TRANSCRIPT: Everything Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin Said in Monday’s Presser as Rebels Prepare to Face Georgia

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin held his weekly presser Monday, discussing the upcoming game against Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs, a pivotal game in the Rebels’ continued quest to reach the 12-team College Football Playoffs.

Here’s everything Coach Kiffin said:

Lane Kiffin’s Opening Statement

It’s a great challenge this week, one we’re excited about playing at home. You know, we screwed two games up earlier in the year, and when you do that, you put yourselves in situations. So I don’t talk about playoffs normally and championships and all that because I think it really doesn’t matter. It’s about how you prepare and how you play. But I told our players, you know, because they hear it all the time, you still have that stuff alive. And in my opinion, anybody that’s going to win it, it’s going to have to go through Georgia at some point. They’re the premier program in college football. You know, outside of Alabama, they won 51 straight games. Let me repeat that. 51 straight games. Not non-conference, that’s 51 including playoffs, straight games, which it’s got to be some record in the history of football to win 51 straight against everybody but one program. So, and they’re loaded as always and playing really well. Went into Texas who was the number one team and beat them. So this is a big challenge for us. We’ve kind of put ourselves in a playoff situation for two games in a row now. And so this would be the third one in a row that we would need to win to, to keep on pace for that.

Media: A lot of what you guys did in the off-season in terms of roster construction was based on games like the Georgia game last year. Do you feel like this roster is in a better spot than the one a year ago for a game like this?

Lane Kiffin: I hope so. You know, that game didn’t go very well a year ago. But every game is independent and different, so yeah, I think we’re in a better place. These guys, again, get the best high school players every year. They’ve got more draft picks than anybody else because they do a great job recruiting and a great job developing the players once they’re there. So when you look at this, they’re all over the field, as always, when you look at the tape Really, you know, again, that one program, you know, with a miracle half of Michael Vick showed up. And I just watched the film this morning and, um, looked like on a field of everybody that was big and fast, he was faster than everybody. So, and that’s the only game they lost with all that happening, they still came all the way back and took the lead at Alabama.So this is a great football team with great coaches and great personnel, that’s why I said they won 51 straight games. Last time they lost besides Alabama was COVID (in 2020) to the Florida Gators. So, it says a lot about what a great job he’s done.

Media: Henry Parrish was injured against Arkansas and didn’t come back. He’s not listed on the depth chart. Where is the running back room right now in your eyes?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, we’re going to need some guys to step up. That’s a big loss for us. I mean, he’d done well this year with the ball and in protection. So, it is what it is. People face injuries and teams face adversity, and that room is facing it. So we need guys to play well.

Media: On Jaxson Dart’s performance against Arkansas, what did you see going back to the film that he was excelling at?

Lane Kiffin: Well, his accuracy. He had amazing accuracy Saturday. And really as you look at the plays, basically his only incompletions are throwaways, for the most part. A lot of times, even when you play really good games, you come out like afterwards and you feel afterwards – ‘what if this receiver wouldn’t have dropped this ball, or if we would have made this throw’? Then, it would have been kind of like the South Carolina game when we screwed up all the people that were wide open in that game. But this was one of those games, and I don’t think anybody dropped the ball. And he really, outside of the throwaways, really didn’t miss a pass except for there’s an overthrow to Juice (Wells) by a couple yards on a fade.

Media: Just how much of a role do you see running back Domonique Thomas playing in not just the Georgia game but the rest of the season?

Lane Kiffin: I don’t know. He did a good job when he went in there. He’s very consistent player. So, we’re going to need that position to play well against a team that most people don’t have much success running the ball against them, for years. The outlier games was the Alabama game, when, you know, it was like Michael Vick in college and nobody could catch catch him. Um, outside of that, these guys have played extremely well. And, you know, some people say ‘on offense, well, they’re not what they’re used to be,’ but the Kentucky game is an outlier for them. Outside of that, they’ve scored over 30 points in every game.

Media: At the end of the first half, I noticed that you were individually thanking a lot of the defenders going into the locker room.

Lane Kiffin: Well, I wasn’t thanking them, I was just saying, ‘hey, we got another half to do. Let’s go. Like good job.’ I really like the way that half ended by stopping them, the missed field goal, and  then we go down and score a touchdown — which is not been the case a lot of times at the end of the first half for us. So, I just really wanted to keep guys engaged and tell them there’s a long way to go here. Even though it’s 35-10, we’ve got to come out and play really well.

Media: You coached with Kirby at Alabama. I’m sure you expect a lot of pressure from their defense this coming Saturday, right?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, they do a great job. I mean, you don’t have to pressure with the D line so good. And then they do a great job of changing it up and really big physical linebackers that pressure. So they’re really challenging the way that they do it. You know, look at the first half of the Texas game against the number one team in the country. So like I said, they’ve been doing this for years because this is the elite program in college football. Took over for Alabama’s run. And if it weren’t for one program, they’d be on their way to the fourth straight national championship. They’d have three in a row, and they’d be number one right now.

Media: What do you think of Carson Beck?

Lane Kiffin: I think he is very talented, played great, played an amazing game against us a year ago. You know, he’s throwing some picks, but quarterbacks go through that. And, it’s a good problem to have. To me, when you have a highly talented quarterback like him that can make all the throws and he’s throwing some picks, you just got to work through that part. And still you got a great quarterback, versus some people around the country who say ‘okay, well they protect the ball but the quarterback can’t make the throws.’ So it’s a good problem to have. Like I said, these guys scored 30 in every game and are extremely talented.

Media: Was there something you were able to to see, and I guess it would be in the Kentucky film, that maybe is how you slow Georgia down, or at least the theory behind slowing Georgia’s offense down?

Lane Kiffin: Well, I think when Kentucky’s healthy and motivated on defense, they can play great defense, which they’ve shown… Georgia game, our game (both). They’ve got a premiere player, No. 0, that destroys game plans. So, I just think they did a really good job against him. And they were healthy like they were against us. They just haven’t been lately.

Media: Obviously, you coached against Kirby last year, but just what’s it like going against a guy who you used to coach with at Alabama?

Lane Kiffin: That gets played a lot, I think, in matchups as coaches. But you know, we just coach the game and most of the time, you’re just coaching your team. It’s not like you’re really going against the other guy, play to play. Especially when neither of us are primary play callers. So, I think more of that gets made (than what there is). At the end of the day, it’s getting your players to try to play really well, regardless of who you’re playing. And, also to have really good players, which he’s done a great job of. He’s a phenomenal recruiter.

Media: How would you evaluate Austin Simmons’ performance at the end of that game?

Lane Kiffin: I thought he did a good job, made three nice throws and commanded the offense well.

Media: Talk about Dae’Quan Wright’s performance, stepping up for Caden Prieskorn who couldn’t go.

Lane Kiffin: Yeah Dae’Quan had a really good game, outside of the penalty. And really did a good job catching the ball and making people miss and and blocked well, too, two games in a row.