TRANSCRIPT: Here’s everything Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss’ 34-24 win over Florida

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss football picked up a huge 34-24 win over Florida last night in front of a record crowd of 68,138, the largest attendance ever at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

After the game, head coach Lane Kiffin talked with media about the game, his players, and the talk about him and other schools.

Here’s everything Coach Kiffin had to say:

Lane Kiffin’s Opening Statement

Alright, so, first, thanks to the fans. I thought that atmosphere was electric from the beginning. I thought our warm ups, everything, coming back out the tunnel, seeing it packed like that was awesome. I think players feed off of that.

We had a really good start early, got up 10-0  and felt that in the fourth quarter. So really cool. Cool that I’ve said the player and the student relationship and going down there at the end and the players having fun with the students is awesome and whatever that makes us, 35-3 or something at home, if you’ve been here, if you failed a few classes, I’ve been here for for five and a half years now, as a student.

So pretty cool. Pleased for our players, overcame adversity. We didn’t play really well defensively at all in the first half. And, gave up the big pass plays and really to shut them out in the second half, I think a lot of credit goes to the players, to the assistant coaches for regrouping, and instead of half, we got to keep the ball in front of us and, um, you know, just make him earn it and see if we can, you know, get him to throw us a pick at some point.

So I thought our defense was great in the second half. Offense did a lot of really good things. We left the ball at the one and the three on fourth downs down there. So obviously, 14 points there and we score another time. And the lineman is just watching the play over here and gets called downfield. So, that took that off the board. But outside of that, 5 for 5 in the field on fourth downs, and then defensively to stop them on two fourth downs, I think is a really huge part of the game.

Question: Lane, after the game, the student section, you went down there again, they’re chanting, ‘we want Lane, we want Lane.’ What did that mean to you? And do you have anything you’d say to them collectively for that?

Lane: I mean, it was just a cool atmosphere, like I said during the game. The walk was awesome and you could just tell. So I think it’s good, you know, like I’ve always said, I wish our fans would be the way they are at LSU games because they hate LSU. So I guess we got them to hate Florida this week. So they they came with a little different, not Mississippi-nice like they do sometimes. So that was really cool at the end of the student section and Kewan and the whole belt thing and everything.

Question: Do you think this punched your team’s ticket to the CFP?

Lane Kiffin: I don’t know that stuff. I don’t worry about that stuff. You know, we’ve got a really good-time bye right here. This was a one game season this week to get to 1-0, which obviously would put us at 10-1, which would put a lot of things in play.

But, just told guys, put everything aside, find a way to get to 1-0. Some guys played out there really hurt today. We actually got guys hurt. Got a tight end hurt in warm ups. We’ve had really fortunate luck injury-wise in game, and today we didn’t. And some guys battled through some injuries out there and played hurt, especially the tight end position.

So really unusual game you know. Trinidad misses the throw that he makes 100 out of 100 times when he dirks the ball, was right on the fourth down to leave it down there on the one. So some unusual things happen, but you got to overcome those. I feel like in this course of this season, we’ve gotten a lot of breaks. I’ve said and then today, some went the other way, you know, like the hands to the face during the kick. That’s not post kick. Okay. So that should be first down there. And it doesn’t do any good when you come over you talk about it and then you say afterwards, ‘yeah you’re right.’ Well that’s the point of getting it right as officials. So that was really frustrating as you probably saw because that’s critical play. It’s first and goal right there instead of the field goal. And obviously it was during the kick. Um, so whatever.

Question: Lane, read the story from Ross Dellenger this week that he had that sit down with you. And there was a really striking quote there at the end where you talked about picturing yourself being at the elite Blue Bloods, but you sort of changed and you didn’t think it was necessarily a place like Ole Miss, but you’ve sort of changed your, your way of thinking and that maybe this is the last chapter. There’s a lot of talk about you for coaching searches right now. Do you anticipate being the head coach at Ole Miss next year?

Lane: Yeah, I think the last chapter thing makes me feel like I’m like 80 years old, you know, so I don’t like being old. So I don’t really like that part of the story that makes me feel like I’m on my last chapter. So, I love what we’re doing here. Today was awesome. And I don’t talk about that stuff. And really, to even talk about it right now would be so disrespectful to our players and how well they played today. So, you know, we got a lot of things going here, doing really well. And I love it here.

