Lane Kiffin says Ole Miss gameplanned for Harold Perkins in unprecedented way

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin made headlines with his unique way of planning for a different playcaller than defensive coordinator Kevin Steele ahead of the Alabama game. That ended in ap loss, but Kiffin still kept preparing for opposing defenses in unique ways. Most recently, that meant finding a unique way to plan for LSU star Harold Perkins.

Kiffin credited the offensive line against LSU as a whole despite being hard on them recently. In particular, that meant stopping talented players like Perkins.

“I gotta give them a lot of credit,” Lane Kiffin said. “I’ve been hard on them and they performed really well today. They took the challenge. I tell you when I think that our game plans don’t work, but they did today. I thought we had a very unique one with Perkins.”

This season, Brian Kelly and the LSU staff decided to use Harold Perkins differently than they did during his freshman year when he broke out. He’s been playing as the Will linebacker instead of being primarily used as a pass rusher. The result is less havoc in the backfield but a better rounded defensive star.

“I guess he has to come back next year. So, we won’t get into what that was exactly, but we’ve never game planned around a person like that as much as we did today, and if you watch it you can kind of figure out how much stuff’s different, plays are run based on where he’s at and it neutralized his impact plays.”

In the game against Ole Miss, Harold Perkins had nine total tackles, four of which were solo tackles. He didn’t however, manage any sacks during the game. In fact, the Ole Miss offensive line held up for the entire game, not giving up a sack on the day. That success is a huge reason why Ole Miss was able to score 55 points and gain 706 yards.

Next up for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss will be the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Lane Kiffin credits Ole Miss for making plays in fourth quarter

Ultimately, Ole Miss needed a fourth-quarter rally to come back and beat LSU. That rally, according to Lane Kiffin, was created by the team’s ability to make plays throughout the game.

“I’m really happy for our players and our fans,” Kiffin told ESPN after the game. “Electric atmosphere. This ain’t about me. Our players played their butts off and we stopped them when we needed to.”