who have spoken to the Ole Miss coaching staff in recent days, they relay a feeling of growing optimism about the Rebels' chances on the recruiting trail, despite a pandemic that has all but eliminated in-person interaction and evaluation and has included a dead period that began in March and will go through at least the end of the calendar year.

It should be a fascinating few months, as Ole Miss gains steam with some highly-rated recruits and looks at the ever-developing transfer portal and grad transfer portal. The bottom line, however, is fast becoming clear: Even though the Rebels' spring and summer plans were derailed by COVID-19, Ole Miss is gaining tremendous steam on the recruiting trail as prospects get to evaluate the product with their own eyes.

6. It's time for my weekly ranking of the Southeastern Conference, and this week, this is a relatively brutal task.

1. Alabama -- The Tide looks impressive in every phase.

2. Florida -- The Gators leave a little to be desired on defense, but that offense is nasty.

3. Georgia -- The Bulldogs' defense absolutely stifled Auburn Saturday night.

4. Tennessee -- The Vols aren't sexy, necessarily, but they're pretty good.

Now things get weird.

5. Auburn -- The Tigers won't compete with the upper crust this year, but they're solid.

6. Ole Miss -- Why not? This is likely too high but the Rebels' offense is strong enough to make every game (except the next one, probably) really entertaining.

7. LSU -- Bo Pelini should surrender 1/10 of his salary for that game plan against Mississippi State eight days ago. The Tigers are still very talented.

8. Mississippi State -- The Bulldogs have the LSU win, and no one can take it away. However, teams can learn from it. Arkansas did.

9. Kentucky -- The Wildcats are an average team. There's talent on both sides of the ball. Still...

10. South Carolina -- The Gamecocks played with Tennessee for 3 1/2 quarters and Florida for 2 1/2, but there's not enough to break through. It looks like a program in decline.

11. Arkansas -- Let's give the Hogs some credit. They slugged with Georgia for three quarters and put together a really strong plan at Mississippi State. The Razorbacks aren't good, but they're significantly better coached this season.

12. Texas A&M -- Something is wrong in College Station. Remember I told you.

13. Missouri -- There are no weeks off in the SEC, Eliah.

14. Vanderbilt -- Same as it ever was.

7. I could never be an Associated Press Top 25 voter. I mean, I thrice was, but now that I'm writing for a "fan site" and trying to keep the little potato log podcast that could going, I'm simply not qualified. And I didn't go to Missouri, so the following is just my little fantasy, I suppose.

Again, I don't have an AP ballot, but if I did, mine would look like this today:

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. Florida

4. Georgia

5. Notre Dame

6. Miami

7. Oklahoma State

8. Tennessee

9. Cincinnati

10. North Carolina

11. Auburn

12. BYU

13. SMU

14. Virginia Tech

15. West Virginia

16. Iowa State

17. Ole Miss

18. Kansas State

19. UAB

20. LSU

21. Louisiana-Lafayette

22. North Carolina State

23. Pittsburgh

24. Air Force

25. UAB

*Holy hell. I'm glad I don't have a ballot. Also, this will be slightly easier when the Big Ten and Pac 12 play, thanks to the great COVID miracle of the last few weeks.

8. The Major League Baseball division series get started this week in "bubble" sites. Here are my sure-to-go-incredibly wrong predictions:

National League Division Series:

Braves over Marlins in 4

Dodgers over Padres in 5

American League Division Series:

Rays over Yankees in 5

Athletics over Astros in 5

9. It's time to enjoy a meal. With that in mind, here's our resident Parisian chef, Burton Webb, with Taste of the Place, Lesson 56 -- Mozzarella in Carrozza, Street Food Sandwich.

The energy that you feel when you are in Napoli, Italy, is amazing. This is not just the birth place of pizza but also it caters to have the best coffee in the world. Not two bad things to have in one city for sure. The huge cobble stone lined streets with little places to eat at along with the many different characters that offer singing lessons, grandmothers saying “Pigi," and of course the freshest seafood there is. What’s not to love? Also, the way that the Napolitaines transport groceries to the top level of a building is a spectacle to see. It's pretty amazing. Now on to street food.