Question: You’ve talked about Kewan a lot. But what specifically tonight allowed him to go for over 200 yards and three touchdowns.

Lane: Give him the ball 31 times. So you know, he’s elite. And really I think in the second half of the season, as you look, he’s gotten stronger, which is highly unusual.

You know he leads the SEC I think in carries by far. Um, he might lead the NCAA now. And really that’s unusual because you get wear and tear normally throughout the year. Really, maybe Derrick Henry is the only one we’ve had like that that got stronger and he carried the ball 90 times in the Iron Bowl and in the SEC Championship against Florida, actually in seven-day span. And I think Kewan could do something like that.

He just seems to get stronger. He plays almost every snap during the game. And and he just is really an elite player because usually your track fast guys like him, they can’t stay durable and run the way he does in between the tackles and short yardage. So he’s really unusual and going to make a lot of money.

Question: What were the differences in the first half defense and it the second half defense.

Lane: Covering them. I mean in the first half you know we’re just letting them run down the field on play action. And you know, so don’t matter how many receivers you got hurt anybody if you don’t cover them they can catch it. So you know really at halftime we said let’s just stay back. Let’s drop more and make him earn it. And, an we did that and really played great in the second half and finally got that critical interception.

Question: With this game having so much significance, so much weight to it and you being the focus, just what was it like for you emotionally out there today?

Lane: I didn’t, this isn’t coach speak, I don’t give you coach speak. I didn’t even think about that stuff. I was just trying to coach the game, put us in the best position to win. And really, that was like I said, there was really unusual, which is football. You’re going to get really bad, good and bad things happen in a game. And we got a lot there bad early on in that second quarter especially, and just felt like, okay, this is a lot of stuff to overcome. But I think that shows that we are potentially a really, really good team, that we can overcome those things and still win by a couple scores and have 538 yards in a game against a good defense. That defense has given a lot of people problems throughout the season.

Question: You don’t play for a little less than two weeks. Do you like where the bye week is and kind of what’s your game plan going for the next couple of weeks?

Lane: I do, especially with Dae’quan and you’ll probably watch the TV copy, you’ll see better. He has one shoulder in there so he can’t even block. And really, two of the passes — and probably our fault for putting him back on that last one because I talked to him. He’s like, ‘I’ll catch it, coach.’ I’m like, ‘you can’t raise your arm.’ And he’s like, ‘I will.’ And so he went back in and couldn’t really raise it and catch it. So, probably my fault putting him in there, but he’s very critical. So hopefully getting some rest with him and getting him back. And then, Kite had come back, which is big for us. And then he re-hurt himself. So this is a good time (for a bye).

Question: I know he’s only been here, not even a full year, but, tonight was senior night. Just what has Trinidad Chambliss meant to this program in his time here?

Lane: Yeah, I forgot about Senior Night. I feel like it’s almost everybody’s senior night because they just go to the portal, so, I don’t even know why we have senior night, like (let’s have) Portal night (for) all guys that are thinking about going in the portal, so I hadn’t even thought about that, but Trinidad’s been awesome. I mean, you said a year, he ain’t been here close to a year. The guy just got here this summer. I mean, another 300 yard game against, like I said, a good defense that blitzed us a lot today and gave us some issues with that. So we had to pop some runs into those pressures on third down like you saw later in the game.

But Trinidad made a lot of really critical plays. He obviously missed the easy throw, but he makes the other touchdown that the lineman downfield over there that obviously had nothing to do with Trinidad. He made a great play on that. So he’s been awesome. I think it’s an amazing story and really kind of like his last year. The guy didn’t start at the beginning of the season where he was at and won the national championship. So now he’s starting here and who knows.

Question: Lane, you praised tonight’s environment. Since you got here to now, do you believe this Ole Miss fan base and program has kind of risen to the occasion to be respected and revered as a kind of blue blood or elite program?

