Postgame Quotes: Here’s what Lane Kiffin, Jaxson Dart, Trey Washington and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops said after the Rebels’ loss

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss football lost to Kentucky, 20-17, in the Rebels’ SEC opener Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway. After the game, head coach Lane Kiffin, quarterback Jaxson Dart and safety Trey Washington spoke with media about the heartbreaking loss and the road forward.

Here’s everything they had to say:

Lane Kiffin Opening Statement:

“Beyond disappointing day. We started fast, then we played really sloppy and really bad in the second quarter. We started playing better on both sides in the third quarter and the game came down at the end with us having a chance to win it in every phase. We stop them, get the ball up by four and we go three and out and punt it back. We end up getting them to 4th down and they throw a go route. I have to credit [Mark] Stoops, that’s not anything he’s probably ever done in his life. He got out of his character with three and a half minutes left. I commend him for doing that. I’m sure the ESPN percentage had us 98% winning at that point. Good throw and good play by them. Then we had a chance to stop them and didn’t. Then we got it back, moved it down and missed a field goal. All three phases had a chance to win the game or atleast tie the game and didn’t do it. Ended on a big win for them, but very discouraging and disappointing, especially on the 11 a.m. kick. It’s 3 o’clock, so you got all day to sit around and deal with this with a game that could have gone our way in so many different ways. We didn’t make the plays and we didn’t close them out. We had the ball up by a score and had the chance to not make it come down to a play.”

On the momentum swinger with going for it on fourth and seven:

“I thought that was going to springboard us into a two possession type of win. Since we had been playing good defense, we needed a play like that to spark us. I thought the crowd was great at that point, so I really thought it was going to be one of those games that starts really close for a while and we finish them off, but we didn’t do that. We had every opportunity to do that with the ball in our hands and up by four, but we went three and out.”

On regrouping the team after a loss:

“All of a sudden, our program is terrible when they miss a field goal or don’t get a two point conversion at the end of the game. I wouldn’t tell you that we have all the answers. We have seen a lot of these where we have won them and all kinds of things can happen there. If they do a go route on fourth and seven or we have a great kicker and he misses or if our defense gives up a touchdown. It could have gone either way so I’m not going to sit up here and say if it goes the other way, then all of the sudden we got it all figured out. I would have said the same thing about third downs or penalties. I’m not going to overreact in a loss like I don’t overreact in a tight win or a tight loss.”

Ole Miss safety Trey Washington

On his assessment of the defense:

“There’s good moments and there’s bad moments, we have to do a better job of relating to routes and making plays on the ball. We just have to get better overall as a team.”

On his confidence in the team’s ability to ‘bounce back’:

“We know what we are made of and we are not just going to ‘coward out’ or quit. We are ready to get back to work next week and prove.”

On how he will lead the team into next week:

“Just taking it one day at a time by going in, getting things corrected, improving and keeping everybody in the same headspace.”

On how Kentucky’s offense found success:

They did a good job at making their plays today. As a DB we had to do a better job of getting off the field on third-down and fourth-down. They executed well and made plays when they had to.”

Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart

On what he had to say to the locker room after the game:

“There’s not really much to say. You can look at it two ways: you can just quit or you can take it on the chin and we’re on the ground right now, you either stay down or get up.”

On leading the team after the loss:

“You can’t blink. We have a lot more opportunities. One game is not going to define the year, but at the same time you better make the most of the rest of your opportunities.”

On how prepared the team was for the game:

“I wish that we could have made adjustments sooner than we did. We got caught in too many ‘third-and-longs’ and we play in the SEC and that’s really hard to convert. There’s a lot of things that we need to look at on tape and find ways not to be in that situation again.”

On the on Kentucky defense:

“They were an elite defense going into the game and we knew that. They did an amazing job on first downs and the first half, especially on the first drive, we were not able to get first downs to get into tempo. We knew that once we were able to get the ball moving, that’s when we would have our advantage. When you get stuck in ‘second-and-long’ and then have to scheme something up like that and we don’t do a good job the first time, it really puts you behind.”

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops

Opening Statement:

“Obviously I could not be more proud of our team. As we talk about weeks, I told you I thought our team grew between week two to week three. We came up short but we played a great team. We improved week four, and we went out and did what we had to do. The guys kept on fighting, we are looking to play to win.”

“And then this week, we needed to be better, and we continue to be just that much better to go beat a ranked team on the road and a great football team and Coach that I have a ton of respect for. And we played it our way. It was a dirty game, just a hard fought tough game. Just proud of our coaches for staying the course. And that’s not just coach speak when I say that. Our coaches have stayed the course, our players have stayed the course, and we have gotten better each week. And we needed to go play very well this week and we did that. I’m just proud we are getting better. We still will improve. But I thought, you know the critical moments, the critical downs that I always talk about, we made some critical downs and critical plays. The O-line protected better, we got the ball down the field, we weren’t sloppy with the football, we needed to turn them over. There is a big discrepancy when they turn it over and when they don’t. I couldn’t be more proud of the effort. I know It’s one game but it’s important because of the work that’s been going on for a long time. Proud for our fan-base, they deserve it. We have been close a lot. We are very proud to get the victory.”

On going for it on the 4th down:

“Your analytics will tell you to punt it. I felt like they were going to be very aggressive. We would get a one-on-one and Barion [Brown] made a great play. I felt like, at that moment where they were at, the way we were playing in the red zone, we had been playing pretty good. If they get it there, there was really not going to be much time off the clock, and we could try to hold them to three. And one of the reasons, I felt like we could get a one-on-one, so we went for it.”

On getting the recovery at the goaline:

“Yeah, you know that was huge to get the recovery. Was that a first down? It was a first. You have to be smart with the ball on first down and we left them plenty of time. Believe me, we were trying to score, but if we had scored on third down, it would have made life easier for us.”

On Brock setting the tempo:

“Yeah, we have run that a lot of different ways. It was there and felt like it could have been there once or twice later. We did a nice job adjusting, it complements. The biggest thing for us, I told them at halftime that we got to continue to get those nasty dirty runs. We got to get the two, three, four, five; that sets up everything else. So I thought Bush [Hamdan] was plenty aggressive and kept them off balance. I think the one series that was critical, I think we threw it three times in a row, we had the play pass open and got just tipped on that possession prior to our last one. You know it was going to be a big hit and it barely got tipped. I thought he called a really good game, and coach [Brad] White and the staff did one heck of a job.”

On Hardaway getting beat and then forcing a fumble:

“I think it says a lot about him. Just keep playing. We talked about that all week, just grind it out. Win your one-on-ones. They are going to win some.”

(Feature image credit: Dan Anderson, The Rebel Walk)