Everything Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss beat Georgia State

Ole Miss Rebels football coach Lane Kiffin spoke with the media after Saturday night’s 63-7 win over Georgia State. Here’s what he said following the season-opening win for the Rebels.

Opening statement: “I thought our guys did a really good job today. I don’t take for granted these type of games. You know, maybe sometimes some people do, and fans especially, and understand that team, which is much improved player-wise from what they added in the portal, beat Vanderbilt last year. To play 63-7, so what is that, 46-0 run after they scored. When you play 46-0 football, you’re doing a lot of things really well on offense and defense, special teams. Really pleased by the offensive balance. 695 yards and 295 on the ground, in a game that only two returning starters on offense and two on defense. 

“Thought our defense and did really well outside of one play, but we got a lot to work on two. We had the two turnovers and we got to tackle better. So, obviously we got a huge challenge next week. Excited to go back to work with these guys and I think you saw a team that’s got a chance to be good. You look around the country, a lot of times these games, (will be) one, two score games and stuff. Was really pleased with that. Pleased how our team played pretty clean today.Good star, 1-0.”

On Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons’ first start: “He had one really bad play, the second interception. The first one’s not his fault, the right guard gets beat. They’re in a blown coverage, we’re gonna score a 75-yard touchdown, walk in the end zone and the guy that blows the coverage picks it off. That’s not his fault. The other one is. We’ve seen that before with young quarterbacks, kind of almost the same interception we saw Jaxson throw at home onto his right his first year. I thought he did some really good things. Scrambled the way that we would want, you know, slid and took care of himself, but also showed that he can move around and make some plays with his feet. I thought Trinidad did a really good job coming in and so really glad that both those guys did well outside one really poor play.”

On Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy: “It was awesome. I mean, I just tell you how it is, we didn’t have that, you know a year ago and so it’s really good to have it back. I was looking forward to that and kind of thinking he was gonna play like that because that’s how he practices and got a unique skill set of speed and power. It’s great to see that a ball can break and go score and not get caught. Makes it a lot easier not to call more plays afterwards. That was great to see.”

On Ole Miss offensive linemen: “You would think with the output it would’ve been cleaner. We got beat a couple times at guard, both sides, and so I thought it was pretty inconsistent, but some good things. Some good things on Kewan’s longer run and some good finish with some things. I’d say actually better in the run game than the pass game at times.” 

On TE Caleb Odom’s play: “Caleb was doing great in camp, had an injury. I think missed like the last week and a half before this week so we just got him back and that was tough to miss those times in a transition to another position playing tight end, but I mean he did some good things in there and I think he’s a really good weapon to have. He did good. Dae’Quan got pulled because he was just playing a lot of plays and feel like we shouldn’t be playing him, but Dae’Quan played great prior to that.”

On Penn State transfer WR Harrison Wallace: “He looked great, man. Very aggressive in the punt return game. He’s been awesome. He’s been great for us and a great transition. I think he loves the offense, you know with eight targets today. So, really good. They played like I would hope, you know, Deuce (Alexander) had the one drop, but the receivers played really good and the tight ends in that. They played really well, especially in the passing, and I was kind of thinking that’s what we had. It was a really good skill set, really good deep receivers and tight end. They showed up today.”

On starting with seven straight passes for Simmons: “Some of our stuff is run pass option. A lot of that scripted and just wanted him to start really fast, and got really good skill guys out there and thought that that was a place of attacking. We approached this game like we would an SEC game. Like hey, this is where we’d attack people. This is how we’d play against the opponent that we were playing and that’s really what it kind of dictated to and where our strengths versus, in my opinion, where their weaknesses were.”

On Ole Miss DT Zxavian Harris getting an interception: “Yeah, it’s kind of crazy for him to be a senior which there’s only like three guys that have been here the whole time like that. It’s the world we live in now today, unfortunately. He’s a force and had a great camp and really presents a lot of problems to defenses and that was exciting to see him today and and he created a lot of havoc.”

On the Wildcat formation for Ole Miss: “I mean, we just try to get guys in the best position and we’re very creative I think in that and so yeah there’s some experiment in there and some different things to look at and present things for other people to have to practice too.”

On his impression of defensive line: “Really good. I thought they created a lot of problems up front. Quarterback didn’t have a lot of time to throw over there and so I thought it was really good and did a really good job, 2-of-15 on third downs has a lot to do with the D-line rush.” 

On TJ Dottery: “Yeah, I think he’s fully healthy, too. These SEC seasons take a toll on linebackers, and so a lot of them are beat up at the end of the year, and so I think he was fully healthy today, and he was able to run better than he did at the end of last year, you know, with some injuries and stuff. So he’s really our leader over there, and he’s awesome. Awesome to be around.”