Ole Miss delivered one of its most complete performances of the season Saturday, and head coach Pete Golding believed it started with a simple mindset: stay in the moment.
Following the Rebels’ 45-point outing against Auburn, Golding praised his team’s toughness, resilience and response to adversity while highlighting the development of several rising playmakers.
From Shekai Mills-Knight’s continued emergence in the backfield to breakout performances from Caleb Cunningham and Landon Barnes, Golding pointed to a team beginning to see the rewards of patience, growth and attention to detail.
Here’s everything Golding said in his post-game press conference.
Pete Golding, Head Coach
Opening statement
Golding: Just really proud of the effort. I thought it was a team effort. We talked last night about not living in the past. We’ve gone through a lot together and made a lot of mistakes. All of us have put it on tape and had to get it corrected. And not to be in fear of the future either, getting ahead of ourselves and worrying about things we can’t control. So we talked about living in the moment, and I thought they did. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but I thought they played extremely hard. I thought you saw complementary football at times. I thought the efficiency on offense was incredible. I don’t know what they ended up being on third down, but it was impressive. But I was most proud of some guys who haven’t had success in the past, guys we’ve gotten on pretty good and made a point of in front of the team. They came out and really responded. They did it right Monday through Friday. They took coaching, had good energy, a good attitude and good body language. I think that paid off today. It wasn’t perfect, but I was really, really proud of their effort, their toughness and how they played together.
On Shekai Mills-Knight’s career-high 71 rushing yards and development…
Golding: Becoming an every-down player. I think, especially at that position, there’s so much more to it than just running the football. Frank (Wilson) has done a really good job with him, and JDB (John David Baker) has had a good plan for him. But his development at the position, playing without the football, understanding protections, route concepts and all the other things you have to do. Because when you just trot a 6-foot-3, 235-pound kid out there, they’re going to expect you to run him. Then you’re seeing some different looks. So I’m really proud of his development. Frank has done a really good job with that, but for sure, it’s playing without the football. We always knew he could run the football. You could see that. But his development and understanding of the offense, allowing Six and the other guys to trust him to be out there and do what he’s supposed to do, I’m super proud of him for that.
On Ole Miss’ improved performance coming out of halftime…
Golding: I think they’ve come out with the right mindset. They focus on attention to detail, doing their job and having consistency in performance. When you see 11 guys out there in all three phases doing what they’re supposed to do, it looks good. I think we’ve been fortunate the last two weeks to do that in the third quarter. But they’ve got the ability to do that more. That’s what I think you saw more often than not tonight, guys doing their job, playing with toughness and executing. I don’t care if that’s the first quarter or the third quarter. We don’t get to pick what quarter that is. We’re going to play an elite team this week, and you can’t start slow. We can’t pick and choose. We want to focus on attention to detail and doing our job. I think that’s been a constant buy-in for our team, and we’ve seen it Monday through Friday.
On his conversation with Deuce Alexander after the game
Golding: I said, “Deuce, did you score tonight?” Because I’m always practicing Deuce touchdowns. He’s my guy. And he’s like, “No, Coach.” I was like, “You know what I’m most excited about? That we scored 45 points, and I feel like our most explosive and best player didn’t.” I said, “That makes me feel really good. Keep your head up, man. Let’s learn from this and fight. We’re going to need you. You’re a great football player.” He was down on himself, obviously. He had a couple of drops that aren’t like him. But it’s the same thing that’s come in the past. We’re going to correct it on tape and what he could have done better. But he’s got high competitive character. He’s an unbelievable guy. That’s what I told him. I said, “When we score 45 and you don’t score, I feel good.”
On Ole Miss’ response after Auburn cut the lead to 17-15…
Golding: I know it’s super cliché to talk about not looking at the scoreboard. That’s been the focus of living in the moment with this group. There wasn’t a panic even then. At that point, it felt like third down on defense was kind of the Achilles’ heel, that and penalties. Obviously, a lot of pass interferences, some holdings and things like that. So it was about not looking at the scoreboard and getting to the iPad. The coaches did a good job of cleaning things up. But third down got to us, in my point of view, in the first half. Just focus on the things we can control. That was the thing last night. We really don’t control the outcome. You control your energy, your attitude, your body language and your focus. What if that dude’s better than you and he goes over the top and makes a play? You don’t control that. I thought our guys locked in, had attention to detail, took coaching and played extremely hard.
On Auburn’s third-down success in the first half and Ole Miss’ second-half adjustments…
Golding: They did their job. I know it seems like all these new things, but it’s not. One of them, we were in man, went to push alert and screwed it up. One was a missed tackle. One was a scramble. We’re in zone and we don’t plaster the route. It’s attention to detail and doing your job. But guys, that’s in all three phases, every game. Plays work because somebody screwed it up. Very rarely is it just, “My guy’s better than you,” and he goes up over the top and makes the play. They’re out there, but more games are lost than won. That’s what you’re seeing every week. How did this team beat this team? They beat themselves. That’s the thing we’ve got to continue to eliminate the best we can. It’s our job from a coaching standpoint to ask, are we asking them to do things they can’t mentally or physically do? I’m as guilty as anybody of that at times. We all take ownership in that. We go back on Sunday and evaluate it. What do we need to take away, and what do we need to add? But I know those guys did their job on a consistent basis.