Lane: It was today. Were you here last week? No, they answered the call today and they have in some big games for us, and that’s been critical. I’m just telling you, when you run out there, and I just think it’s a big deal, especially the way we face. And you run out there and that thing’s half full, it’s just a different energy that it creates for your players. So, tonight being full at kickoff and and they stayed, you know, is really, really important.

Question: Lane, what does it mean for you personally just to get your first win over Florida as a head coach, especially after they knocked you guys out last year?

Lane: I seriously hadn’t thought about that, but thanks for reminding me. So yeah, that’s why we played their song because we finally beat them. Yeah, I really hadn’t thought about that.

I had thought about how far our program has come because that was our first game, actually, Florida. Unless you’re talking about the Florida Tennessee game, that was a long time ago. We lost to them. But the first game of our program here, we played Florida and we were a long ways away on the field from them. We scored late, so it looked like we scored a lot, but, you know, that day, the programs were a long, long ways apart.

So spend five-and-a-half years later here, almost six years later, it’s really cool to see where our program is. Not just in that match up versus them, but just in the SEC. So, like I said, I told our guys this week, I’ve said it for two weeks. As you get older,  everybody always says the good old days, like, ‘man, remember in the good old days when we were in high school and everybody talks about how good they were’ and and I said, ‘hey guys, I think we’re in the good old days right now.’ So I think we’re in them. I think for our fans, for our players, it’s like this utopia of what’s going on. So enjoy it. Because, these runs don’t happen very often anywhere. So it’s really cool.

Question: Lane, How do you how do you set aside the the Kiffin to Florida talk? And do you let your representatives kind of handle all those machinations kind of going on? And what’s kind of, I guess your message to, you know, Ole Miss fans, I mean, talking to some of them before the game, a lot of them are just like, we just kind of want some clarity here.

Lane: Okay, I feel like you’re a Florida guy. You know, I don’t think we were distracted, you know, 538 yards today for an offense seems pretty focused. So We’ve been dealing with what people would say has been a distraction for weeks now, including at Oklahoma, that was a pretty good team. So, I think it’s different nowadays. I told you, I think kids think differently. You know, they’re getting pre-portaled every Saturday night they play well, from other people. So I just talked to them and say, ‘hey, that’s that’s part of the process man. When you guys play really well these things happen. Your coach gets talked about’ and it ain’t the first time, first year it’s happened around here. So, I don’t think it’s a problem.

Question: Lane with the win, you guys clinched your fourth ten-win season in the last five years. You’ve talked about the importance about that in the past. How has it been building up this program to where it is now?

Lane: That’s a cool stat. Again, that’s a lot of players doing really good things over time here. Assistant coaches, I thought last offseason, you know, we lost a ton of players to the draft, most in the history of the school. Somebody said the other day, I forgot about that. And then I think two returning starters coming into this year. And so now to be 10-1 where they are, I think says a lot about the assistant coaches, too. And the general manager, Billy, like they all stayed in the off season. A lot of them had choices to leave and different jobs, and they decided to stay. This is the first off season we ever went 100% with coaches not leaving. And I think that that that has a lot to do with us getting all these new players to, to perform and play really well.

Question: Lane, I mean, we’ve talked at length about the family element and your family being around here, but the first person that you looked at when the clock hit zero was Knox, who was right there. And then you were walking off and you saw Layla and your face lit up and you went after you. It was like you were about to go sack a quarterback there. Um, what what how much sweeter is it having them around here? I know you get that question every week, but. But in a win like this.

Lane: That’s a really cool story about Knox. The only problem with your Layla story is that was Keith’s wife that I hugged. Not Layla. So I guess all blondes look alike. But other than that, it was a cool story. I don’t know. You know, somebody said, just seeing Knox play last night, like the whole good old days that I tell our players, I’m in them right now for my life.

And so I just think people don’t realize when they’re in them. And then they get older and they say, ‘remember that it was so great back then.’ You know, I’m just fortunate to be in them. He wins last night, Fisher, one of our quarterback assistant who came to the game with me, after he said, ‘you know, you realize we win tomorrow that means we have a bye and we play the Egg Bowl. And if Knox wins, we will play the Egg Bowl during the day for the Egg Bowl to go 11-1, and he’ll play that night for, I don’t know what they call it  here, the North Division of the state or something like that. That’s pretty cool.