TRANSCRIPT: Everything Lane Kiffin said after the Rebels’ 41-35 win over Arkansas

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss and Arkansas played another thriller Saturday night that came down to the wire before the Rebels ultimately emerged victorious, 41-35.

After the game, head coach Lane Kiffin met with media to talk about the win. Here’s everything he had to say:

Lane Kiffin’s Opening Statement

You know, before I get into the game, just really hope that their player, their corner that was injured, hope everything’s okay with him. Talked to Sam (Pittman) immediately after, and he was moving. So that’s really kind of more important than all of this. So prayers out to him. I thought that our guys finished the game really well. You know, it was wasn’t perfect, wasn’t pretty a lot of times defensively. But, you know, in the 72nd defensive play, we made the first turnover.

And great play by TJ(Dottery) to get it out. And at the end of the day you know just kept kind of saying on the headset, ‘bend don’t break, bend don’t break. We got to make a turnover.’ And our guys did. So, huge there. And then you got to make a first down there, too. So you’ve got to end the game, I don’t care where you play, especially the SEC, man. And you’ve gotta not give it back to them. And I said, you know, we get a lot of talk about that roster last year and what was here, you know. But we had a chance in two games, you know, to end games ahead at the end of the game. And didn’t make a first down to end them. So, they did it today.

And obviously, Trinidad played extremely well. Austin came in, made a huge touchdown throw. Unfortunately, I think, hurt himself on that drive. But, really proud of Austin for going in there and making a big play in that situation. So Trinidad’s day didn’t surprise me. You know, anytime we’ve gone in the stadium, in scrimmages or in his play the last two games, he’s done a fabulous job. I just think he has the ‘it.’ And that’s why we brought him here.

I think as you look around the country, you know, look, a year ago, you know, when a team, there’s an SEC team and they lose their quarterback and they’re completely different team without him. And then when they get them back, they totally change. So, you know, just said in offseason like just like any room. D-line, DB’s like, ‘hey, let’s improve the room overall’ and we spent a lot of time and energy recruiting Trinidad, you know, for situations like this.

And Kyle just said he played in front of more fans today than he did in his entire career combined. So, says a lot about him that he didn’t rattle and he took care of the ball. You know, a lot of times quarterbacks, don’t care their age, when they finally start the number one issue is taking care of the ball. And he did a great job of that. And we needed all that today. Um, obviously with the way that we played defensively.

Question: What kind of led to that resurgence defensively in the second half.

Lane Kiffin: You know Pete does a great job at halftime. I actually said it in the halftime interview on TV, you know over time here, we’ve done a great job, just like last week of halftime adjustments on things and defensively. And so I really had a lot of confidence that he’d figure something out because it wasn’t working in the first half. And we obviously couldn’t figure out the quarterback and him pulling and you know stopping him. So again, Coach Petrino does a great job too. They get paid a lot of money to coach over there as well. And he’s always done a good job of scheming people. And so, you know, really proud of how we made adjustments and limited them in the second half, you know, really to the one touchdown.

Question: Austin came in for, for that one drive. But, what what made Trinidad the right call tonight even with Austin available? And when did you make that call?

Lane: Obviously Austin was available to play, just like the report said and he played. Just a lot went into it, you know, just taking a lot of information in and making that decision, really late. I just thought schematically, there was a lot of things against them that we should run that were quarterback runs or where he had reads, you know, and Austin, I didn’t really want to play Austin in that situation and get him hurt worse running him. So and then he came in and we had to check to a run on a play. And he made the big first down, and I think re-aggravated it. So Austin’s going to be a great player and he has done great things for us. And, so I just had to make a decision today to go with Trinidad. I guess, luckily it worked. It’s easier to answer the question when it worked.

Question: You said just a little bit ago, Trinidad has it. Would you just mind explaining that a little more? And what is what is having ‘it’ comprised of?

Lane: Yeah, that’s kind of $1 million question. What it’s comprised of. That’s why it’s called ‘it.’ You know, it’s just a factor. And we saw it obviously on his game tape. And then we saw it in scrimmages when we went in the stadium. And even as he was learning the offense and didn’t know everything, he just found a way to, you know, kind of have some magic about him. And, so he did it today. And the most thing I’m proud of is the way he took care of the ball in the game.

Question: Trinidad’s not really like a conventional transfer. He comes from D2 now to here to play, like you said, in front of more fans than he’s ever played in front of. What can you say about maybe his journey to tonight’s win?

