TRANSCRIPT: Everything Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said at Monday’s Presser

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin met with media Monday after the Rebels’ lost this past Saturday to Florida in Gainesville. He was asked about running back Ulysses Bentley’s playing time, the loss to Florida, the upcoming Egg Bowl and more.

Lane Kiffin’s Opening Statement

Alright. So short week, just a huge game. Obviously, a lot of history with this matchup that means a lot in this state and one that I wasn’t very familiar with coming in, now, five years ago and became very familiar with — especially as going around the state speaking with people. So, I spoke extensively to our players about that with so many of them — I think somebody said in our team room, there’s 48 players is what Tom Luke said — that weren’t here or that are new. So that’s a lot of guys to try to get to understand the magnitude of this and how records don’t matter in this game and how much passion there is and how hard players play in this game.

Media: As I’m sure you’re aware, there were a lot of upsets this weekend in college football, and there’s now talk that if more stuff happens, there’s potential for a three-loss team to potentially get into the CFP. How do you guys handle that uncertainty right now?

Lane Kiffin: Well, I mean, it’s a new age now. As you guys have asked before, I usually don’t ever speak about those things to the team because (we have to take it) one week at a time. But I did a few weeks ago say, ‘hey, if that’s what motivates you and gets you to prepare better and stuff…’ I have talked about that before with them. I would have thought after the game that (we were) out, but then when so many different things happened and with us being the early game and the percentages now saying that’s alive, I did tell them that. But I think there should be so much motivation to keep the Egg Bowl Trophy here and win this game and play really well. But if that’s added and helps him to know that playoffs are still alive and that they get kind of the first shot to show everybody on a national stage, as opposed to a Saturday game where these people that make these decisions don’t necessarily see all the games because there’s so many going on. You got a shot to show everybody.

Media: So (with Bentley) if it’s not an off the field thing or personal, what’s the football rationale for a guy who when he did get his extended run, has the longest run of the year for y’all, 50 yards. Has he regressed? Is it a scouting and development issue? Like what has kept him from being the guy coming into the year who was the highest graded returning running back. What’s held him back?

Lane Kiffin: You keep saying, you said this yesterday, this ‘highest graded returning running back.’ I don’t know what that really means. Like I said, he’s handled it really well. If you want to get into highest graded and all that, look at average per carry this year. So, nothing saying he won’t have a great game this week.

Media: I’m just simply asking…what what has kept him — he’s healthy enough to return kicks…Like what’s kept him from getting carries, if you will.

Lane Kiffin: Well, I never said it was a health thing. So, it’s hard, you know, you’ve got to make hard decisions when you’re a head coach and you can’t please everybody. So, it is what it is. But if you want to get into stats and percentages and stuff, well look at average per carry this year of all the running backs.

Media: Looking at the tape, how do you think Micah Davis ran the ball? And do you see him having a similar role in the Egg Bowl next week as well?

Lane Kiffin: I’m not going to get into that from a game-planning standpoint. But I thought he did a good job. Unfortunately, we had a holding on his longer run that he got some space on and didn’t have a lot of space otherwise.

Media: On Saturday, you weren’t exactly sure how the team was going to bounce back from that. You were really stuck on the day itself (Florida game). Now that it’s been a couple of days, how have you seen the guys kind of respond to that adversity?

Lane Kiffin: Well, I think it was good having a short week and having such a significant game to play, to actually have to turn them within a day instead of two days. They’re focused. So I think that that helped us. Tom Luke gave his speech we’ve had for a couple years now in here about what it (Egg Bowl) means to everybody around here. And it’s really a passionate speech that I think helps set the tone for the week.

Media: Coach Jeff Lebby said earlier today that you guys have been texting throughout the season. Just how is your relationship with him? And also, you’ve been now at Ole Miss for a few years, how has this rivalry kind of evolved for you since you started?

Lane Kiffin: I think I’ve just learned more about it. You know, like I mentioned, Tom Luke. He taught me a lot about it and how much it means and we’ve been on the winning side of it every year but one. To see the losing side and how that felt, makes you want to make sure you win it even more.

Media: Have you had the chance to speak with Lebby at all this year and have do you plan on do you look forward to that matchup this weekend with him for the first time?

Lane Kiffin: I have not spoken to him this year, I don’t think. So, kind of is what it is. And, I think he said when he got the job, it’s going to be a really fun Egg Bowl. He said this year, so he was really excited about it. So, I guess we’re excited too.

Media: Following up on Mississippi State, what specifically do they have this year that presents some challenges for you guys?

Lane Kiffin: They go really fast on offense. I think the quarterback can move around and make some plays. I do think they have some really good skill on offense that’s quick and explosive. And so we’re gonna have to play really good defense and get lined up.

Media: After going through the film, do you think there were enough holes on Saturday to be able to run through?

Lane Kiffin: That’s kind of a generic question — ‘enough holes to run through.’ I mean, we could have blocked better. And so I don’t really know how to exactly answer that.

Media: How would you assess the run blocking this year?

