Lane Kiffin has never been one to mince words as head coach at Ole Miss. He does it subtly, or he comes out and says what he wants to get off his chest. During his press conference on Monday, he did both ahead of this weekend’s matchup with Oklahoma.
When the two teams meet in Norman on Saturday afternoon, it is a de facto elimination game for all intents and purposes from the SEC race. Both teams have one loss in the conference, and a second loss would all but eliminate them from reaching Atlanta in early December.
Eighth-ranked Ole Miss is coming in off a loss at Georgia, while 13th-ranked Oklahoma is coming in off a win over South Carolina. Ahead of the matchup, Kiffin threw some shade at Sooners coach Brent Venables and his staff.
Lane Kiffin Calls Out Brent Venables
Kiffin said that Oklahoma preps for their opponent on film by trying to steal their offensive signals.
“One, it’s phenomenal prep — a film study of signals,” said Kiffin. “They do a great job of that. If you study people really well, you have enough confidence as a coach to go after those. That seems what he does and they’ve got a really good beat on the plays that are coming when they’re called and they do a great job of going and taking those away.
“Look at the Auburn game. I told Hugh (Freeze) after the game, watching it, he might want to switch his signals. Like, it looks like they have the plays. The middle safety’s running down to steal slants, which is very abnormal.”
Kiffin was referencing a game on September 20 when the Sooners sacked Tigers‘ quarterback Jackson Arnold nine times and rallied for a 24-17 victory. Venables called the defense that afternoon and held Auburn to 287 yards, while Oklahoma’s defensive line accounted for 8.5 of the nine sacks in the game.
The Sooners are the top-ranked defense in the SEC, allowing just 9.4 points a game and 213 yards a game. They have allowed just 66 points all season long, which is 13 fewer than Texas, the next closest team in the conference. Venables responded to Kiffin’s claim on Monday night during his weekly radio show.
“I guess coming from Lane I take it as a compliment?” said Venables. “Like, he must have watched our guys be really prepared. Cause that’s who they are, man. They’re relentless. Their detail, the time they spend above and beyond what’s required, that’s the proof of how we’re playing right now. That D-line, how they’re able to dominate physically.
“Honestly I don’t know of a team that hasn’t huddled. I think every single team we’ve played the last two years has huddled. And so between that and the helmet communication, I don’t know how that works, but we got enough to worry about just getting our guys lined up with the right call and things of that nature. But I guess I’ll take that as kind of a weird kind of compliment. Our guys must’ve looked pretty good on film.”
Fireworks Ahead of Big SEC Showdown
Both coaches know what is at stake and how big a game this is. This might be an elimination game from the SEC race for the loser, but they would still be in the hunt for the 12-team College Football Playoff, with no room left for error the rest of the season.
Stirring the pot is nothing new for Kiffin. It just makes for great theatre when the teams kick off on Saturday in a huge SEC game.
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