Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin didn’t mince words heading into the Rebels’ Week 5 matchup against Kentucky, explaining that his team wasn’t prepared enough through non-conference play. Fast forward a couple of days later, and the Rebels were hit in the mouth and had no response Saturday afternoon in a 20-17 loss to the Wildcats.
In Kiffin’s Sunday teleconference, he reflected on the team’s loss after watching back the tape.
“Very discouraging outcome. Really disappointed for our fans that I thought really showed up and really good energy in the second half as we took the lead. Just a win that we could’ve come away with. In all areas we had different chances to do that. Whether it’s special teams putting it in overtime with the field goal or offense finishing that drive with a touchdown or the previous drive when we had the ball up four and we went three and out. Then obviously the defensive drive, we’ve been playing really good defense. Give (Mark) Stoops credit for doing something that’s rarely ever done, went for it with four minutes left on his 19 (yard line) and threw a go ball.”The guy made a great play and we knocked the ball out on a fumble that pops into their hands in the end zone. We really have no one to blame but ourselves for a lot of different areas,” Kiffin told reporters. “Being in a one-play game like that and doing a lot of things wrong to get to that spot, so really discouraging. We turned the ball over once, which happened to be in the red zone so we couldn’t get any points out of that. We get no turnovers on defense and they make every fourth down.”
As for his offensive line that looked overmatched against Kentucky’s size and talent, surrendering five sacks and paving the way for just over 90 rushing yards, Kiffin of course wants to see the unit play better.
“I think that’s one of the premier defensive teams, especially front seven in college football I’ll say. Saw what Georgia did on offense last night to some really good Alabama players on defense and Georgia couldn’t get 300 yards against these guys. These guys are really good and I think there are a lot of people with defensive problems, especially when their offense keeps them alive in a game,” he added. “We’ve got to perform better. Obviously there was more of a heavy dosage of pass early, which worked the first series just because of their play on defense and how tough they are to run between the tackles on.”