Coach Lane Kiffin says there is “no time to sit around and mope” after Ole Miss blew a 14-point lead and lost 45-20 at LSU on Saturday.
Kiffin didn’t say the No. 15 Rebels’ first loss of the season was a result of complacency, but he did say he wasn’t surprised by his team’s failures against LSU.
“There were signs of these coming, whether it was … some protection things and the tackling on defense and limiting easy completions and turning into explosive plays,” Kiffin told reporters Monday. “So those were magnified. And that’s what happens when you go play really good players in a really hard environment: Your weaknesses get magnified.
“So we’re going to have the same thing this week if we don’t fix it.”
Kiffin’s latter point was a warning about the opponent this Saturday: Texas A&M.
The Aggies are unranked and losers of three straight games, but Kiffin said they have a talented roster and one of the most difficult places to play in Kyle Field. Kiffin highlighted Texas A&M’s strong recruiting class in February, which ESPN ranked No. 1 overall.
“They make recruiting rankings for a reason, you know, and obviously those have a lot to do with winning,” Kiffin said. “So when you play really good players, you’ve got to do things really well or you can’t get away with some things you can versus some of the personnel we played early in the year.”
On Saturday, the defense — a bright spot earlier in the season — was particularly bad, giving up 500 yards to LSU.
“We have to tackle better and limit explosive plays, which is what we did really well earlier in the year,” Kiffin said.
On offense, Kiffin said the Rebels needed to run the ball better and find ways to score touchdowns in the red zone. And the coach agreed when a reporter asked whether it was fair to question his team’s “edge” after LSU closed the game on a 35-3 run.
“I don’t like how we responded on offense and defense,” Kiffin said.
