Everything Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss beat Arkansas

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin spoke with reporters Saturday night after the Rebels beat Arkansas, 41-35. Here’s what he had to say after the SEC win in the Vaught.

Opening Statement: Opening statement: “You know, I really, before I get into the game, I hope that the player who was injured is doing okay right now. I saw after that he was moving. Really important to all of us. So, pray for him right now, you know. I thought that our guys finished the game pretty well. You know, it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t pretty a lot of times defensively, but on the 77th defensive play we made the first turnover. Great play by TJ to get it out. At the end of the day, you just kept saying on the headset, bend don’t break and we got to make a turnover, and our guys did. Then we got to make a first down there, too. We’ve got to end the game, I don’t care where you play, especially in the SEC and you got to not give it back to them. I said there’s a lot of talk about that roster last year and what was here. We had chances in two games to end games ahead at the end of the game and didn’t make a first down to end ’em. We did it today. Obviously, Trinidad extremely well. Austin came in and made a huge touchdown throw. Unfortunately, I think Austin hurt himself on that drive, but I am really proud of Austin for going out there and making a big play in the situation. 

“Trinidad’s day didn’t surprise me. Anytime we have gone in the stadium in scrimmages, or his play in the last two games, he’s done a fabulous job. I just think he has the ‘it’ and it’s what brought him here. I think as you look around the country, look at a year ago, there’s an SEC team, they lose their quarterback and they’re a completely different team. They get him back and they totally change. I said in the off-season, just like any room, d-line, DBs, hey, ‘let’s improve the room overall.’ Spent a lot of time and energy recruiting Trinidad for situations like this. Kyle said he played in more fans today than in his entire career combined. Said a lot about him and he took care of the ball. A lot of times, quarterbacks, don’t care their age, when they finally start, No. 1 issue is taking care of the ball and he did a great job at that. And we needed all that today, obviously, with the way that we played defensively.”

On Ole Miss defense stepping up in 2nd half: “You know, Pete does a great job at halftime. I actually said it in the halftime interview on TV. Over time here, we’ve done a great job, just like last week, of halftime adjustments on things and defensively. And so I really had a lot of confidence that he’d figure something out because he wasn’t working the first half. We obviously couldn’t figure out the quarterback and him pulling and stopping him. So again, Coach Petrino does a great job, too. They get paid a lot of money to coach over there as well. He’s always done a good job of scheming people. Really proud of how we made adjustments and limited them in the second half really to the one touchdown.”

On what went into Trinidad Chambliss starting for Ole Miss: “Obviously Austin was available to play just like the report and he played. Just a lot went into it just taking a lot of information in and making that decision really late. I just thought schematically, there was a lot of things against them that we should run that were quarterback runs or where he had reads and I didn’t really want to play Austin in that situation and get him hurt worse running him. Then he came in and we had to check to a run on a play, and he made the big first down, and I think he re-aggravated it. So Austin’s going to be a great player, and he has done great things for us. I just had to make a decision today to go with Trinidad. I guess, luckily, it worked. It’s easier to answer the question when it worked.”

On what having ‘it’ looks like to Lane Kiffin: “That’s kind of a million dollar question what it’s comprised of. That’s why it’s called IT. You know, it’s just a factor. We saw it obviously on his game tape, and then we saw it in scrimmages when we went in the stadium. Even as he was learning the offense and didn’t know everything, he just found a way to, you know, kind of have some magic about him. So he did it today. And the most thing I’m proud of is the way he took care of the ball in the game.”

On Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss’ route to Oxford: “Yeah, I think first off on that note, credit to our personnel department and Billy Glasscock, our GM. How we structure that, cuz it’s hard to find people in D2, you know? So we scour a lot of players, a lot of different things, and just like the NFL does the draft. That’s how we do it here, and Deuce is a really good example, Wake Forest. He didn’t have really big numbers there and found him and now he’s done some great things for us. So it’s just a lot of research that goes into it in off season. It’s how college football has changed, in my opinion, and should be run more like an NFL department. That’s why we put resources, which Keith’s allowed us to, in our personnel department like an NFL system. So some people might not think that’s a big deal, or why are you spending money in your personnel department? We have NFL people in there. Well, you liked it when guys were making those plays at the end of the game. So good job for those guys.”

On anyone Chambliss compares to for Kiffin: “They just said that on the radio. There’s a lot, same jersey number. There’s a lot of Blake Simms in there, the quick feet, similar body structure and size, and the ability to release the ball really well for not a really tall guy and fine windows. There’s a lot of Blake Simms in there. I’m not saying he’s Russell Wilson, don’t get me wrong, but there’s some similarities in that kind of in the it factor and how he moves and holds himself, you know, that I’ve kind of said that since he’s gotten here.”

On experiencing close games like this early for the team: “Yeah, it’s really big for them to go through this adversity if you win. It’s not good when you lose. I’m sure Sam (Pittman) would tell you that right now. So, like you said, they made the plays in that, and there’s still things to make. We have the series before that, a chance to maybe put them away. We throw it slightly behind Cayden Lee, and he drops the ball for what, the first time in a year. So, there’s still a lot of things to work on, and obviously we got to tackle quarterbacks like that a lot better on defense.”

On Ole Miss offensive line: “I think just playing together, you know, made a change at left guard and that’s gone well. I think, too, both quarterbacks get out of trouble, too, so that helps on some of the passes. They’ve really improved, I think. And we needed it today because it was just one of those days, and those games are going to happen. They just happen, and we’ll have a low-scoring one, too, this year, too. It just happens that way.”

On his son Knox getting some playing time in Oxford’s win Friday night: “Yeah, I mean not kind of use this platform personal, but that was really cool. Just walking into the game, and I don’t know I just maybe never pictured my life the way that it is right now, and in a small town and the coach. The security guy, ‘good luck tomorrow, Coach.’ Then the umpire actually comes over in the game, ‘good luck tomorrow, Coach.’ I was just kind of like sitting there with Dr. Luber on the sideline. My favorite part was JoJo Ginn whose dad works here JoJo’s like my favorite kid in town, He went in and scored at the end, and it just really was there’s a really cool moment. You know to have Knox here and just to you know kind of be the coach in the small town. That was really really cool that maybe I didn’t picture or wouldn’t have appreciated a long time ago the way that I do now.”

On how Austin Simmons handled Saturday’s situation: “Yeah, Austin’s a competitor. Austin’s a great player, 19 years old, and it’s unbelievable what he’s already done in his career academically, baseball and football. So he’s very competitive and wanted to go in there and wanted to play and fought through an injury all week to get ready to play. And luckily he did because it was a huge touchdown that he made for us.”

On what he’s seen toughness wise out of Ole Miss: “When you win, you love the schedule that way, so it worked. When you lose, you don’t like it because you kind of want some build up to games and maybe be able to play more players because the games aren’t so close. But luckily, we’ve gotten to 2-0 in the conference, so it’s been good, but we have a really good Tulane team coming in. It’s like another conference game, so we’re going to have to have a really good week of preparation. These guys do a really good job of coaching and have really good players.”