Lane Kiffin dismisses idea he was under pressure to beat LSU

Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin won 55-49 over LSU in a wild affair over the weekend but the head coach denied he was under pressure to beat the Tigers.

Kiffin chalked it up to putting enough pressure on himself on the team as it is. Every game is important and pressure-packed, especially in the SEC.

But after losing to Alabama, Ole Miss kept its division hopes alive with a win over LSU but the game didn’t have any extra pressure compared to others.

“I don’t think like that,” Kiffin said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself all the time. I was really disappointed. I mean, I saw Keith after the game at Alabama and apologized to him. We should have won that game. So I take that on myself. I’m hard enough on myself to say this is the game you gotta win or any of that. I’m really proud of us. 

“That’s not an easy team to be because they can make impact plays on defense, because they have two special players and probably the best defensive player in America. So that’s always hard to prepare around and to do that and then you saw the offense. That’s like playing Alabama a couple years ago. Four first rounders, they got two, so, that was tough.”

Lane Kiffin on keeping team level-headed after LSU win

With a win like that, undoubtedly, Ole Miss is riding high right now, heading into their Week 6 matchup against Arkansas. But, the Rebels will need to ground themselves quickly to ensure they do not have a slip-up against the Razorbacks. And on Monday, Kiffin explained how he is helping his team keep their emotions in check after the big win.

“I’m sure for two days they heard how great they were outside of here,” Kiffin said. “So (we) made sure they saw they made a lot of mistakes in that game in all three phases, way too many penalties organization, poor decisions, selfish decisions on some penalties because players are frustrated, and that can’t happen. So, we have a lot to work on.”

Ole Miss is No. 16 in the country, so the SEC West and the College Football Playoff aren’t quite out of reach. Sure, a lot needs to happen and coaches want to take it one game at a time, but Kiffin’s crew is in a good position.

Ole Miss hits the road to take on Arkansas Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.