Coach Kiffin discusses Rebels’ offense and defensive lines, looks ahead to Kentucky, and talks strength of SEC
OXFORD, Miss. — Lane Kiffin met via Zoom with Ole Miss media Sunday evening to wrap up the Rebels’ 52-13 win over Georgia Southern, a victory that moves the team to 4-0 on the season. It’s also a wrap on the non-conference portion of the season.
Coach Kiffin was asked about the big men up front and if he’s seen what he needs to see out of the offensive and defensive lines.
“Well, we’ve had some injuries there. We played without three significant linemen, interior linemen yesterday (on the offensive line), two that have started a number of games here in their career. That has really limited that exact rotation that we probably would’ve ended up with. Defensively we played without two starters and another d-lineman.”
Coach Lane Kiffin
Kiffin spoke very highly of his defensive unit, one that did not allow a touchdown until the fourth game of the season.
“Our defense played extremely well. The penalties were critical mistakes, but outside of the penalties — from a style of physical, attacking, I thought our defense created negative plays. I thought our defense played better than I even gave them credit for after the game.“
Lane Kiffin on the defense
As far the offense goes, Kiffin offered his assessment on them as well.
“I thought offensively we were very explosive, made plays just screwed up on some red zones and Jaxson made a really poor throw — good decision — but poor throw on the interception. Then, we lost a possession with the onside kick,” he explained.
One thing is certain, however, the competition is about to jump dramatically as SEC play begins. This fact does not escape Coach Kiffin.
“We gotta play some SEC games before we make any big statements,” he explained.
“We’ve not — no disrespect — played…. statistically, we have not played very good teams and very good offenses or defenses. Obviously, when you have huge days against them on both sides, that hurts them early in the season, but I wouldn’t make any huge statements yet. Let’s play a little more.”
Coach Kiffin
On the strength of the SEC
Currently, the SEC has five of the top six teams in this week’s AP Top 25: No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 4) Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 Ole Miss.
Coach Kiffin was asked about the strength of the league.
“It’s always been the best conference and you’ve added two, probably top-10 traditional powers in the history of college football — in Texas and Oklahoma — into what was already the best conference. It’s extremely competitive. I think it’s distanced itself from everyone else even more. I think kids around the country continue to go to more and more to the SEC.”
Lane Kiffin on the SEC
Playing on the road in the SEC is never an easy task.
“…They’re hard places to play most of them, like really hard,” Kiffin began. “You also see a lot of people, in my opinion, go on the road and struggle, especially offensively because they’re really hard places to play, especially at night,” Kiffin noted.
Looking ahead to Kentucky
Ole Miss begins league play against Kentucky this Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway.
“I’m excited to be playing at home and play against a team in Kentucky that had an easy win yesterday and was one play away — here or there – from beating Georgia just the week before, (Georgia) with the longest regular season winning streak in forever,” Kiffin said.
“These guys always play hard against us. They have great defensive players all over the place. Very experienced, very long, great length. You saw the Georgia struggles against them. I’m excited to play in the SEC, but this is also a very tough opponent.”
Lane Kiffin on Kentucky
Kiffin said that although the recent contests vs. the Wildcats were close, he doesn’t think that has any bearing on this year’s game.
“I don’t know if I’d make too much of that because every year is different, and our teams have changed a lot. It doesn’t mean it won’t come down to the last play this time, but I think both our teams are different than they were a couple of years ago,” Kiffin explained.
Next Up
Ole Miss (4-0, 0-0 SEC) hosts Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC) this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. (CT).
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.