On holding Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown to five rushing yards and Auburn to 63 as a team…
Golding: I thought the focus of it throughout the week was good. I thought the front six did a good job. Some of it was by design, some of it by effort. But I also think how our offense played affected their plan and what they were able to do. I think they always, regardless of the score, felt like they didn’t have control of the game because they were having trouble stopping us. That’s a different feeling on offense. You really don’t feel like you can come out and run the football effectively. We talked about it going into the game. If we can create some negative-yardage plays on early downs, then we’ve got them where we want them. We did that, and then we had them where we wanted them, and we didn’t execute on third down. So then it was kind of like, “Hold on now. This is the opposite of what we talked about coming in.” They came back in the second half and responded. But I thought it was a combination of early-down success in the run game to get them behind the chains and, more importantly, the efficiency of our offense. I think they felt like, “Look, man, if we don’t extend the drive and we don’t score points, their offense is going to score.” I think they got a little pass-happy. They threw it a lot more than we anticipated coming into it.
On Trinidad Chambliss using his legs more against Auburn…
Golding: My thing to him is I just wanted him to cut it loose. Playing that position, you’ve got to be very efficient. You can’t press, and you’ve got to take what they give you. Some games, you might not be able to do that. They’re spying you, and they’ve got a really good plan for you. You’re going to have to take free access and other things. So I said, “Look, man, you ain’t got to press. Us winning or losing is not strictly based on you. This is all of us, and it’s a team game.” So take what they give you. I thought there were a couple more designed runs for him, obviously, which helps as well. Anytime he’s a dual threat, it creates a lot of problems for defenses. And when we start catching a couple more of those balls on the perimeter, it creates a lot of problems. I think he’s watched a highlight reel of last year of him doing some things. But there were still a couple where he extended, kept his eyes downfield and threw the one to Deuce. He could have run it, but he threw a great ball. So he’s doing both, which is how I see it. He’s developing as a quarterback, but also doing whatever we need to do to win the football game. I did think he took a step in that direction. At least it seemed that way out there. I haven’t watched the offense, but it felt that way.
On Caleb Cunningham’s breakout performance and the benefits of patience and development…
Golding: I think it speaks volumes. It speaks volumes on how you recruit guys, and it speaks volumes on stability and systems. Being able to come in and get developed at a position, knowing your offensive scheme isn’t going to change. Guys who want to play in the NFL and increase the value of their first NFL contract don’t care how much they play as a freshman, because that has zero impact on where they’re going in the draft and how much money they’re going to make in the future. The NFL doesn’t care how much you play as a freshman. They care how well you’re playing as a junior when you’re draft eligible and how well you play as a senior. The longer I can stay in the same system, develop, learn that language and improve in my craft, the better shot I’ve got. That was part of him coming here with the understanding of, “Hey, the system’s not going to change.” It’s a system that’s been really successful with receivers. We always have an elite quarterback who can get you the football. There was a lot of patience from Caleb in getting here. Sometimes guys can play too early, and they don’t create value for themselves. They lose it, and they lose confidence. It’s something where I think we’ve held him and put him in that incubator for a year and a half. Now he’s developed as a receiver, understands what’s going on and can play without the football. I think he’s reaping the rewards of it, and so are we right now.
On the pass rush, 10 tackles for loss and the defense’s development…
Golding: I thought there were some snaps of relentless effort. A lot of those weren’t by design with a free hitter or anything like that. I think a lot of guys played with a lot of toughness and second effort, so hats off to them. It goes to show that when you can effectively stop the run, it becomes a lot easier to play football at times, with calls and putting guys in different positions and those types of things. That’s something we’ve had a lot of success with in the past that I think we can have with this group as well.
On freshman Landon Barnes’ increased playing time
Golding: We talked about this earlier. I mentioned to y’all about these freshmen. Once you get to about Game 6 or Game 7, they’re not freshmen anymore. Because of the reps you’re allowed to bank now in the spring and summer, then you go through fall camp. Then you get Monday through Friday with them in a developmental phase. So we don’t look at those guys as freshmen anymore. Now we have confidence in them to go out there on every down and do their job. Whereas before, early for freshmen, it was really, really specific. For him, it was just third-down specific. Well, sometimes you don’t get them in third-and-long. So his role has increased because his understanding has increased. Then our confidence in him doing his job and his teammates’ confidence in him doing his job. He’s an elite player. His role will continue to increase as well. Very heavy-handed. He’s good versus the run, and he’s an elite pass rusher. He’s got an extremely bright future.
On injuries to Luke Ferrelli and Jalyn Crawford…
Golding: They were banged up all week as well. J-Craw with a shoulder and Ferrelli with an ankle. It’s kind of been lingering. Obviously, J-Craw’s shoulder was last week in the Texas game. Ferrelli’s ankle has been bothering him for a couple of weeks, and he got nicked up in practice. He started the game, and then Taj was playing really well. Ferrelli got pretty stiff, so it wasn’t worth the risk. J-Craw tried to fight through it. He didn’t have any contact all week, so we shot him up pregame. It was a pregame evaluation, and he pushed through but just couldn’t do it efficiently. So we pulled him out. Hopefully, we can get those guys healthy for this week, for sure.
