Lane Kiffin made his much-anticipated appearance back in Oxford for the first time since leaving Ole Miss for LSU before last season’s College Football Playoff.
He left Vaught-Hemingway stadium Saturday night the same way he left last November: to a chorus of boos and four-letter words. The only difference this time is the choir was singing enthusiastically.
No. 8 Ole Miss beat No. 7 LSU 32-24 behind an epic performance from Trinidad Chambliss and an aggressive decision by coach Pete Golding that changed the equation of the entire game midway through the fourth quarter.
The reactions from both sides aren’t surprising. Ole Miss is celebrating while LSU is licking its wounds. And because of the emotional storylines involved in the game, Kiffin’s post-game press conference was must-see television. True to form, he did have a barbed comment or two for Ole Miss.
“I guess I had to leave to get them to do that, so you’re welcome,” Kiffin said about the atmosphere inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Here’s everything else Kiffin had to say.
Lane Kiffin, LSU head coach
On the loss to Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss’ performance…
Credit to them. Their players made plays, and that was my biggest fear all week — getting to the end of the game and Trinidad having the ball in his hands. The guy made a lot of plays during the game and did a great job. That’s why I said he’s the hardest player to play against in America, and he showed up great today. Kind of like the Miami game, with Kewan down, it really just became Trinidad taking over, and he did. Tough game injury-wise on us, too, losing some guys early, and that was a big factor. But I’m proud of the way our guys battled back. To be down like that at halftime, then have them go down and score, and for us to come back with a 17-0 run was really good. At the end, though, we didn’t finish. We could have finished defensively and stopped them, but we let them go down and score. Then offensively, we moved the ball down there and stalled at the end with the critical false start that moved us back.
On LSU’s defensive approach against Chambliss…
We were pretty conservative on him early, trying to keep things in front of us and give him some softer looks. They did a really good job, and guys made plays for him in the receiving game. A lot of people did. It felt like we let this one get away because we came back, had the momentum and then let them go down and score. We had a guy there, and Trinidad outran him. Even with that, I felt like we were in a good position to go down, score and get the two-point conversion. We had taken a lot of time off the clock, so he wasn’t going to get it back. The hope was to get it to overtime because, again, if you leave him any time with that kicker, you’ve got a problem.
On the emotions of returning to Oxford…
I’m sure I’ll be criticized for saying this, but I was thinking about it all week, especially today, and I would have said this whether we won or lost. It was really emotional driving in on the buses for a lot of reasons. I’m not just saying this because you asked. There were a lot of emotions and a lot of gratitude for this place and for the six years here. It went well beyond football. It was also kind of my first time coming into this type of game without my dad, so there was a lot there. It was really emotional, but it wasn’t necessarily the emotions I thought I would have felt with all the name-calling and everything when we got off the bus. It was much more a feeling of gratitude for this place and the people who changed my life in ways much bigger than winning a football game.
On the atmosphere inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium…
I think we walked into a storm. That’s what happens a lot of times in these games. You see it all the time. We call them buzz saws. You walk into a place where there has been this buildup and energy all week. I guess I had to leave to get them to do that, so you’re welcome. But it was a great atmosphere. Trinidad was on fire early, they got us into third downs and they rushed really well. Echoles, I thought, played a really, really good game and made things very difficult.
On Ole Miss’ ability to avoid negative plays with Chambliss…
They do a good job getting the ball out, and Trinidad does a great job getting out of trouble. You saw us win on some stunts, and it was the same thing Kirby talked about in those games last year. You can have good calls and scheme things up, and then Trinidad just makes plays. He called them Houdini plays. You scheme it up, and he just gets out. That’s why he is what he is. He’s the most dynamic player in college football. He finished last year that way, and now think about this: He actually had an offseason this year. He didn’t have one before because he got there in the summer. Credit to those guys coaching him. Joe Judge and JDB have done a really good job with him.
On LSU’s injuries during the game…
Neither of them seemed really close to returning. That’s part of this game. I say every year when somebody asks what your win-loss record is going to be, football involves a lot of breaks. I’m not saying that because we lost. We’ve already had four season-ending injuries, and those two guys today are really critical players. A year ago, we happened to be really fortunate. Sometimes that’s just how it happens.
On the late false start and whether Ole Miss would have snapped the ball…
Did I think he would snap it if we hadn’t jumped offsides? You’re right on that. He was.
On the buildup and emotion surrounding the game…
Obviously, there was a buildup to it with College GameDay being here. Anytime you have that much emotion from that many people, similar to the Tennessee game, it bonds people together and creates that atmosphere. They did a really good job with it.
On the message to LSU after the loss…
That game could have kept going the way it was early, so I was glad our guys battled back. I’m really proud of the way they responded during that third quarter and early in the fourth when we kind of had them on the ropes. We’re 0-1 in SEC play. Whether we won or lost, I was already prepared for the feeling that it seems like we’ve already played a season with so much emotion surrounding the first and third games and everything that has gone on. Now we’re right back to where we’ve always been. We have eight SEC games to play. There’s a lot of football left. We’ll go back home next week and try to get a win.
On being surprised by his emotions during his return to Ole Miss…
It probably wasn’t what I would have thought. There was just a lot to it. I’m sure that’ll be criticized or whatever, but there were six years here and a lot of things happened, a lot of life-changing experiences and a lot of really good people helped me through some really hard times. I thought I would probably be more in competitive mode and just kind of embrace that part of it, but it was different. Sometimes you can’t predict your emotions. I know sometimes I don’t act like it, but I’m human, too. I’ll just say congrats to those guys. They played really well and deserved to win. I know it sounds weird, and obviously I hate losing, but there’s a part of me that, with a lot of those coaches and players, I wouldn’t say I’m excited, but I’m glad for them.
On the third-down call before LSU settled for a field goal…
We were going to go for it on fourth down, but we lost a yard. We had the big people in there, the same package we had scored with before on the goal line, so I was going to go for it. Then we lost the yard, went back to the 3 and kicked it. I was planning on going for it again because of dealing with Trinidad. Like I said all week, we knew there would be situations where we were going to have to be aggressive and try to get seven points against them because you may hold them for a while, but it won’t be for very long. I actually think he becomes even more dangerous when Kewan is out because now Trinidad has the ball in his hands every single snap.