Lane: Yeah, I think first off, on that note, credit to our personnel department, and Billy Glasscock, our GM. You know how we structure that because it’s hard to find people in D2, you know? So we scour a lot of players, a lot of different things. And, just like the NFL does the draft, that’s how we do it here. And, you know. Deuce (Alexander) is a really good example, you know. At Wake Forest, he didn’t have really big numbers there, you know, and we found him. And now he’s done some great things for us. So it’s just a lot of research that goes into it in offseason. It’s how college football has changed in my opinion, and should be run more like an NFL department. And that’s why we put resources, which Keith (Carter) has allowed us to in our personnel department like an NFL system. So some people might not think that’s a big deal, or (may ask) why are you spending money in your personnel department? You know, we have NFL people in there. Well, you liked it when guys were making those plays at the end of the game. So good job for those guys.

Question: I’m sure there’ll be a lot of comparisons about the play today of Chambliss. Anybody that you’ve coached that maybe you compare him to, like a Blake Sims that maybe plays into your offense?

Lane: Yeah, they just said that on the radio, there’s a lot. Same jersey number. There’s a lot of Blake Sims in there. The quick feet, similar body structure and size. and and the ability to release the ball really well for not a really tall guy and find windows. And so yeah, there’s a lot of Blake Sims in there. I’m not saying he’s Russell Wilson, don’t get me wrong. But there’s some similarities in that kind of in the IT factor and how he moves and holds himself. You know that I’ve kind of said that since he’s got since he’s gotten here.

Question: Lane, you mentioned how in back to back weeks you’ve had chances to put the game away, but ultimately didn’t until the very end. How important is it for a team filled with newcomers to experience wins like these, both on the road and at home?

Lane: Yeah, it’s really big for them to go through this adversity — if you win. It’s not good when you lose. I’m sure Sam would tell you that right now. So, like you said, they made the plays in that, and there’s still things to make. You know, we have the series before that a chance to maybe put them away. We throw it slightly behind Cayden Lee, and he drops the ball for, what, the first time in a year? So there’s still a lot of things to work on. And obviously, you know, we gotta tackle quarterbacks like that a lot better on defense.

Question: Lane, the first game against Georgia State, obviously the issue was just for the offensive line and their being together for the first time in a while. What’s really been the difference for them the last two games? It looks like they figured something out up there.

Lane: I think just playing together, you know. Made a change at left guard and that’s gone well. And I think, too, both quarterbacks get out of trouble too. So that helps on some of the passes. And but yeah, they’ve really improved I think, and we needed it today because it was just one of those days. And those games are going to happen. They just happen. And we’ll have a low scoring one too, this year too. It just happens that way.

Question: Lane, a little off topic. And I was going to wait and ask it at the end after some other important questions. But last night Knox kind of got a lot of attention with some of his play. Just not just that, but for you to be able to kind of see him and him playing as close this year to you. What does that mean to you?

Lane: Yeah, I mean, not to kind of use this platform for personal….but that that was really cool. You know, just walking into the game and there’s… I don’t know, I just maybe never pictured my life the way that it is right now. You know, in the small town and being the coach and, you know, the security guy says, “good luck tomorrow, coach.” And then the referee, the umpire actually comes over in the game and says, “Good luck tomorrow, coach.” And I was just kind of like sitting there with Doctor Luber on the sideline. And then, you know, my favorite part was JoJo Ginn, whose dad works here. JoJo is like my favorite kid in town. He went in and scored at the end and it just really was a really cool moment, you know, to have Knox here and just to kind of be the coach in the small town. It’s really, really cool that maybe I didn’t picture or wouldn’t have appreciated a long time ago the way that I do now.

Question: Not sure how much of a chance you got to talk to him, but how did Austin maybe handle tonight?

Lane: Yeah, Austin’s a competitor. Austin’s a great player. 19 years old. And, he’s unbelievable what he’s already done in his career — academically, baseball and football. So, he’s very competitive and wanted to go in there and wanted to play and fought through an injury all week, you know, to, to get ready to play. And luckily he did because it was a huge touchdown he made for us.

Question: Coach, through three weeks your team’s 2-0 and SEC play. Now you know a lot of teams start with non-conference and then kind of load the SEC schedule at the end. Kind of what kind of toughness have you seen out of these last two games out of your team?

Lane: Yeah. I mean when you win, you love the schedule that way. So it worked. And when you lose you don’t like it because you kind of want some build-up to games and maybe be able to play more players because the games aren’t so close. But luckily we’ve gotten to 2-0 in the conference, so it’s been good. But we we have a really good Tulane team coming in. It’s like another conference game. So, we’re going to have to have a really good week of preparation. These guys do a really good job of coaching and have really good players.