OXFORD -- Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin met with the media, discussing the 11th-ranked Rebels’ 31-28 win at Texas A&M this past Saturday and detailing his plans for his team during its open date this week.
Here's a look at what Kiffin said -- and maybe, just maybe, what he meant -- during Monday's press conference.
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Opening statement…
What he said:
"Really excited we got a road win in a hard place to play. Really good timing for a bye. Sometimes they can come at a bad time, when you don't necessarily need them as much. We're playing with a lot of injured players that this will be very significant and hopefully, if we can get them back, can help us all over, but especially defensively. Like I tell the players, you want things to go perfect, but when they don't, other good things happen. Like I told them after the game, I wish we would've closed it out on offense twice when we had the ball and made some first downs and ran the clock out, but we didn't and put our defense in the situation there to have to win the game for us, which they did. That was great to see, and then very significant special teams play on that 60-yard punt that was able to milk some time off too that they didn't field. Very pleased. We've got a lot of work to do, a lot of improvement to do. But to be 8-1 at the bye. If you would've said at the beginning of the year, with so many brand-new players and the quarterback question. Obviously you'd love to be 9-0, but we lost a lot of people from last year, and there were a lot of questions coming in with all the portal guys and how they'd fit and all of that. We've got a lot of work to do to improve, but record-wise, that's pretty good considering all those things.”
What he meant: Obviously a lot on his mind today, as Kiffin touched on a lot of things in sort of an extemporaneous thoughts opening statement. His team is beat-up and still thisclose to being a great team, but to be 8-1 right now is a major accomplishment. Period. He knows it. Yeah, he’d love to be 9-0, but he would’ve taken 8-1 and I think he was about to say that and the perfectionist in him wouldn’t let him finish the sentence.
On getting healthy during the bye…
What he said:
"On any open date, you still want to get some work done, maybe new schemes or things, but especially players who haven't played as much. It's so late in the season, so there's more about getting guys healthy, there's more people that you have to do that with, where if it's earlier in the year, you don't as much. There will be a lot of players not in practice and in the training room, trying to get back. Kind of like our common theme unfortunately every year, we're not rotating a lot on offense, especially in the skill, or line, but especially skill, which results in some huge play counts, whatever 82 or something for Jonathan Mingo the other day. So there's a lot of guys who need to get their bodies back.”
What he meant: That was pretty boilerplate stuff, but obviously, his team needs rest right now. The guys who are playing are playing a lot. If you’re looking for frustration, it’s obviously in the lack of depth at this point. As he said, it’s a common thing and his use of the word “unfortunately” tells you it wasn’t the plan. So they’ll rest the wounded and try to get some of the unused guys to show something that might lead to some depth when Ole Miss plays three games in 12 days — Nov. 12 versus Alabama, Nov. 19 at Arkansas and Nov. 24 versus Mississippi State. If you are looking for a reason to worry, as a fan, there it is. An injury or two could be very devastating in such a tight frame with no real depth.
On how recruiting has responded to the 8-1 start…
What he said:
"We're 18-3 in regular season games over two years. They've been a lot of them, they've seen them on TV. That's a lot of wins and success. Usually winning impacts recruiting, at least it used to a lot. We've had very good reception from guys. They're interested in coming into a program that is winning and having a lot of fun doing that. Hopefully they'll overlook some other things.”
What he meant: That last sentence was about NIL. It just was. Everything is in place — winning, atmosphere, cool uniforms, fun, etc. But the NIL is a big deal, and that might be an indication of just a bit of frustration. Ole Miss won 10 games last season. It just might do it again. And people are begging for NIL involvement? If not now, when? I remember when Theo Epstein said that in 2016 when the Cubs traded Gleyber Torres, then a super hot prospect, for closer Aroldis Chapman. The window was open. Epstein paid the price and won a title. Ole Miss’ window to become a power is open, but NIL is a requirement. Kids are going to get paid. That last line caught my attention.
On his pregame interaction with Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher…
What he said:
"That was unusual. I've coached for a few years and always shake hands with the head coach before the game like I was taught. I stood out there for a while and he never came over, so I don't really know what the issue is. The media guys were there doing the game, so they said, don't feel bad, he blew them off the day before or something like that for their meetings. It is what it is. Can't control other people.”
What he meant: I give this guy so much credit for being honest. It’s personal. They don’t like each other and Fisher is being childish. It’s a Big Boy league. Fisher should act like it. He called Kiffin a clown. He should look him in the eye and apologize and get on with things. Instead, he looks like a child.
On Auburn firing head coach Bryan Harsin:
What he said:
"We were in meetings, so I actually didn't know that. When you've been through something like that, you obviously have empathy for people. It is what it is in the profession. I'm not complaining, because this profession gets paid a lot of money, and it's part of it. When everybody roots for everybody to get fired and oh it's so great and everything, it's not just that person, it's a ton of people besides his family—a lot. Especially because the staffs have increased now where kids are uprooted from schools and all those things. I understand why fans root for it, I get it all, but there's a very personal side to it with a lot of adults, kids who, when something like that happens, are going be affected.”
