5 Things From Lane Kiffin's Pre-Kentucky Press Conference
Shortly after Mark Stoops chatted with reporters at his Monday press conference in Lexington, Lane Kiffin did the same in Oxford. Like Stoops, Kiffin isn’t completely pleased with his team following their performance in Week Four, and like Kentucky, Ole Miss is battling some injuries ahead of Saturday’s game in the Grove. Here are the five things Kiffin said that stood out to me.
1. Tale of two halves vs. Tulsa
Ole Miss beat Tulsa 35-27 on Saturday, the same margin by which Kentucky beat Northern Illinois. The Rebels actually trailed Tulsa 14-7 in the second quarter before scoring 28 points to take a 35-17 lead into halftime. They did not score again.
“You would have thought after watching the first half of that game there’s no way we’re not going to score in the second half,” Kiffin said today. “So, like anything here, I’m trying to take negatives and turn them into teaching lessons and you know, that was a really good one. You cannot expect just because you scored 35 points and a bunch of yards in the first half that the second half is gonna go that way.“
Temperatures climbed into the 90s during the second half of Saturday’s game, but Kiffin downplayed heat being a factor in his team’s poor performance.
“I don’t know that it was as much the heat. [Tulsa] got to play in the same heat and I think it was just guys losing focus and missing assignments and making poor decisions…So you know, there are a lot of things that go into it and I don’t — it was the same heat that was in the first half, so no.”
For what it’s worth, Saturday’s forecast looks absolutely beautiful, with a high of 80 and a low of 55. Weather will not be an excuse for anything.
2. Still frustrated with crowds at Vaught-Hemingway
Ole Miss is 4-0 and ranked No. 14 in the country but amazingly, keeping fans in the stands has been a struggle. After the Rebels took a big lead at halftime, fans slowly trickled out of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, especially the student section. Kiffin has repeatedly voiced his frustrations over the crowds, and yesterday, Ole Miss wideout Jaylon Robinson tweeted this plea to fans to stick around.
Saturday is Ole Miss’ homecoming, so a better crowd is expected, although the game has not yet sold out. The energy in the stadium has been so bad this year that Kiffin is telling his players to rise above it.
“Regardless of what you come out to before the game or at halftime, when you come back out and you run out the tunnel and it looks like a high school game being played in a college stadium, you can’t let that affect you. There’s a psychology to that. Obviously, there’s a home-field advantage for a reason. And, you know, when it goes the other way, you kind of have that feeling, you know, are we still really playing in a game here? The players have to fight that.”
Approximately one million Kentucky fans are heading to Oxford by my last count. This sounds like the perfect opportunity for the BBN to make its presence known in what could be a sleepy Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
3. Mum’s the word on injured RBs
Like Kentucky, Ole Miss is dealing with some injuries this week. This morning, OM Spirit’s Chuck Rounsaville said he expects running back Zach Evans to play vs. Kentucky after suffering a hip pointer, but the Rebels will be without former SMU running back Ulysses Bentley IV. As you might expect, Kiffin didn’t share much when asked about his two running backs today.
“I would hope they go and that’s when we’re at our best when all three [running backs] are there and there are some special team roles that are involved with that group too that are important.”
4. An impressive shared stat
Shoutout to the Ole Miss reporter that shared this fun fact during today’s press conference: Ole Miss and Kentucky are both 15-3 over the last 18 games. Only two SEC teams have better records during that span, Georgia and Alabama.
“I would have taken that,” Kiffin said when asked if he could have imagined that when Ole Miss and Kentucky played in 2020. “And I mean, I normally say, hey, we have high expectations and always want to do better but that’s a pretty good number. And I guess Mark [Stoops] might say the same thing. Especially playing in the SEC.”
5. Lane’s got jokes
Lane Kiffin press conferences never disappoint. Today, Kiffin shared one of the things he’s learned after moving back to the South. A reporter asked him about Kentucky’s decision to stick with Mark Stoops despite his early struggles, a rarity in the dog-eat-dog world of college sports.
“When coaches take over a program, is there a number generally that they think, ‘Oh, I’m going to start seeing a difference right here,’ and are most administrations waiting that long?”
“There’s one of those questions you know the answer to about administrations waiting that long. I call that a southern thing, when you ask questions that you know the answer to just to hear the answer to confirm your answer. Yeah, administrations don’t wait very long [to fire people] nowadays.
“I’m learning. So like when people said, ‘Hey, do you live right by the country club?’ And then they’re like, ‘Hey, does the house look like this?’ Well, if you don’t know how are you describing the house? Exactly.”
He’s not wrong.
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