What They Said: Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Jaxson Dart, and Pooh Paul talk about the win over Georgia Southern

OXFORD, Miss. — No. 5 Ole Miss closed out a perfect 4-0 non-conference schedule with a dominant 52-13 win over Georgia Southern in front of a record crowd of 67,505 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

After the game, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, wide receiver Tre Harris, linebacker Chris “Pooh” Paul and quarterback Jaxson Dart spoke with media. For Georgia Southern, head coach Clay Helton, QB JC French and linebacker Marques Watson-Trent met with media postgame.

Lane Kiffin opening statement:

“Alright, so, good to get to 4-0. I thought that, first off, the fans were great. To come out for kickoff and the whole place be full; every angle that you look at, it looked completely full, so that was great. I know the players notice that and recruits notice that. I’ve been critical when it hasn’t, so I want to make sure I point out, just like our players, when it was awesome. So, that was really neat to see and I think our players fed off of it and started really well, which we have in all the games. You know there’s probably a story of why it wasn’t a near perfect game for us; defensive penalties and then just some screw ups on offense, especially in the red zone. To sum it up I would say, like I just told our players, they have a chance to be really good. It’s hard to go on runs like they do, they just shut people down. There are portions of the game when they’re on and they don’t really make penalties, like on defense we just shut people down. And on offense we score within a minute or two. It feels really electric and then we screw ourselves up by self inflicted decisions and plays, so that’s a good thing. I’ve been on teams the other way, where you can play really disciplined with no penalties and still struggle to win because you don’t have elite players. So, we’ve got a good thing, we’ve just got to clean up these other parts of it, like I told them. If you want to be really special, at least you can because there are only so many teams out there in the country that can be really special, regardless of cleaning up penalties and turnovers.”

On the Defensive Performance Despite Injuries…

“I thought the defense did really well led by him [Pooh Paul Jr.]. And as you mentioned, TJ [Banks] out, Jared Ivey out; TJ [Banks] probably could have played, he just decided against it even though he wanted to. Pooh Paul stepped up. That’s what he had done against us at Arkansas and why we were excited about getting him. Not that he’s not a great practice player, I’d say he’s a great practice player, but he plays great on game days and shows up. So, outside of his late hit penalties that he seems to get, other than that he does a good job.”

On What he Attributes the Record Crowd To…

“I think it’s when, first off, you have really good fans that show up but [also] you have an exciting style of play. Especially in a non-conference game, there’s a bunch of ways to win, but if you’re kind of one of those slower offenses, the games aren’t quite as exciting. I think that we are exciting to watch play. It’s why I’ve kind of challenged fans to stay longer, which our fans, our students, not so much today, but the rest of our fans did a good job staying after the half. I think that’s because it’s a good style of play, it’s fun to watch. Like, if you produce concerts and you have really good country concerts and you’ve got good lights going on while the singers performing and the band performing, people come back. So again, our main objective is to win, to get to 1-0, but we’ve built this thing with some style in it, hoping that it was entertaining and that this is what it would look like. For your fans and also for recruits watching and say: ‘man, I want to play there.'”

On how the Secondary Played Today:

“I thought for the most part they did a good job with the early holding, which we’ve had some issues on third downs in the slot. I thought they did a good job. In the end, I’m going to tell you what no other coach tells you, I don’t see half of it. So these iPads, as an offensive coach, you saw a lot more defensive plays than I did today. It just is what it is and that’s why it’s important to have a really good defensive coordinator that you trust.”

Wide Receiver Tre Harris

On Thinking He Will Set a Career-High Every Game:

“No, to be honest I just go out there and really just try to execute and try to be the best that I can. The biggest thing for me is that I try to go out there and not worry about who is in front of me and try to play my game. That’s my goal and that’s been my goal for the entire year.”

On the Ole Miss Offense:

“We came out pretty hot, but I do feel like we had a sloppy game overall. In between those second and third quarters, we had some sloppy plays. I’m still a little frustrated. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times. We gotta clean up a couple things. We gotta pay attention to details and that’s just my perspective looking at this receiving room. For the rest of the team, I feel like we are definitely gonna reset next week.”

Ole Miss linebacker Chris “Pooh” Paul

On How he felt he meshed into the defense:

“I feel like I reached the standard of the defense. They laid it out to me when I first got here: fast and physical. That’s our motto and I feel like I have been trying to uphold that standard while I’m out there on the field each and every play.”

On how the Defense Felt about the First Allowed Touchdown:

“It really infuriated us, because that’s not how we play. We know that we are better than that and we feel that once we go to the sidelines, we had to lock into adjustments and see where we went wrong and what we needed to fix going forward. When we got to the sideline, I could just see that it hit everybody and it just fired them up even more, because that’s not our standard, that’s not how we play. We play fast and physical and we have to uphold that standard each and every time.”

On Lane’s comment on Paul elevating his Performance on Gameday:

“I come out there and play every play like it’s my last. You never know when it’s going to be your last down that you play. You never know what God has in store for you. I just go out there and put my all on the line to show the fans how hard we work and to give the coaches the confidence to lean on me.”

