Everything Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss beat Kentucky

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin spoke with the media Saturday after the Rebels beat Kentucky, 30-23, in Lexington, Ky. Here’s everything he had to say to reporters.

Opening Statement: “Really proud of our guys, coming on the road in the SEC and winning is a hard thing to do. You play four of these, for now, you play four every year and they’re hard. So it’s like you just have a relief to cross them off and get wins on the road. Proud of our guys. We started poor, we’re down 10-0. Guys made a heck of a play to convert the 4th down otherwise it’s 10-0 and they’re gonna have the ball in our territory. You guys know we play aggressive, but it takes players to make the plays. That really, to me, that was a big turn. They’re gonna get the ball back, up 10-0. From there we go on a 30-10 run to the last field goal there at the end. So proud of our guys, how they played wasn’t perfect. 

“Austin was okay to go back in and showed a lot of courage, kind of (like) the Georgia game for Jaxson. He was ready to go. We just had a plan there, wanted to go with Trinidad with Austin, not being at full speed, and it was good. Really that game a lot towards end really was like last year, just all three phases went the other way. 

“Last year we had the ball at 4, and could have ended the game going down to score, and instead we gave them the ball back. We didn’t stop them, they went down the field and scored, and then we missed the field goal. This was exactly opposite, and we stop them on a 4th down. We go to length of the field, score, and to make it two scores, and make the field goal. Really all three phases did a good job at the end of the game.”

On 4th down conversion by Austin Simmons: “Yeah, just we have a lot of confidence in him and just knew he’d make the plays. They’re hard man, they’re sticky on defense. They’ve been that way for a long time, sometimes throw in all those zones. Really the one time you’re gonna get them in man like that is short yardage. There’s a lot of risk obviously in that throwing the ball down the field like that. Just something we had practiced and had ready for that spot and made a big play and Tre made a great play.”

On being able to bounce back from the early deficit: “I think it says a lot. I think it says they got a chance to be really good because you can see in phases they’ll go right down the field and score with dynamic playmakers and they’ll stop people and shut them down 3 and out. I think they have a chance. Today was a good SEC start. Again, winning the SEC is hard, but winning on the road in SEC is hard. So you can start 1-0 in the SEC when they put you in Week 2 at a game, it was great, now we have a chance to go back home.”

On how much Kewan Lacy changes Ole Miss offense: “I mean, he’s really good, and we had Quinshon for those two years. He’s great running back and winning here without it. You can see it’s hard in the SEC when these games, kind of you turn it over, the passing game’s not working as great, or not protecting, you wanna run the ball, and that was the goal today. This is kind of what I probably would have predicted. You have 48 rushes and 24 passes. Probably would have predicted that to happen in a good way. So that was really good to see, it was a huge part of that.”

On having Trinidad Chambliss at Ole Miss: “It’s really great. It’s a really great pickup to have somebody like that. You’ve seen that model before we had here like Plumlee and Corral and on they do it in the NFL sometimes. So it’s great to have him here. Saw it last week actually, I don’t think people really paid as much attention, but he went in in certain situations last week because he has a unique skill set. He was not 100 percent today. He was playing with the injured calf. Didn’t even know, it was really bothering him more. Just told a manager that adrenaline is a good drug, so you’ll be all right and looks like he was.”

On adding Delano Townsend into the lineup on Ole Miss OL: “Yeah, that was by design going in, we’re just gonna rotate. I thought we were up and down up front today. Some protection early on getting beat and critical plays, just like his interception again. It’s a hard throw when somebody’s hitting you right in the face. They did a good job at the end of the game running the ball.”

On Ole Miss DL getting after Kentucky QB: “That’s what you said this morning, I told our GM, man, these road games, they feel a lot better when you have good D-linemen, and don’t have to out score people. We had this great one last year and so to have a really good one again, that can end games and put pressure on a quarterback like that is awesome.”

On Austin Simmons bouncing back well: “He’s tough, man, he’s tough, like he’s so mature for his age. You’ve seen him go in and strike out, what the third pick of the draft in baseball as a freshman. This guy going in Georgia, play the way that he did. He’s built different that way. I wish I would have protected him better early and more efficiency early.

“He was fine. He said he was fine to go back in. He was throwing and I just wanted Trinidad for some scheme stuff just in that situation I’m trying to basically in a 4-minute offense.”