'Those bells are really annoying:' Everything Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss Egg Bowl win

STARKVILLE — Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin didn't mince words about cowbells after his Rebels' Egg Bowl win.

Kiffin led Ole Miss to a 31-21 win over Mississippi State Thursday night to get the Rebels (10-2, 6-2 SEC) in a position to earn a New Year's Six bid. After the game, Kiffin talked about what made his team capable of setting schools records, what he likes about his defense and those cowbells.

REPORT CARD: Ole Miss football gets mostly A's in impressive Egg Bowl win

Here's everything Kiffin said after Thursday's win.

Opening statement:

I'm really grateful of our players that they could come here in a short week in a very hostile environment. I've been here one time before when I was at Alabama, but it was different. There was different energy in there. It really cost us on the early fourth down. We were trying to get out of it but of course you're not supposed to ring them at that point and it seemed like they were. That cost us a critical situation there.

The defense was bend don't break the whole day. Keeping them to all those field goal attempts was huge. The offense struggled early. Those are really good defensive players. I've said it all week. We saw them in warm-ups. They're long. They've recruited really well there on defense. You can see it.

So it's not easy. The guys rose to the occasion and found a way to win. They did it. It wasn't easy. That's a top-10 rush defense on the road. I'm just so proud of our guys. It's just awesome to see them.

These fifth and sixth year seniors, what they've been through to get to this point. To watch them and just watch them sing there at the end and enjoy it, it was really neat.

We told them all week 'You can do things that are special, but it's really special if you do something that's never been done before at a place.' They've never won 10 regular season games. For this group of players and assistant coaches to do that was really cool.

When did you foresee this type of 10-win potential?

I would've foreseen this (at the start) of the season. I don't know if you would've asked me two years ago when we first got here. After spending a year with the offensive firepower coming back, I don't know if I would've predicted it if you told me the quarterback would've been hurt, all three receivers would've been hurt. But our defense held us together through those injuries and did it again tonight.

The third downs are kind of crazy. 11 of 18 for us and 4 of 14 for those guys is huge.

What made this team's personality different?

I don't know. I kind of call them a blended family. Just kind of put together. Some of them have been here for six years from the beginning. Some of them have been here for one year. We've got transfers, walk-ons, everything. It's really cool to see them pick each other up.

Every coach always says 'This team's a family.' They say that every year and that's not really true. This is one of those unique years where this team, they really are. And they protect each other like that and play for each other like that.

Can you put into perspective what a New Year's Six bowl means for Ole Miss?

Well, I hope we are because they just all celebrated like we are. We're going to have some really upset players if they went 10-2 in the SEC and aren't.

It really is remarkable what these kids did. They call themselves a band of brothers and they really are. It's just really special. Never to have done 10 regular season wins. Football has been played here a long time and the SEC is as strong as ever with more SEC teams than there used to be. It's a really special deal.

When did you see the defense really first start to believe in itself?

Yeah, I think they had some scrimmages. When we're full strength on offense, we're really good with this quarterback. Our defense would struggle. And then there were a couple of scrimmages where they really stopped the offense and I think it just started with the Louisville game, just such a different feeling to the way that they hit, the way that they played.

Schematical change helped and transfers helped. We went out in free agency and there were new guys like Chance Campbell or guys who had sat out last year like Otis Reese and Mark Robinson and Jake Springer.

What allowed for the year-over-year defensive turnaround?

Two major things: A major schematic change, completely different wholesale on it. We didn't go halfway on it and say on first and second down we'll do it and then on third down we'll do something different. It's kind of like going tempo offense. Just going all in.

And players. You've got different players than a year ago out there too. Playing with Otis and Mark and Springer and Chance, that's a lot of guys right there.

We saw you get into the intensity with your players and the opposing fans. What happened there?

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that. But I get it now. It was different than coming here with Alabama. There are a lot of things said to you on the way out. Their players say a lot of things to you during the game. It gets emotional and it gets competitive. I did kind of get caught up in that.

And those bells are really annoying, by the way. They don't even come close to following the rules. Whatever rule that is that they're supposed to stop, they don't.

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Everything Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss' Egg Bowl win Thursday