Oklahoma vs Ole Miss: Josh Pate cracks joke about Lane Kiffin's Hugh Freeze revelation, gives advice on sign-stealing

As he is known to do, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin stirred the pot with his comments about Brent Venables ahead of a matchup against Oklahoma. Kiffin made headlines after seemingly complimenting Venables and the Sooners’ defense for their film study of other teams’ offensive signals.

The Rebels head man cited a game where OU played Auburn as an example. Kiffin even went as far as to say he reached out to Tigers coach Hugh Freeze after the game that he “might want to switch his signals” because it looked like the Sooners knew the plays.

College football analyst Josh Pate reacted to the comments Tuesday during an episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show. He cracked a joke about the Freeze situation while also offered some advice to Kiffin.

“Brent Venables at home with pressure against a very young quarterback normally doesn’t work out good, and that’s even if he hadn’t stolen your signals,” Pate said. “Yes, I heard it. I heard it in the NFL. You think I don’t watch NFL. I never miss a 49ers, Jaguars game. I never miss a 49ers press conference during game week.

“So everything Lane Kiffin said earlier this week about Brent Venables, I heard them talk about it three weeks ago in the NFL. He was just reading the same script. Don’t let them steal your signs. I don’t know what else to say. It was nice of him to let Hugh Freeze know after the fact that OU had their signals, though.”

Venables didn’t seem to be offended at all by the comments from Kiffin. In fact, the Sooners head man said that he takes them “as a compliment.”

It’s true that Oklahoma has one of the best defenses in the entire country. The Sooners lead the SEC with just nine points allowed per game to opponents, a number that also ranks second in the FBS. Additionally, OU is No. 1 in yards allowed per game in the entire country.

That should make for an interesting matchup piitting Brent Venbales against Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin, who is known for putting explosive offenses on the field. As Pate alluded to, it could be trick for quarterback Trinidad Chambliss to navigate such a stout defense in a hostile road environment.

Hopefully the Rebels have done a better job at keeping their signals under the wraps, or perhaps even implemented new ones ahead of this week. Kickoff between the OU and Ole Miss is set for 12 p.m. ET on Saturday in Norman.