What he meant: This was my first question. I asked it to set up my second question, which I was trying to decide how I wanted to word it. This was a very mature answer. No matter what you think of Auburn or Harsin or whatnot, people are impacted when these firings happen. Harsin will be fine. His family will be fine. But tonight is a very stressful night for a lot of others impacted by today’s decision on the Plains. It’s part of the gig, and you know it when you get into it, but if you’ve ever been fired (hand raised), and Kiffin has been, you know that feeling.
On the young players at the linebacker position…
What he said:
"Some are playing on special teams. We do think that was a really good group signed. We knew that there were some number issues coming up so we think those guys will be really good players. It's a hard position to play right away. It takes time.”
What he meant: I don’t know. I should’ve kept the mic. These hardcore football questions put me to sleep.
On Quinshon Judkins and Nick Broeker winning SEC weekly honors…
What he said:
"When you play well and you win games and statistics look really well in an area like running, those are going to happen. Q, like I said, that was pretty cool on his 19th birthday to have 34 carries, which our staff was all complaining about all the injuries by them. They had nine defensive injuries that stopped the clock that they stayed down for a very long time, as we all saw. It's not like they jumped right up. Obviously, that's usually frustrating for us with tempo. Especially when eight of the nine return, a number of them the next play after sitting out a play. I said, hey guys, let's look at the positive. What they did let Q rest. So every time they had those injury timeouts, he got to rest and was able to carry the ball 34 times. I know it got some play about messing around with their DB and stuff. The game's emotional. I was having fun of them because he was another one of the amazing stories where he had been out the play before. The play was over and all of a sudden he looks to the sidelines and he went down, and he's back the next play, so I had been joking with him a little bit there. I have fun with that. Those kids like him have alpha personalities, 5-star. We communicated after and laughed about it.”
What he meant: I’m working on a story about those stoppages. It’s pretty interesting, and Kiffin very clearly wanted to talk about it. He got a jab in at Fisher here, pointing out that while the stoppages disrupted Ole Miss’ tempo, it allowed Judkins to get a breather on a night when the freshman was playing A TON.
On Zach Evans' performance at Texas A&M…
What he said:
"I think this week off will be huge for Zach. I think a lot of that was adrenaline-based, where he was able to do that. He didn't have a knee brace on, then he felt it, came out, put his knee brace back on. Obviously, he had the one run where he would've always scored on that where he fell down. You can tell he's not fully healthy, but he pushed through and made some big plays. I think that sideline run, running the guy over, which we just showed to the team, was a lot for our sideline on the road game. As we mentioned to him before, there were some early in the year that weren't like that. Then that Vanderbilt game, he seemed to change.”
What he meant: Evans showed signs of regaining his form in College Station. He’ll get a week to rest a bit, but Kiffin knows he needs Evans to get going. He has been around football long enough to know that he’s pushing things with Judkins. He has to take some of the load off of him and Evans was brought in to be THE guy. Ole Miss needs him down the stretch.
On preparing for next week's game against Alabama…
What he said:
"We'll start as soon as we leave here. We just met with the players and let them go, so we'll start on that ourselves with Alabama and work on it all week.”
What he meant: Pretty self-explanatory. It’s a huge game, a free shot of sorts. Go for it.
On if he addresses when his name coming up for job openings…
What he said:
"I never do with the team, never have. Recruits, you deal with that all the time. I would guess any time that you've probably taken jobs and haven't been at one place forever, I bet every coach gets that. I get that all the time from recruits. That's just part of it. Recruiting is competitive. That gets used against us. We've been dealing with that for a long time. It'll be nothing new.”
What he meant: Here was my follow-up question. Obviously, he knew I was asking about Auburn and he declined to go there. I offered that up, but it’s too early to ask specifically. Brandon Marcello is connected and a good reporter, but his one tweet isn’t enough to pin Kiffin down in that setting. It would be unfair, so I went vague. Hopefully, he appreciated that. I needed to ask, but it needed to be done in a completely fair, non-combative way.
Look, let’s be real here: Kiffin is going to be a candidate. He’s winning big at Ole Miss, he’s shown he can work the transfer portal, he’s having success with high school kids now, he’s a genius with social media and he’s an elite offensive mind who is proving he can program-build.
He’s got leverage. He’d be an idiot not to use it. Is he going to Auburn? I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a great fit. I’ve said that. I covered Auburn for six years and another three or so as a columnist, and I don’t think Kiffin is a fit there the way is at Ole Miss or would be at LSU or Florida or Texas or Ohio State. I think he can do better soon. Might Auburn offer money he can’t turn down? Sure, but in light of what’s happening at Texas A&M, schools might be reluctant to do that at this point. And there are things at Ole Miss he wants changed. Maybe this is the leverage he can use to get that done. This storyline isn’t going away any time soon.
