'Did they false start at the end because of the crowd?' What Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss football's win vs. Kentucky
OXFORD − Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin was all smiles after his team survived its first true test of the year.
No. 11 Ole Miss football upset No. 8 Kentucky with a 22-19 win on Saturday. The Rebels (5-0) forced a turnover on downs and two red zone fumbles in the fourth quarter to hold Kentucky (4-1) scoreless in the final 15 minutes and secure their best start to a season since 2014.
After the game, Kiffin spoke to the media about everything from his defense's super-heroic late-game feats to why his offense slowed down in the second half to what this win means for the program. Here's a complete transcript of everything Kiffin said.
THE QB:Why Lane Kiffin chose Jaxson Dart as Ole Miss football's starting QB
60 YEARS LATER:How Ole Miss athletics has changed in the 60 years since James Meredith's enrollment
What Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin said Saturday:
Opening statement:
A really exciting win obviously. In some ways it was similar to the last time we played those guys, coming down to the last play. Our guys showed up. We said all week Kentucky's a really good team. They play physical, they play hard. We wanted to play harder. You're going to have to counter them. Coach Stoops has done that for years. He does a great job. They were physical today. We hung in there. Our guys showed up. We put it on the D-line that last drive, saying 'You guys gotta take this over. They're finally going to be throwing the ball. Go win it for us.' That was good to see.
Obviously we've still got a lot of work to do, things to clean up. The crowd was awesome today. Who knows? Did they false start at the end because of the crowd and help us win the game? Very well could've. That was awesome to see.
What does this game say about the job Chris Partridge has done with your defense?
I think they really believe. They play really hard. We didn't, because of their base playbook, rotate many guys today. So a lot of them played the whole game for the most part in the back seven. Chris has done a great job. He rallied the guys. We've been very multiple in what we played. That's a top-10 team without their running back. He wasn't playing before and y'all had him ranked in the top 10. So with him, obviously they're even better. That was a big-time defensive day, especially at the end.
How validating is it to see your defensive linemen make big plays without having to blitz often?
It's really big. We're based out of a three-down. That's kind of new this year. Part of that is having JJ (Pegues), who was able to play some today after being out for a while. Having some ends who can play and really rush. It was great that Ivey made a play there at the end. We always talk about getting better. He'll tell you he's the same guy that didn't make that play basically seven days ago. Similar play. It was awesome to see.
What is your assessment of your offensive line?
With the center down, that causes issues. We had to double move some guys and play guys at different spots. You're in the SEC and you're playing with two freshman offensive tackles. Those guys did a good job. Micah, that was basically his first significant play starting against a very hard defense to play against. They did a good job.
How important is the combination of this win and the Grove Collective announcement for the future of the program?
I haven't really thought that way. I didn't know it was nine-straight regular season wins. But it was really good timing. Relaunching the collective, even though it's not really us doing it, that's really good. That'll be important because you won't sustain success, you know I'm honest about that, without that. But I haven't thought near as much about that as the energy today in the stadium and the walk. When you play well, that's what you're supposed to do.
What did it mean for you to see your team win the way it did?
I think the game could've obviously been easier if we score (in the red zone) and go up two scores when we're down there and you go for it. That's analytics. I'm sure a lot of people didn't like that. But six points doesn't do you a whole lot of good comparable to leaving a team down there or going up by 10. So to see that, that would've been a lot easier. I would've liked that more. But to see this, when it happens like this, it brings your team together. People have got to rise up and they've got to make plays. It was cool because the defense made a play where people go 'Oh, they won the game.' No, there's still two and a half minutes. Then they did it again. It was huge.
How do you evaluate Jaxson Dart's performance?
I thought Jaxson played really well. You probably might be surprised I'd say that with only 22 points. But I thought he did really well. He had the really poor decision, much like the Georgia Tech two-minute, where he threw the interception. We need to get points there to end the half with some momentum. We had a power read where he pulled it and we could've scored on the other side end zone there. Other than that, I thought he played really well. Really poised. Against a good defense he had a big game and he seemed very composed. It didn't seem like it rattled him at all.
How important is Otis Reese for the defense?
That can be really big. Especially when (he misses the first half serving a targeting suspension), he comes back rested. Their running back sat for four games and he certainly came back rested today. Otis got to sit for a half and came back excited to play. I thought he did some good things there and we needed him to. That's a hard run game. They do really well. They have a really good quarterback. Their offensive coordinator said he's the first pick in the draft. So that's pretty good defense to hold him to 19 points if he's the first pick in the draft.
Are you at all concerned about the slow second half offensive performances?
We'll go back and watch the film. I obviously didn't feel great, especially at the end not finishing it out. But we did move the ball. We just didn't finish drives there in the third quarter and didn't have a lot with the style that they play with. That's going to be the case. You're not going to get a lot of chances. You've got to make the most of them. We left the ball down there on the 4- or 5-yard line instead of getting a touchdown.
Your team hadn't been tested through four weeks. How important was it to win against a top-10 team in your first challenge?
It is what it is. It's one game. Look at the game as a coach does. That game could go either way. Really good team that plays really hard with really talented players, good coaching. We don't all of the sudden have everything figured out because we made a play to go win the game at the end. We've got a lot of work to do. I'm excited to get back to it and to stay undefeated.
How impressed are you by your freshmen and transfers in their first SEC game?
Really good job. If you see the offensive stats, you've basically got all a freshman running back and transfers outside of Jonathan Mingo. It's good that they're coming together. I think if they continue to do that, I've always thought from the beginning of the year this could eventually be a special team that got better because they just came together. Kind of like an NBA team with a lot of free agents in the beginning of a year. Especially when the quarterback is new too. I've said it from the beginning to these guys: It's a very talented room. It's more talented than the last two years, but that doesn't mean we're going to be a better team. We've got to come together and do a lot of things.
Can you tell us what happened in your interaction with Michael Trigg on the sideline in the first quarter?
Yeah, that was not pleasant. He was supposed to be on the ball. We stopped the ball twice, whistling over to get him on the ball. It is what it is. You have new players, you have young player, they come together and it doesn't all work. It has to take some time. Jaxson will be a veteran someday and he'll move the guy on like I was supposed to do. He'll help him out. It just was unfortunate because it was 4th-and-1, they're in a good look, we're just going to hand the ball off and make a first down but we had to punt because of it. But he handled the ball fine.
Contact Nick Suss at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Everything Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin said after Kentucky win
