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OXFORD -- Lane Kiffin met with the media Monday to review Monday's win over Austin Peay and look ahead to Saturday night's showdown with Tulane.
Here's a look at what Kiffin said -- and maybe what he wanted to say -- from Monday's presser:
Opening statement…
"Back to work, it's good to be in a normal week after not having one with the opener starting early and then last week with losing two days with a short week. Short Monday practice like normal at the beginning of the year. This (Tulane) is a really good team, very talented, very well coached, and that's not coach speak. You can see it on the film. That's why they go to Norman down to the last play of the game. When you watch them, they've got really good players. A lot of times these Alabama, Louisiana schools got a lot of players that are in-state and can't all go to Auburn, Alabama or LSU. So, we see them all over the place, really good-looking kids. I told our team today if you don't know about conferences and you just watch film and watch them play, this is an SEC opponent.”
What he meant: Kiffin likely spent Monday making sure his team is taking Tulane seriously. He made sure to reinforce that message through the media. It’s a Nick Saban coaching method, knowing players — and the people around players — are consuming media about the team. Tulane is talented and Kiffin knows it. Throw in the national ranking, the positive pub the Rebels are getting and all of that and Kiffin’s fear of “rat poison” comes out in this quote.
On Tulane's offense…
"They're really multiple. They're well coached, they cause issues. Looks like he's (Coach Willie Fritz) done it a number of places. It can change week-to-week and look at what you do and give you problems. Not just run plays like a lot of people do. And a really good quarterback that can move, so we got a lot of work to do.”
What he meant: It’s more of the same. This isn’t “coachspeak.” Fritz is highly respected in the coaching industry. He’s won at a lot of levels. Kiffin clearly knows this is a trap game of sorts and he’s getting that message to his team.
On offensive line play…
"Pro Football Focus don't know a lot about watching film, so no disrespect but we didn't play real well up front. I know the numbers look good, but tell Pro Football Focus to realize we're running against a five-man box most of the time, that they're staying deep because there are three receivers. So, you're supposed to be able to run into that. We got beat in pass protection in one-on-one matchups, quarterback had to get rid of the ball early. So, I was not pleased how they played up front. But, what do I know?”
What he meant: This was the highlight of the press conference. People ask me all the time why I don’t do X and O stuff myself. This. This is why. Look, I like Pro Football Focus. You get snap counts and some insight into how players are being used, but the whole ranking/grading thing cracks me up. I’m just being honest.
Kiffin, clearly, agrees with me. This is a takedown. It’s also a message to his offensive line that it has to get better. The schedule gets real soon, and Kiffin knows it. Alabama is Alabama. Arkansas has looked good in the front-seven on defense. LSU has athletes. Auburn, too. On and on. There was some frustration that I thought came out in this answer.
On Tulane's physicality showing up on film…
"It does. They've got a lot of good-looking players. They start different guys in two weeks on defense, they rotate them in. It really looks like they have 22, 24 players they feel really good about, and that's a good thing to have because they stay fresh and probably has a lot to do with how well they played in the second half versus Oklahoma. And really, they gave up no big plays in this last game until the end when it was out of hand. It looked like a third team was in. They're really good, you can't go on past different years, different games don't mean anything. Sometimes the week before don't mean a whole lot, but you look at what these guys have done, they've played really well against some really good players in Week 1.”
What he meant: Just that. Kiffin has watched Tulane’s film. He knows his team must play well to win, and he’s making sure he has his players’ attention. I thought Kiffin was pretty locked in today, and this quote affirms that.
On Jerrion Ealy's limited touches…
"I don't think that's on purpose. He missed out on touches in the second half last week with pulling guys earlier. We were a little bit pass heavy last week early. Trying to work on some things. It's a long season. He's not the biggest back so he's not going to be Derrick Henry given the ball 90 times in a two-game span. But, he does a lot for us and continues to.”
What he meant: Ole Miss hasn’t had to show its cards yet, and Ealy is involved in a lot of those hands. Is Tulane the week we see some wrinkles? I don’t know, and Kiffin isn’t going to say, but Ealy hasn’t gotten a ton of touches so far because Ole Miss hasn’t needed him to and they don’t want to put everything on film just yet.
On having defensive standouts…
"I think it showed up with Jake Springer not playing last week. He's very physical, you saw the way he was hitting in the opening game, so we missed that last week. I didn't think we played great on defense. I thought we played okay. The two defensive ends made a lot of plays with their rush. But we obviously did not play very well at corner with all the P.I.'s and two deep balls. So we've got to play better and we've got to tackle better.”
What he meant: Again, give the guy credit for transparency. There was some expected sloppiness on defense against Austin Peay, and as I expected, the pass interference issues — no matter what anyone thinks of them — are a point of emphasis this week. Kiffin knows Tulane’s offense will present challenges Saturday. It’s a big week for the Rebels’ defense.
On Demon Clowney and Tywone Malone…
"We need guys to come along. We're not playing very many guys up front right now which is not good. Both those guys are ends that are young guys, different players, they have big upside.”
What he meant: Kiffin is worried about depth. Defensive line is a thin area on the roster. He knows Clowney and Malone aren’t there yet, but he also knows if they could contribute now and star later, Ole Miss’ defense would benefit greatly. Depth has been a major worry since Day One. It still is, but maybe there’s some hope?
On Jalen Cunningham's position change to NT…
"That's a hard move obviously to make to go all of a sudden to nose tackle. He did it in high school, so that's a work in progress. He does give us obviously a really big body there. For the front we've been playing a lot of odd front, zero technique. When you have a really big nose, that's a difficult defense, so hopefully he can continue to develop.”
What he meant: While Clowney and Malone might help this year, Cunningham likely won’t. Kiffin basically said as much — diplomatically.
