'Welcome to this profession': Lane Kiffin on the criticisms of the Ole Miss offense, play calling
For the first time in nearly four years the Ole Miss offense scored less than 14 points on Saturday in its loss to Alabama.
Not since November 14, 2019 has Ole Miss not hit at least the 20-point threshold. That date was when the Rebels scored 14 points in its loss at Auburn. The final three games of that season and every game in the Lane Kiffin era the offense hit 20 points, or higher.
So when the Rebels were held to 10 points in Tuscaloosa, and only three in the second half, the questions about the offense bubble up again and the play-calling gets put under the microscope for its third-degree interrogation as if it is a suspect on an episode of Law & Order.
Not to say that is not a fair reaction for an offense that was one of the best in the country over the last three-plus years to suddenly get stifled by an Alabama team that was holding opponents to just over 14 points per game the three games prior to Saturday.
The number is only that high due to the outlier that was the Texas offense pouring 34 points on the Crimson Tide in week two.
Nevertheless the questions, complaints and critiques surface and during his new tradition of a Sunday media availability Kiffin was asked by The Ole Miss Spirit what the protocol of getting a play call out from the press box, down to the sideline and out to quarterback Jaxson Dart and the rest of the offense entails.
“You guys don’t ask me this when we do well,” Kiffin started. “I have answered this before, so it’s the same way I would do it whether we were doing well or not and it’s been that way since I’ve been here. We have a play caller and I interject when need be. But, I let those guys do their job. I say that when we do good and bad.
“They know that. It’s the reason those guys take the job, or stay when they have an opportunity to leave. It’s obviously because they know they get to call the plays. But, I interject. We do all the stuff together during the week, and you know, welcome to this profession. This is what happens when you have a rough game on offense. Everybody wants to get rid of the play caller. It is what it is.”
Charlie Weis, Jr. is in his second year as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss, replacing Jeff Lebby.
Despite a 3-1 start to the season there have been times where the Rebels offense starts off strong and then sputters for a bulk of the middle portion of the game.
An example prior to the fast start inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday is two weeks ago at Tulane. After a three-play opening drive that ended in a Tre Harris touchdown Ole Miss went on to punt the ball the following four drives before connecting on a field goal late in the half.
Tempo of the offense is something Kiffin is not concerned with but more so the overall production of it through four games, which has been at an up-and-down pace.
“I don’t like the rhythm and that really is because we’re not running the ball really efficiently and then you have a number of incompletions in that game. You’re not making any 50-50 plays in that game. So now you have some dead-ball incompletions. …Now you don’t have a lot of rhythm. You’re not having a lot of four, five, six-yard plays and that throws off the rhythm, not necessarily the tempo.”