How do you make a grilled cheese into something more? Do you use different butter, maybe, Do you add black pepper to it, of course. Maybe fry the entire thing? Yes. Carrozza in Italian means carriage. Time to get to some good eats for a quick snack for you and others.

Tidbit #1: The best variation of these types of sandwiches has the crusts cut off of the bread before assembling the sandwiches. It leads to one texture throughout each bite. So cut off the crust of the your sandwich bread before hand.

Tidbit #2: There is many different types that you can put in the center of the “carrozza”. Some of the off the topic ideas are brown butter with ham and Swiss cheese, grilled eggplant with chilli oil and arugula, or roasted chicken with confit tomatoes and mayo.

Tidbit #3: Use shallow casserole dishes for you flour and eggs. It is easy for you to cover the entire sandwich instead of putting those ingredients into a mixing bowls.

Tidbit #4: If you are making a ton of these sandwiches, have an oven on hand with a baking tray. Turn the oven to the lowest heat setting possible. This will allow you to transfer the sandwiches to the baking tray and place in the oven to keep warm while you are continuing to cook the rest of your sandwiches. Do not slice the sandwiches until you are ready to eat them though. They would dry out in the oven.

Things you will need:

2-3 Friends or family

15 Minutes max to goodness

A glass of sour ale with hints of fruits

Equipment needed:

1 Work surface with a chef’s knife

1 Large sauce pot

1 Spider utensil

3 Shallow small casserole dishes

1 Large side plate with paper towel

1 Fork

Measuring Cups of 1 cup

1 Stove top

Ingredients needed:

8 Slices of sandwich bread, minus the crust

4 Thick slices of mozzarella

4 Anchovy filets, chopped in quarters

16 Basil leaves, washed

Black Pepper

2 Cups of All-Purpose flour

2 Cups of Panko bread crumbs

2 Eggs

Vegetable Oil

Directions:

Step 1: Pour enough vegetable oil into your large sauce pot so that the level is 1/2 of the height of the pot. Set the pot on your oven and turn the heat to medium.

Step 1.2: Add the flour to one of the casserole dishes. In the other, the panko bread crumbs. Finally in the third one, add the eggs and whisk them with the fork break them up.

Step 2: Now assemble each sandwich as follows: bread —> slice of mozzarella —> 3 Grinds of black pepper —> Anchovy filet chopped —> 4 Basil leaves —> bread. Set on the large side plate. Complete the other 3 sandwiches.

Step 3: Set up your casserole dishes in the order of flour, then eggs, and finally panko. Put the first sandwich in the flour using your right hand. Cover. Now put the sandwich in the eggs. Cover with your left hand. Transfer to the last casserole dish with the panko. Cover with the panko. Now gentle, transfer to the hot oil in the sauce pot. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.

Step 4: Use the spider and remove the sandwich very carefully. Place on the large side plate with the paper towel. Let cool for 1 minute. Then transfer the sandwiches to your work surface and cut in halves or quarters. Serve immediately! Also, enjoy! Great powder blue jerseys from last week, just saying from the Mississippian in Paris, Bon Appétit!

10. It was a birthday week in my circle. My mom, Judy, turned 78 on Wednesday. My son, Carson, turned 14 today. We'll celebrate both of them here tonight.

Meanwhile, we will have coverage of Ole Miss' preparations for Alabama and more on RebelGrove.com, beginning with our media opportunity Monday with Lane Kiffin and selected players. Until then, here are some articles of interest to me -- and hopefully, to you -- for your reading pleasure:

Led by Jaylen Waddle, Alabama's offense poses problems defenses can't solve

‘My trade value was pretty decent’: Consider James Shields a Fernando Tatis fan – The Athletic

Rudy Gobert on Concentration Camps in China: Wrong Is Wrong – OutKick

Giants ruining Daniel Jones in way young Eli Manning never experienced

Epstein will meet Ricketts to discuss his future with Cubs

Beguiling Facts About Nicole Kidman, The Australian Rose - Factinate