Lane Kiffin: I think that it’s been very up and down, inconsistent. We’ve been a much better pass protection team than run protection team. So, I think that we could improve in that. I think — and I don’t know why exactly — but in the SEC (this year), people have struggled to run the ball more than normal. I think if you look at it, there’s nobody, I think, in the top maybe 38 rushing teams in the country in the SEC, which is highly unusual. So I don’t know if it happens to be a really good front year in the SEC. Or not as good of running backs as there has been in the SEC play.

Media: After that loss Saturday, there’s just been talk from national talking heads about Ole Miss and the view of the head coaching job in this program. What do you view this position as? Do you view it as an elite SEC head coaching job?

Lane Kiffin: I do for me. I’ve been here now going on five years. This is, I’ve talked about it before, this is becoming a place I’ve really grown into. And seeing, as we know, Landry coming here to high school and now college, and so many relationships with so many people. And then my father’s situation and just reflecting on that and how much support (I got) from all the people around here, I never thought that he would have passed in Oxford, Mississippi. And that really gave me a lot of appreciation for the people around here. Joe Judge and I actually had a conversation about that this week, about how Mississippi is a very misunderstood place until you really live here. And then once you do, you you get it. So it’s a really special place to me and one that I think we can win at.

Media: There’s a there’s a stat that came out today. It was not really a stat. Someone just had done the accumulation on it that there are seven teams in the SEC that are ranked in the AP top 25 right now. I looked at their road record, it was like cumulative one over .500. You’ve talked about how difficult it is to win on the road in this league. Is it more so now than maybe it was when you were at Tennessee or when you were at Alabama with Saban?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I mean we study that. It’s always been there. We’ve pulled up even stats over time when we’ve looked at since we’ve been here and even look at like the offensive average scoring on the road in SEC games that are playing the same teams, not non-conference, and what the SEC teams score on the road versus home and the glaring difference, At 1.1 year when we were looking at it was a whole touchdown difference. So I think that’s probably always been there. I don’t know why it seems to be more magnified now. But I think you certainly have also these teams that have the hostile non-stop, what I call intense environments in the entire game. I’m not going to list them, but you kind of know from who they are. It’s really interesting when you study them and obviously how well they play at home. But then the drop off on the road, and everyone always says that’s something because they’re programmed and used to having that intensity on their side every game for the entire game. And now that when they go on the road, they don’t have it. And you see some giant record differences of those teams. So it’s really good when you draw those teams here versus when you play them at their place. They’re very different teams, and the last team we just played has kind of shown that this season too.

Media: I mean, obviously there’ll be one game next week, but most everybody else is going to go into the lobbying business with the committee. Is that a talking point that you think resonates with the people that will make those decisions?

Lane Kiffin: I don’t know that. I don’t know whether they take that in, I don’t know that answer. So I know a lot of people do it. But we’re focused on winning this game and winning the Egg Bowl, whatever to get us to nine wins — 20 wins the last two seasons. So there’s a lot at stake.

Media: Last thing for me, I was just curious. I’m not making an assumption here, but Tre Harris, what’s his his mental state after what happened Saturday?

Lane Kiffin: I think he’s still figuring it out, talking to and getting some different opinions on it. So I don’t know much more than that right now.

I do think on that earlier question, I think about it about being here, something that I should have said there is I’ve never been in a place five years. I’ve never been in a place to have a Senior Day. And I just wanted to make sure that I recognize my appreciation, especially nowadays, where so few players stay, to have these guys in the entire time and to have a Senior Night coming up where they came here with us in the beginning, and now we’ve been here the whole time with them is really neat and special. And these guys, when I just said the thinking of the 20 wins the last two seasons, these guys, probably historians here would say, probably had the best run in the history of the school for the last 4 or 5 years. So that’s pretty special what they’ve been able to accomplish.

Media: Is that kind of a misunderstood thing about your program in a lot of ways, in terms of the national narrative of you guys are Portal U and all that stuff, and yet you have a lot of guys like Jaxson and JJ and others who have been here for three years, four years, that kind of thing?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I think that’s fair. And then you’ve got people that have been here the whole time that are playing in their last game. So it hit me again. It kind of hit me last night when Tom Luke was talking to the team and talked about that, about his appreciation for being here a long time and how these guys in this room that have been here for five years have been on the best run in the history of the school and brought in a lot of success here to the program and to the university. So that’s pretty neat to think about those guys and be grateful for those guys, what they’ve done, especially in the world that not many people stay nowadays.

Media: Coach, I know you mentioned earlier that you said you have more than 40 new players that weren’t here last year. Do you feel like it’s going to be harder for you to get the message across that even though Mississippi State is having a not so great year, that this is still an extremely important game, just for not only for you guys to pick up the win, but just for fans all across the state?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, we talked a lot about that last night. Part of why I had Tom Luke talk about how this game means so much and how, you know, throw out that they’ve only won two games and, you know, haven’t beat a power five team all year. You know, throw that out. You know, this is the Egg Bowl and you got to be ready to play.