TRANSCRIPT: Everything Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin had to say after 24-17 loss to Florida

GAINESVILLE — Ole Miss football traveled to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to take on the Florida Gators Saturday, and head coach Lane Kiffin’s team was looking to keep their playoff hopes alive in Gainesville. Instead, the No. 9 Rebels fell 24-17 to the Gators and effectively knocked themselves out of the 12-team playoff contention.

After the heartbreaking loss, Coach Kiffin spoke with media. Here’s everything he had to say:

Lane Kiffin’s opening statement

So obviously very disappointing outcome today, you know a game with a lot of missed opportunities. We go 0-for-3 in the red zone, get no points out of the missed field goal and get stopped twice on fourth downs and lose the turnover margin in a tough place to play against a team that has played really good when that quarterback plays. Credit to him. He’s a really good player that made a lot of plays in the first half when we had him back there. So it’s a really disappointing outcome. And obviously a lot was at stake and we didn’t come through. So, a lot of missed opportunities. Red zone chances, ball in our hand to score a touchdown and tie the game and it doesn’t go your way sometimes.

Media: What about the dropped passes?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, very unusual. I think somebody jinxed us this week. I think somebody said Jordan’s (Watkins) analytics were 100% catch percentage, and as soon as they said that, I said, ‘I wish you wouldn’t have said that.’ So, I don’t know if that corner, when you look up, that’s where that sun’s at coming that direction. But I mean, that’s a great, great play by Jaxson. Great throw, obviously wish it would have been caught because we might be sitting here with a much different storyline of a great game by Jaxson and how we overcame adversity in a tough place to play.

Media: And we saw a lot of Micah Davis back there running the ball. Can you just take us through that?

Lane Kiffin: You know, just trying to get a spark back there with some speed. And we hadn’t had a lot of success in the run game for the last about month. So, just tried something different.

Media: …That deep ball that was picked off, the first interception. Was that where Dart was supposed to go, what were you kind of seeing on that play?

Lane Kiffin: Very unusual by him. Obviously he wishes he’d take it back. You know, just completely unusual that he would throw that ball in that situation. And he’s usually really good at that. And I said to him right before, ‘you know, we’ve got plenty of time here, we don’t need to take shots. And he went very aggressive on it. The guy made a lot of really good plays today. And again, I wish we would have caught the one because we might have a much different storyline right now.

Media: Against Georgia you kicked field goals at times. Today, you went for it with JJ. Just what were you seeing or what were you feeling on those?

Lane Kiffin: I think that those were probably analytics, pretty easy decisions. You know that instead of getting field goals there, when you know it’s less than two yards, and JJ’s percentage coming in had been great in those situations. He made some other short yardage ones today. So it is what it is when, you know, you play that way and he’s made a lot of those plays too.

Media: The wins this year were blowouts. The losses obviously came in three close games. Is there a common thread linking the losses, or maybe explaining why that might be a close games aren’t going this team’s way?

Lane Kiffin: I mean it’s football, and that happens. You know, the year before most of the close ones, it was the opposite, right? All the close ones went our way. So, sometimes the ball bounces that way. Sometimes when you’ve got opportunities to make plays or situations…I mean, that’s a pretty easy storyline. They’re (Florida) 2-for-2 in the red zone and we are 0-for-3. We outgained them by 100 yards, but they win the turnover margin. So again, it shows how irrelevant your yards are versus scoring in the red zone and turnovers.

Media: I know this is fresh, but how tough do you foresee kind of the next week being…as far as holding the team together and all that, especially after having that third loss?

Lane Kiffin: I mean, we’re just in today. This is going to be really challenging, just today. So I ain’t got to tomorrow yet. You know, there’s a lot at stake here and a lot of disappointed players and coaches in that locker room. And this is the new age setup when kind of there’s the playoff line, you kind of know where that is a little bit. And a third loss doesn’t get you there. So, it’s just a different, different world, almost NFL-ish when you get knocked out of the playoffs, but you still got a game to play. But obviously this is an important game. But we’ll get to that tomorrow.

Media: Meaningless and hypothetical — but would you have gone for 2 had you scored at the end?

Lane Kiffin: We go over all that stuff that the analytics would tell you not because you’re a heavy favorite, but we had the play ready to go. I had thought about it, but I also don’t know if I would have. I probably wouldn’t have because our defense was playing really good. So, I probably wouldn’t have.

Media: When JJ got stopped a couple of times on short yardage, we haven’t really seen him get stopped yet this season. Was that maybe he was trying to go outside or kind of run off tackle? Is that the design of the play? How did that work out?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I mean JJ is awesome. And when you’ve got a d-tackle running back there, there’s a lot of great things about that. You know, sometimes he goes on his own. And so he kind of, two of them he bounced. One I don’t really think… The guy came off our tackle, so I can see the other one. He just kind of bounced. And it’s worked for him too, you know? So, he’s been very successful and had some today and then got stopped today.

Media: You guys have been so good against the run for the most part this season. I think they had 120 rushing yards in the first half alone. What was the biggest difference today?

Lane: Yeah, I was concerned about it. I think they have a really good offensive line. I think those backs are really good. I mean, even talking to other coaches that played them, the one thing that stuck out is how hard those guys run. So that that was a concern, probably the biggest concern coming in. And they ran really hard and did a really good job.

Media: Tre going out in the first half, based on what you know, was it the same injury that he had been dealing with over the last month?

Lane Kiffin: I mean, just a freak situation. He got hit right on the same injury, exactly right where it was and then dropped the ball because of it. So, obviously the injury happened and then we  missed the field goal there, too, versus having a first and ten. So there were a lot of bad breaks today. It is what it is. You know, sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don’t. You know, we got another post corner off the fingers, you know, down inside the ten yard line. So, um, unfortunately, a lot of them didn’t go our way today.

(Feature image credit: Karis Chambliss, The Rebel Walk)