Lane Kiffin: Ole Miss ‘leads the world’ in penalties
Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin was asked in his weekly press conference if there is anything they can do as coaches to eliminate or minimize penalties, one of the only Achilles heels of this Rebel team to date.
Ole Miss, through seven games, has 73 penalties for 636 yards, an average of 90.86 yards per game. That’s an average of 10.4 penalties a game. Double digits.
Staggering, to Kiffin. Alarming to astute fans of football.
“We lead the world in penalties,” Lane said. “Not just college football, but little league, the NFL, you name it.”
Kiffin said after every game when the coaches meet with the team for their weekly assessment of the previous game, they show them every penalty and what it does to them.
“It’s not just the yardage of the penalty that hurts. It’s erasing a big play or putting you behind the chains,” Kiffin said. “Basically, it’s just making you job harder. This game is tough enough as it is, why make it harder on yourself?”
Apparently the preaching hasn’t gotten through to the team. Against LSU, the Rebel tallied 12 penalties, while the Tigers had only two. Some Ole Miss fans like to blame the referees, but the fact remains the Rebels are penalized way too much and one day it’s going to bite them where it hurts, in the won-loss column, if they aren’t careful or do something to rectify the situation.
The Rebels are already overcoming some key injuries, but to have to overcome self-inflicted wounds on top of that is not a healthy situation conducive to winning.
As they prepare to travel to the hostile environs of Auburn, there is a great need to slow down the refs from reaching in their back pockets for the yellow flag.
“This is part of the theme I have been talking about for the team to go from good to great,” Kiffin closed. “I really think we could be great if we get some key players back, if we take care of the ball and if we eliminate mistakes and penalties fall in that category of mistakes.”
Have the Rebels learned their lesson or will they have to feel the wrath of excessive penalties the hard way, with a loss?
Hopefully they are finally getting the big picture. We shall see.
