Lane Kiffin offers up some ‘rat poison’ for A&M, but also gets in one subtle jab
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin dished out a little rat poison on the SEC Coaches Teleconference Wednesday afternoon — and also got in a subtle jab at the Rebels’ upcoming opponent, Texas A&M, and their seemingly-unlimited supply of money.
The Aggies’ program is struggling, as they are currently tied for last place in the SEC West at 1-3 in league play, 3-4 overall, and have lost three straight. They have a number of athletes out due to injury — and also announced suspensions this week of several players for behavior while on a road trip to South Carolina.
Kiffin’s Rebels travel to College Station to play embattled head coach Jimbo Fisher’s team this Saturday.
Ole Miss is a 1.5-point favorite over A&M and enters the game as the No. 15 team in the country. Still, Kiffin praised the Aggies and their crowd on the teleconference with his infamous “rat poison.”
“We’re getting ready to go play probably one of the top five rosters in America,” Kiffin said.
“Another very challenging road environment to go play in, especially after watching and reaffirming this is an ultra-talented team, one of the best five rosters in all of college football. When you combine that with one of the hardest places in college football to play, that right there should tell you there are a lot of challenges with it. Really loud, really hard place to play against some of the best talent in all of college football. We’re going to have to play a lot better than we did in the second half last week to give ourselves a chance.“
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin on playing at Kyle Field
Kiffin continued his compliments of the A&M team.
“They’ve got some really elite skill players. They’ve got a tailback that runs 10.3 and is really special, and some great receivers. Even though they have not been this year, at any point they can be really explosive when you have great players like that.“
Coach Kiffin on the Aggie roster
Kiffin was asked about former defensive coordinator DJ Durkin who now holds that same position at A&M, and he commented on what Durkin did for Ole Miss. “D.J. really turned around our defense here,” Kiffin explained. “They played really good, especially in the second half of last year.”
A little jab….
Kiffin took it one step farther, however, and suggested the Rebels lost Durkin because the assistant received a large pay raise from the Aggies.
“We tried to keep him, because he did a great job. He’s really good with the players. We got out-bid…kind of a common theme with that program.“
Lane Kiffin on DJ Durkin leaving for A&M
Kiffin is referring to the Aggies’ No. 1-ranked 2022 recruiting class, widely reported to have cost the Aggies a small fortune in NIL money.
No. 15 Ole Miss and Texas A&M face off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night (SEC Network).
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
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