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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lane Kiffin Weekly Press Conference
12/21/2020 | Football
Ole Miss Head Coach Recaps LSU Loss, Previews Outback Bowl
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss football head coach Lane Kiffin met with the media Monday via Zoom to recap the team's narrow defeat at LSU and preview the Rebels' trip to the Outback Bowl against Indiana. A transcript can be found below.
Opening statement…
"These are the problems with losses, you just have to keep reliving them. Saturday it happened, you watch it Sunday for day two and you think you're kind of moving on, then day three the players come in. Had to re-watch with them. Just a very frustrating game. To be a minus-five turnover margin, I think you win one percent of games. Not just to have a chance to win, we had the ball on the road at LSU ahead. Just really frustrating as you watch it, just so many different things. Even the last kickoff return, if we block the guy we're supposed to, we would've had a second kickoff return for a touchdown. Just so many opportunities. Just really frustrating. The bowl announcement I think helped a little bit. That's exciting. That's a really good bowl, one I remember when I was younger going to in the Big Sombrero there. We've got a heck of a matchup. We play what in some of the polls is a top-10 team—6-1 with one loss to the No. 3 team in the country by one touchdown. I don't know much about them yet. I do remember watching the end of the Penn State game, and they did a great job coaching in that game in managing that game and winning that game. We're going to have our hands full. We're really beat-up as you know injury-wise. Then the two opt-outs. We're at the end of the game playing without our starting tailbacks, one of the two best receivers in the country, one of the best tight ends, then Braylon Sanders was down. Kind of running out of weapons here. We'll go down with whoever we've got."
On if the players are frustrated by the close losses…
"Like I told them, we're going to find positives to look at and say, 'If we fix these little things, what would our season look like?' If we're better in two-minute, we have three games where we have the ball going to score to win the game. And we go 0-for-3. If you win those, you're 7-2, you're top 10 in the country, your two losses are Florida and Alabama, and you're going to a New Year's Six bowl. People always say, 'Oh, we're in one-score games.' Well that doesn't necessarily mean you're in control of the game, you may have scored late from down 14 to make it one-score game with 30 seconds left. This is a different deal. Just want them to know how close we would be if we do one thing different, do one thing right. Just really frustrating, but at the same time, the fan base, everything around is a lot more excited than a year ago. If you're saying you've got some blowout games, we're a long ways away—66-3 to Alabama or something like that. I do like that. I think that's showing up in recruiting. Players feel like, 'Hey, I can go there and it's not that far away from being a championship program.' It's not a whole rebuild, take four years thing. I think that's been really good. Two of those three losses, Auburn and LSU, we have the ball ahead with a few minutes left in the game. Make a first down, win the game and you're at least 7-3."
On playing Indiana in the Outback Bowl…
"I was shocked they were in it. I didn't really understand. It's just kind of like this year, there's crazy stuff in college football. I look at rankings and see USC ahead of Oregon, but Oregon just beat them. Oregon is going to the Fiesta Bowl, and these guys (Indiana) are 6-1, and they're not in a New Year's Six bowl. Not just singling out Oregon. It's just a bizarre year in general. I think it should be good for our players to get motivated that you're playing a great team. Statistically, they have special things. I think they're first in the country in interceptions. I want to say they're first in the country in another significant category. These guys are playing great defense."
On pass coverage against LSU…
"There wasn't much of it. I know that much. It was really discouraging watching the film. Obviously once No. 1 is making all the plays, we went to double him. So he caught a touchdown on the in-route in bracket double coverage, that last touchdown. Just really frustrating. I know it's frustrating for our staff and everybody. I think we're 127 out of 127 in defense. That's not good."
On Christmas schedule for players…
"We just gave them the schedule. It's not like a normal bowl game. We don't leave until Thursday. The game's on Saturday. We'll treat it like a normal Saturday game, we'll just leave one day earlier. They will have off I think two-and-a-half days over Christmas. They come back the night of the 26th. Then we go to work with practice, have a day off and we're in a normal Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday, go down there, have fast Friday down there and play on Saturday. We kind of bargained with them, 'Hey guys, we're not going out when we get there. I know that's frustrating because you're going to want to go out because it's a bowl game but it's two nights before the game. We're going to stay Saturday night, give them some time to go enjoy Tampa and feel like a bowl game."