On Playing Against Clay Helton:

“It was kind of crazy sitting at home, watching Miller [Moss] play at USC and then preparing to play against the coach I committed to out of high school. I thought it was super neat; I have a lot of respect for him, obviously. He was the coach I committed to so we have that connection there that we grew from recruiting my first year. He’s always treated me and my family with a ton of respect. Likewise, I have a ton of respect for him and his family and he’s been a blessing.”

On The Team’s Performance:

“I am happy where we are at. It is time to kick into another gear for all of us, that’s something we all know. We talked about it in the locker room, that we have to turn it up a notch. At the same time, we are going to enjoy winning; it’s hard to win in college football. We are just having a lot of fun every single day, but we also understand there are things we need to improve on.”

On feelings towards JJ Pegues:

“He brings a lot. He’s a very versatile player. Quite honestly, I would like to use him a little bit more on offense if we could. He’s such a stud. He’s a great leader for our team, like when you see a guy battling through that and he will still put it all on the line for his team, it’s contagious. A lot of guys play even harder and that is one standard that he brings.”

On Feelings About the Entire Team:

“A quarterback is a product of his environment. You really are as good as the guys you have around you. You can definitely elevate the play of others, but at the same time, to be a very successful quarterback, you have to have those pieces around you. I’m definitely very blessed to have those guys and anytime they can go out there at any given play.”

Georgia Southern Head Coach Clay Helton

Opening Statement:

“Obviously played a tremendous football team that is very well coached, they were playing at a high level and we didn’t play at a high enough level. We did some good things, but a lot of things to correct. One thing that I’m appreciative of is the schedule that we faced in non-conference, I think it will prepare us for the conference. We played some good football teams and I think that we are ready to enter conference against Georgia State. We don’t have a lot of time to sulk or pout, we have to get on the bus with them coming off a great win against Vanderbilt and a bye week. We’ve got to take the lessons learned from this one and learn from this one, correct them and move on.”

On Ole Miss’ Defense:

“It’s a really good football team, especially defensively. You look at that group, they were only averaging three points given up a game, and we scored the first touchdown of the season, which is part celebration, but our kids competed all the way through. I was proud of their fight, I didn’t see any let down even up until the last drive. We had enough mistakes against a good team that doesn’t allow you to be able to move the chains. I thought the opening drive of the second half was going to be really important, and it just didn’t come away with points there either. We fizzled down the stretch and we have to play better football next week.”

On Chance Campbell’s Interception:

“He’s playing at a really high level. I think the first four games, he was one of the better players on the defensive side of the ball and probably our top cover guy. He put himself in a position to make a big play last week and all of a sudden, he’s going against a Heisman trophy candidate and you go and get one. The kid never stops competing, never stops fighting and it turned out to be a big play for him.”

On Being Proud of his Team:

“I’m very proud to be their coach, I’m proud of them and I’m proud of the way they compete. Now it’s time to go do our job and go into conference, and go fight like heck to go 1-0. That’s our job in a production based business, that’s including myself. I’ve got to do a great job of getting them ramped back up and getting them ready for conference play.”

Georgia Southern QB JC French

On Thoughts Throughout the Game:

“The whole team knew it was going to be a dog fight since the first snap and really just executing was the ultimate goal, limiting the drive killers. Whether it’s sacks that are my fault, penalties, these are just the big things and moving forward, we collectively need to hone in on especially me with the sacks. Moving forward we need to keep a level head and get back to work.”

On Pressure Going into this Game:

“There is always pressure, pressure is a privilege. I believe that going into the game, if you protect the ball there is a chance to win the game. By me not doing that didn’t give me a chance to win the game, and I think moving forward, I just need to keep limiting turnovers.”

On Dexter Williams Coming in at Quarterback:

“Yeah that was awesome, we all prepared really hard throughout the week and it was really awesome to see him march down the field like that. We were proud of him.”

On Applying the Last Few Weeks to the Next Game:

“Learn from our mistakes, come back next week level headed and just get back to work for conference play.”

Georgia Southern linebacker Marques Watson-Trent

On Scoring Early:

“First I just want to give my heavenly father all the glory, putting us in that position. You know it’s tough. We knew it was a really good team and a really good opponent. They scored fast. Those things we are built for. You have to be able to respond. You can never panic, especially in a game like this. I felt like that’s what we did. We fought all the way ’til the end. I love my guys, I love how they prepared.”

On Extra Energy for this Game:

“I think I just prepare every game the same, can’t let the environment change who you are. I come out there everyday and give my all for my teammates and for this community; that’s all it is.”

On Being Proud of the Team:

“We play at Georgia Southern and the tradition is to win and we expect to win every week; I love the way we compete. Coach talked about us having the toughest schedule in the country and it’s for a reason. To prepare for conference play, we learned a lot and played a lot of great teams so we can build from the field.”

On Conversations Throughout the Game:

“You gotta compete. Just like I said, we honor Georgia Southern and what it means to play here and to even get out there on the field for those people. That’s just who we are. That standard and tough discipline, we just carry that standard everywhere we go. Win or lose, we are going to fight.”