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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Mississippi State
11/24/2022 | Football
Mississippi State 24, Ole Miss 22
| OLE MISS HEAD COACH LANE KIFFIN |
"Really disappointed for our players, especially our seniors. To finish like this, with a chance to win 3 in a row, I really don't think we did a really good job coaching in games and adjustments. Credit to Mississippi State too, they played really hard. Zach Arnett, I've said for a long time, does a great job. Gives people problems, very risk taking and came out today and was extremely aggressive. We didn't respond very much to all of the cover blitz out in the middle of the field. Which is very unusual. Strange game. You probably thought the first two possessions, both sides, that it would be an offensive game. With us driving right down, and those guys driving right down, then our defense settled down till the last drive of the first half. Just really discouraging, just really had a hard time picturing this happening when the game was going. Difficult, and always difficult to end your season with a loss like this because it's not like you can go play next week."
On Jonathan Mingo's fumble
"So, very discouraging and a lot of things went wrong. You have the whistle that we stop, which is what you coach players to do, because you're supposed to stop when there is a whistle. Everyone else stopped for the inadvertent whistle, but one of their guys didn't so he was right. So now we are supposed to teach, when there is a whistle."
On four wide receiver sets and lack of a tight end
"Things happen where you get to play in certain personnels. That was a disadvantage at times. Casey during the week was declared out for the game. He's going to have surgery this week and will be out. Trigg was suspended from our program, so he wasn't available. Kyirin Heath is still learning. That put us in four wides. Then Mingo on the hitch where he drops the ball, hurts his ribs. So then we are really in trouble because, you saw him come by, there were a couple times where he couldn't block the end, which hurt us on some negative runs. One of those challenging situations and it's tough playing without tight ends and they are blitzing everyone to stop your runs."
Tough quarter of offense
"I said on the headphones, half joking, that there's this thing out there that Leach is retiring after this game. I was saying that must be true because the coordinator is acting like it's his last game. He's just running blitz zero in the middle of the field to start series. Nobody ever does that and he did, which is a great game plan and we didn't adjust because you got to make him pay, and as you can see we either pick up the pressures or obviously you can run into that. They did a good job and we did not adjust very well."
Zach Evans lack of carries and production
"Never really got in a rhyme. We had a number of three and out which are unusual for us. We are usually really good at getting drives started and so guys get more carries. His drives stalled. They made a great plan that nobody does. They played blitz zero out in the middle of the field on 1st&10, normal situations, which is extremely hard to run into."
| OLE MISS QB JAXSON DART |
"I mean it's kind of tough sometimes when things are just thrown in your face you know. I feel like as a team we've been able to stay together as we can. We really wanted this game because we really wanted to win this game for each other. I thought that as the week went on, we had a good approach, you know just trying to stay together and trying to finish this year out the right way."
On the 2-point conversion call
"Yeah it was like a pitch shuffle play that we were in earlier in the game, you know it's ambitious and yeah, I don't know exactly what happened on my feet or anything like that but it's close. You know a few inches that go our direction would tie the game up. Sometimes that's just the way the game works."
On the turnover to Mississippi State
"Yeah, I didn't understand that at all. You know they blew the whistle and they were supposed to replay the down. I guess they changed their mind about it. I don't really know all the rules and that stuff but it was definitely odd.
On how this season has affected him personally
"I feel like grown a lot. I feel like I come out better each and every week, just understanding the offense. This offense is tough, tough on the play especially for the quarterback. There is a lot of things that go on and it goes so fast that there is a lot of communication things that come with experience and just learning the system. From where I felt game one to where I felt today, I felt like I put one of my best performances today. It just didn't really come through then."
On how confident he is that Lane will be his coach next year
"My mindset is just whatever happens I'm going to be here and I'm going to be able to just grow and get better. I hope it's coach Kiff so we can continue to grow with each other. In the game of football and college football there is so much movement and there is so many things that just go unexpected and I think I experienced that my first year of college. My expectation is just to be able to control things I can control."
On if Mississippi State's defense was a challenge
"They brought a lot more pressure than we expected. They played a lot of covers here and I think that that's something we weren't really planning on. They got us on third and longs a lot and when you get in a third and long it's a hard spot to be in on the offense for sure. Especially in the second half I think they did a good job of pinning us deep into you know a deep field position. They had a good game plan."
| OLE MISS DT JJ PEGUES |
"It was an original play call. We've been running it for a couple weeks, and I feel like we executed it well. It brought back memories from high school. I got to find my parents and pointed at them during the celebration."
On the mood in the locker room
"The locker room been up and down, but we try to stay together as brothers because at the end of the day we are the ones taking the field. I feel like coaching does a great job to try to block out the noise and stick together in the game."
Summary of his first year at Ole Miss
"I feel like it has been good, and Coach Joiner has done a great job. This will be me going into my second year in D-line, I feel like Kiffin moving me from offense and defense utilizes me and my talent. Whenever my number was called, I was going to be there and be ready."
| OLE MISS LB TROY BROWN |
"I personally don't think so. We know the outside world really doesn't have much say with what goes on inside the locker room. I felt like we just tried to listen to him and what he said to us before coming to meetings and just think about the games. Whether he is here or not next year, those guys will have to come to play. I think we just focused on the games."
