Lane Kiffin disappointed to miss out on ‘lifetime moment’ vs. Georgia

Lane Kiffin acknowledged that he and Ole Miss missed out on a “lifetime moment” vs. Georgia on Saturday. Up going into the fourth quarter, the Rebels ended up losing 43-35 on the road after being up 35-26 with 15 minutes to play.

Kiffin and Ole Miss fell to 6-1 on the season and now trail Georgia in the SEC standings. He and the Rebels are still looking for that ultimate, perhaps signature, win to put their stamp on the SEC and the College Football Playoff.

“It’s disappointing to have a shot like this, you know, to be up two scores, as I keep saying, fourth quarter against Georgia, at Georgia and undefeated to go to 7-0,” Kiffin said. “I mean, that’s a kind of a lifetime moment, I told them, and it’s right there. And (we’d be) sitting here in a very different (situation), you know, if we make one significant play in that area there. We’re sitting here saying, man, what would a great job coming in here and great job by the guys, you know, getting up early on them and finishing off Georgia, 7-0. And we didn’t. 

“Credit to them … they made a lot of significant plays in significant moments, whether it’s receiver catching the ball, whether it’s, you know, we have the third down route before that fourth down decision where, you know, we throw to Tre and there’s a guy right there and man with no safety and (their) guys made a lot of plays.”

Kiffin knows Ole Miss missed out on a chance to make major headlines across college football. But at this point, it’s all about the next game.

“I just learned that we didn’t finish when we had a chance to, you know, that’s me too,” Kiffin said. “Maybe we should have ran the ball a little more there in the last couple drives, you know, take the pressure off … So, but this isn’t like a statement game. I think somebody asked during the week, is this the statement game …

“One team’s beaten them there in five years, you know? So it’s not like because we lost to Georgia in a one score game, and we were ahead of them (by) two scores, you know, now all of a sudden, our program has got to be revamped and looked at.”