On COVID concerns over Christmas…
"Yeah, we always area. At the same time, I don't think you can not let them go. We talked to them about. Hopefully they're going to do a really good job and keep going. They've done a really good job for the most part. Now this is really the last week of having to do a great job. They're probably done testing for a while. There might be some kids getting COVID in Tampa Saturday night."
On Jerrion Ealy and Braylon Sanders' injuries…
"We don't really go into that much. If we were playing today, they wouldn't play. I'll tell you that much."
On the team's first bowl game…
"It's not a whole lot different. We're going to go Thursday night. It's almost like what you used to do West Coast to East Coast, where you go one night early. It's really just a road game. Normally, you have to deal with the distractions and them managing having fun with being focused. I don't think that'll be an issue."
On his conversations with Matt Corral after the LSU game…
"It's tough. Like we just talked about. He's got to live it Saturday, read about it, hear about it all day Sunday, then he's got to come in here and we have to watch it with him. It's like you're throwing five picks all over again. He's really frustrated. He played really hard. Very competitive. Some of the runs not sliding in the second half on some of those. It was not an effort issue, that's for sure. Just unfortunately it's decision-making. I didn't think we called a great game. I think Lebby would tell you the same thing. I don't think we put him in the best spots at times. We had a lot of stuff or all the quarters, then we started moving the ball and they started, especially at the end of the halfs, playing more man, and I don't think we did a great job around him. And I think we suffered—not to make excuses—we don't have Kenny Yeboah, we don't have Elijah Moore, the most productive receiver in college football going into last weekend. Then he loses his tailback, then he loses 13. Then No. 1 had been out 14 days with COVID and think practiced once or twice last week. That doesn't help the timing of the passing game, and you can see that with the numbers."
On if he expects any more opt-outs…
"I hope not. We had one player talk about it yesterday. I don't know where he is now. I hope not. The one thing about not having a bunch of guys getting ready for the NFL Draft, which we don't. Two already did, we don't have that many more on our team that will be going out for the draft. I guess that's one good thing about that situation. Around the country, you'll see more people not playing the bowl game because they're high draft picks. That's not an issue with us."
Opening statement…
"These are the problems with losses, you just have to keep reliving them. Saturday it happened, you watch it Sunday for day two and you think you're kind of moving on, then day three the players come in. Had to re-watch with them. Just a very frustrating game. To be a minus-five turnover margin, I think you win one percent of games. Not just to have a chance to win, we had the ball on the road at LSU ahead. Just really frustrating as you watch it, just so many different things. Even the last kickoff return, if we block the guy we're supposed to, we would've had a second kickoff return for a touchdown. Just so many opportunities. Just really frustrating. The bowl announcement I think helped a little bit. That's exciting. That's a really good bowl, one I remember when I was younger going to in the Big Sombrero there. We've got a heck of a matchup. We play what in some of the polls is a top-10 team—6-1 with one loss to the No. 3 team in the country by one touchdown. I don't know much about them yet. I do remember watching the end of the Penn State game, and they did a great job coaching in that game in managing that game and winning that game. We're going to have our hands full. We're really beat-up as you know injury-wise. Then the two opt-outs. We're at the end of the game playing without our starting tailbacks, one of the two best receivers in the country, one of the best tight ends, then Braylon Sanders was down. Kind of running out of weapons here. We'll go down with whoever we've got."
On if the players are frustrated by the close losses…
"Like I told them, we're going to find positives to look at and say, 'If we fix these little things, what would our season look like?' If we're better in two-minute, we have three games where we have the ball going to score to win the game. And we go 0-for-3. If you win those, you're 7-2, you're top 10 in the country, your two losses are Florida and Alabama, and you're going to a New Year's Six bowl. People always say, 'Oh, we're in one-score games.' Well that doesn't necessarily mean you're in control of the game, you may have scored late from down 14 to make it one-score game with 30 seconds left. This is a different deal. Just want them to know how close we would be if we do one thing different, do one thing right. Just really frustrating, but at the same time, the fan base, everything around is a lot more excited than a year ago. If you're saying you've got some blowout games, we're a long ways away—66-3 to Alabama or something like that. I do like that. I think that's showing up in recruiting. Players feel like, 'Hey, I can go there and it's not that far away from being a championship program.' It's not a whole rebuild, take four years thing. I think that's been really good. Two of those three losses, Auburn and LSU, we have the ball ahead with a few minutes left in the game. Make a first down, win the game and you're at least 7-3."
