TRANSCRIPT: Lane Kiffin talks upcoming Georgia game in his Monday presser
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin met with the media Monday to preview this Saturday’s away game versus No. 1 Georgia. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT in Athens, Georgia and on ESPN. A transcript can be found below.
Opening Statement:
“Good walk-through today. Closing off the last game in the morning with the players. As we mentioned good win. Really hard-fought game. Really commend A&M for coming back in the game and playing hard. Now we have to move forward. We have a gigantic challenge in front of us. We’re playing the number one team in the country, playing them at their place at night. I think the last time anyone has beat them there was five years ago before COVID. The last head coach that beat them there I can’t ask. He is now on their staff. Not a lot of answers out there on how to beat these guys at home. We have to have a really good week at practice. This is a very challenging combination. Having elite phenomenal players, elite phenomenal coaches combined and on the road. There is a trifecta of what is the hardest thing to pull off. This would be it.”
On the Georgia offense:
“They have a lot of great players. Their quarterback plays really well. He’s really smart and has a great arm. They added the two receivers in the portal to strengthen their position out there after losing one to Texas. These guys are as great as advertised. When they have to really rise up they do, whether that is to come back at a game like Auburn and like the Kentucky game. I imagine a build-up like this with two teams highly ranked. They came and took care of business in that game. This isn’t their first rodeo of playing in big games.”
On building a roster to play against Georgia:
“We try. We run a pretty unique offense when it is working like last week’s game…When that works and you get it going, it neutralizes the defensive talent. When it doesn’t, it is not pretty. There are going to be games you play the best players in college football, especially in this conference on defense. Those games are going to happen. You better have something creative, or it doesn’t work. Talent wins a lot of games. You have to find a way to neutralize that at times.”
On the resiliency of the team this year:
“I don’t think I have thought about it that way. I joke with them. The cardiac kids. To have so many games that go to the wire and have to come back from being behind in the fourth quarter, I don’t know if I remember this many in a season, especially a full season yet. Says a lot about them. This is a really cool group of kids to coach. I am honest, and not every year is like that. This is a really neat group that overcomes things, which is hard nowadays in the portal era. It is hard to put selfish things behind you. You are new to programs and want stats. To put those things behind and take smaller roles in special teams with limited reps in offense and defense says a lot about these guys.”
On discussion of the playoffs:
“Yeah, we don’t ever talk about that. I think that is out of our control. Start focusing on that, you see a lot of people do that and lose. I actually mentioned to them this morning, just saying since we have so many new players. This is why we don’t talk about it. Don’t mention it. Put it on goals. That is other people voting on something. If you don’t keep winning, none of that matters at all. Worry about that if it ever happens.”
On Tre Harris’ playing ability out of the portal:
“I think it is kind of like the draft. You don’t know for sure. We have seen him make plays. I think seeing him on his visit and sitting down with him and seeing what time of culture kid he is. How he does all of the little things. All he wants to do is watch film and get better. Pushing through injuries, playing when he probably shouldn’t like at Alabama for a few plays, just shows who he is. That is where we went from a really good player to an elite player.”
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.
