LIVE! From the Manning Center: Washington, Ole Miss defense embracing Kiffin’s challenge
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin challenged his offensive line last week.
The group responded with far and away its best performance of the season — paving the way for a season-high 706 yards of offense (the sixth-most in school history) and the first 100-yard rushing game of the season for star sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins.
The Rebels, in turn, came away with a one-for-the-record-books win over rival LSU.
Kiffin’s hoping for similar results, but from his defense, this week against Arkansas. The teams will face off Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The Rebels enter play 4-1 (1-1 SEC) on the season. The Razorbacks are 2-3 (0-2).
“A defensive disaster,” Kiffin said Monday of the defense’s LSU performance. “We played extremely well on offense and played really bad on defense.
“We have a lot of work to do. Good thing we won.”
If Ole Miss, offensively, was back to its high-flying ways against the Tigers, its defense was back to giving up big plays and points in bunches.
And a week after an encouragingly stingy performance at Alabama, no less.
So, just as he did with the offensive line, Kiffin, this week, is issuing a challenge to his defense. Senior safety Trey Washington said the Rebels are determined to answer the call.
“We love the challenge,” Washington said Tuesday. “We had an unfortunate performance; that can’t happen again, and we know that. We’re up to the challenge. We want everything on our back. We’re ready to stand on everything.”
Washington, wide receiver Dayton Wade and running back Ulysses Bentley IV all met with local media Tuesday. Here’s everything they had to say, in videos provided by Ole Miss Athletics.