On playing Indiana in the Outback Bowl…
"I was shocked they were in it. I didn't really understand. It's just kind of like this year, there's crazy stuff in college football. I look at rankings and see USC ahead of Oregon, but Oregon just beat them. Oregon is going to the Fiesta Bowl, and these guys (Indiana) are 6-1, and they're not in a New Year's Six bowl. Not just singling out Oregon. It's just a bizarre year in general. I think it should be good for our players to get motivated that you're playing a great team. Statistically, they have special things. I think they're first in the country in interceptions. I want to say they're first in the country in another significant category. These guys are playing great defense."
On pass coverage against LSU…
"There wasn't much of it. I know that much. It was really discouraging watching the film. Obviously once No. 1 is making all the plays, we went to double him. So he caught a touchdown on the in-route in bracket double coverage, that last touchdown. Just really frustrating. I know it's frustrating for our staff and everybody. I think we're 127 out of 127 in defense. That's not good."
On Christmas schedule for players…
"We just gave them the schedule. It's not like a normal bowl game. We don't leave until Thursday. The game's on Saturday. We'll treat it like a normal Saturday game, we'll just leave one day earlier. They will have off I think two-and-a-half days over Christmas. They come back the night of the 26th. Then we go to work with practice, have a day off and we're in a normal Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday, go down there, have fast Friday down there and play on Saturday. We kind of bargained with them, 'Hey guys, we're not going out when we get there. I know that's frustrating because you're going to want to go out because it's a bowl game but it's two nights before the game. We're going to stay Saturday night, give them some time to go enjoy Tampa and feel like a bowl game."
On COVID concerns over Christmas…
"Yeah, we always area. At the same time, I don't think you can not let them go. We talked to them about. Hopefully they're going to do a really good job and keep going. They've done a really good job for the most part. Now this is really the last week of having to do a great job. They're probably done testing for a while. There might be some kids getting COVID in Tampa Saturday night."
On Jerrion Ealy and Braylon Sanders' injuries…
"We don't really go into that much. If we were playing today, they wouldn't play. I'll tell you that much."
On the team's first bowl game…
"It's not a whole lot different. We're going to go Thursday night. It's almost like what you used to do West Coast to East Coast, where you go one night early. It's really just a road game. Normally, you have to deal with the distractions and them managing having fun with being focused. I don't think that'll be an issue."
On his conversations with Matt Corral after the LSU game…
"It's tough. Like we just talked about. He's got to live it Saturday, read about it, hear about it all day Sunday, then he's got to come in here and we have to watch it with him. It's like you're throwing five picks all over again. He's really frustrated. He played really hard. Very competitive. Some of the runs not sliding in the second half on some of those. It was not an effort issue, that's for sure. Just unfortunately it's decision-making. I didn't think we called a great game. I think Lebby would tell you the same thing. I don't think we put him in the best spots at times. We had a lot of stuff or all the quarters, then we started moving the ball and they started, especially at the end of the halfs, playing more man, and I don't think we did a great job around him. And I think we suffered—not to make excuses—we don't have Kenny Yeboah, we don't have Elijah Moore, the most productive receiver in college football going into last weekend. Then he loses his tailback, then he loses 13. Then No. 1 had been out 14 days with COVID and think practiced once or twice last week. That doesn't help the timing of the passing game, and you can see that with the numbers."
On if he expects any more opt-outs…
"I hope not. We had one player talk about it yesterday. I don't know where he is now. I hope not. The one thing about not having a bunch of guys getting ready for the NFL Draft, which we don't. Two already did, we don't have that many more on our team that will be going out for the draft. I guess that's one good thing about that situation. Around the country, you'll see more people not playing the bowl game because they're high draft picks. That's not an issue with us."
Players Mentioned
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