Lane Kiffin looks ahead to Peach Bowl as the Rebels prepare to play a Penn State team with ‘elite talent and great coaching’
ATLANTA – Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin met with the media via zoom from Atlanta as the No. 11 Rebels arrive to take on No. 10 Penn State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Saturday, December 30 at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.
“We are excited to be here and part of this huge matchup and big-time bowl game,” Kiffin said. “To play Penn State and coach (James) Franklin. They have done a great job not just this year but a lot of years in a row. They have had a great run. So this is a really big challenge for us.”
Kiffin added his team is excited to be in Atlanta this week with a lot of events surrounding the game.
“We have a lot of work to still do,” Kiffin said. “This is Tuesday of a work week with practice coming up in the stadium in our first practice here.”
Kiffin is in his fourth season at the helm of the Rebels as Ole Miss has two 10-win seasons in the last three years. Ole Miss gave Kiffin a contract extension going into this bowl game.
“I’m very grateful to be hired here in the first place four seasons ago and to get an extension, which didn’t change any financial part of the situation, just added length and commitment that this is where we want to be and commitment from the university. So just really pleased to be part of that. Very grateful for our staff, for our leadership here and our players. They’ve done amazing to win 10 games two of the last three seasons. I think of where it was when I got here and where it is now and what’s going on in recruiting that will lead to next year is really amazing just to be a part of. Excited to watch these guys play one more game.“
Lane Kiffin
This season, Penn State is led at quarterback by Drew Allar who has thrown for 2,336 yards with 23 touchdown passes to one interception in 12 games. He has also carried the ball 69 times for 170 yards and four touchdowns.
“(Allar) is hard to beat,” Kiffin said. “He takes care of the ball really well. A good mixture of throwing the ball and get out of trouble by getting a first down by making a play with his feet. These guys are really hard when they are students of the game when you see them play and they rarely make any mistakes. When you couple that with the best defense in the country that’s a really good combination.”
Penn State is headed into this bowl game with interim co-coordinators to face Ole Miss.
“The first thought is that it would be in our favor with (defensive coordinator) Manny (Diaz) leaving,” Kiffin said. “That presents challenges too. We don’t have any idea of what they are going to do. It’s like opening the season with no preseason games. That’s actually a really big challenge and we are going to have to be ready for whatever they play and play sound and really good football.”
Throughout the season, Kiffin has said time and again that this year’s Ole Miss team, with so many players who arrived via transfer, is different and that it is a pleasure to coach this group.
“I have really enjoyed that these guys have come together from all these different places across the country and really put aside their egos as some of them don’t play as much as they want. Some may play special teams and that says a lot about them. I don’t think that is the common theme in the way the system is set up with free agency every year and going all these places and in a lot of ways, chasing money. That usually doesn’t equal really good team chemistry.“
Coach Kiffin on the chemistry of this team
This season, Ole Miss has one player, defensive lineman Cedric Johnson, who has opted out of playing in the bowl game to prepare for the senior bowl and the NFL draft.
“Kind of a surprise to us Cedric Johnson decide not to play in the bowl game,” Kiffin said in the Tuesday zoom. “We wish him the best of luck, and we will miss him. He was really an important part of this team, but everyone has to make their own decisions these days and kids think about things differently.”
Kiffin added that Penn State has a lot of great players that have come through recruiting as they are not built through the portal.
“I think they can sustain a lot of injuries and opt-outs a lot more than other programs would be able to,” he said of the Nittany Lions.
This season, Penn State’s defense has only allowed its opponents to average 11.42 points per game and 1,336 yards on the ground to 154.92 yards in the air per game.
“They have elite talent and great coaching,” Kiffin said. “They play really hard and physical at home and on the road. Sometimes you see these teams with an electric home atmosphere like these guys have and some SEC teams but then won’t play quite as hard defensively on the road. They are not like that these guys bring an old school mentality with new school elite talent.”
Stay tuned for more updates as they happen in Atlanta!
Adam Brown
Adam Brown joins The Rebel Walk as the Managing Editor after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 11 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