On the locker room at the end of the game and the first half
"It's just small details. We played a very good first half of football until that last little drive. It's just small things that you don't realize that you do in the moment that really effects the game in a tremendous way. Me, personally, I felt like I could have gotten a deeper drop on that touchdown pass. Even though it was not necessarily my assignment, being a football player and having knowledge of the game, I should've known to sit back and be in the window to where he could've made a harder throw. It is what it is."
On how he would assess his season
"I wouldn't necessarily it was a letdown, but it was for sure a learning curve and experience. I came down here with the mindset to better myself as a player, a person, and a father. I felt like I've done that in hindsight, but I kind of got distracted with what my main goal was which was to put out really great film in this conference to where I could play at the next level."
On the locker room this past few weeks compared to beginning when 7-0
"We cannot get comfortable with winning. It's a feeling you want to acquire, but you have to understand that what you do week in and week out contributes to that feeling, and what we do day in and day out, we try not to feel like this on Saturdays, or today, Thursday. It's a hard one, but I told my guys in the locker room we cannot look back now. Thanksgiving is already here, be thankful for what you have, and push forward, and let's go try to win another this last time out."
| MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH MIKE LEACH |
"Well this game had a season's worth of excitement in it, both positive and negative. Some great blows to the other side from our end. That was a wild game, it was a very up and down game. About the time you thought it couldn't get crazier, it did. It was a good game, I think any time you have all the emotions of the teams in it and the fans have a special level of emotion… It was a good wild game, both sides let the other side think it was theirs and then snatched it away a couple of times and then we won."
On the failed two-point conversion
"I think he (Randy Charlton) is a big strong guy and lives in a world of destruction. The biggest thing on a play like that is you want to get up field... I try to run play against them like all the time, they usually don't work."
On his first Egg Bowl win and the players' reaction
"They're really cranked up. I think that the better they get, the more we'll be able to hoist trophies. If that's all it takes, I'm going to get a trophy for every game… I think the enthusiasm early on, we were trying to do too much. I think the enthusiasm later in the game, we played really tough in some really tough situations and responded… It's a tremendous win for our program, a tremendous win for our players. We're really excited about it and excited for our fans, our players, and our coaches."
On karma in winning in Oxford
"It's fun to win here. I was here the very first time Ole Miss ever played under the lights, Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss. It was quite a day, it was a fun day. It was a wild game too, except it was more running up and down the field… It's fun to win here."
| MISSISSIPPI STATE QB WILL ROGERS |
"It means everything. Like you said, it was my third shot, I kind of got tired of losing to these guys. Obviously they're a really good football team. I made it a little bit interesting there at the end but they're a really good football team. I think Kiffin does a really good job with their team and how they play and how they prepare. Like you said, being an in-state kid and being able to get this win, it means everything."
On the locker room post game and finishing the season with a win
"Yeah everybody's excited, it's huge to go out like this. I don't think a lot of people understand that we've had three top ten losses. Three out of four top ten losses. We're a team that's won some big games and this was a huge game for us. Like I said, Ole Miss is a great team, they were ranked in the top ten earlier this season. To be able to go out with a win against these guys, have a chance to win nine games, it's huge."
| MISSISSIPPI STATE RB DILLON JOHNSON |
"It's been a long ride and to finally win one felt so good. We were going crazy in the locker room. It's just a great feeling."
On the rushing gain in the second half
"Yeah, I mean I just feel like we need to run the ball. That's really what it comes down to. Also not get behind the sticks. We're not the type of offense that needs to be behind the sticks. It was really good to just get our run game down."
On what Mike Leach is feeling right now
"It's great because he gets to dance so that's always funny. You know, he gave us a great little speech and it was great. I enjoyed it."
On ways they were inconsistent
"We really just went out there and tried to really execute. Sam did a good job on blocking guys. He was the one that spotted me open on the run we had. It was just us playing and really trying to execute as a team. It was just the same old, same old. Just us doing our job."
| MISSISSIPPI STATE DT RANDY CHARLTON |
"On that play, I was in a four-high inside the tackles and came down. As a saw him shuffle it was like we practice these things, so I just stuck my hand out and tried to hit the ball. I was happy. Last year we had a couple seniors who had to go out without ever winning an egg bowl and it was a hurtful moment. To win that and be a senior and not have to go through that feeling is great."
On an Egg Bowl win
"It's a surreal moment. To be able to secure that win for my team, for my boys, for my hometown. Starkville has really become my second home now. It was just a great moment."
| MISSISSIPPI STATE LB NATHANIEL WATSON |
"It feel good. I played in it last year, I loved it, and then this year it just felt great to hold it in my hands."
On what it means to State fans to win this rivalry game
"It's a big rivalry, a great rivalry. I'm just happy to be in the rivalry, I know it's a big thing, the rivalry, around Mississippi."
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