Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin Wants To Coach 'Really Well,' Have 'Hard To Beat' Rebels

The Ole Miss Rebels lost 5-of-6 to end the 2022 season, and head coach Lane Kiffin reveals what led to their demise down the stretch.

The West Division of the Southeastern Conference runs through either Tuscaloosa, Ala., or Baton Rouge, La. There's not much debating that.

However, Ole Miss has an abundance of offensive weapons as they welcome defensive coordinator Pete Golding to try and overhaul a Rebels defense that was 75th in total defense last season. While Ole Miss has an uphill battle in the SEC West, what would constitute a successful season in Oxford?

"I don't spend a lot of time on that," head coach Lane Kiffin said. "That's so far down the road and people want to say, 'Well, win this many games. Whatever. Finish this place in the conference.' There's too many variables. You want to coach really well and play really well, and sometimes that means this many wins and sometimes the ball hits the upright and doesn't go in or a ref misses a call. 

"I know at the end of the day it's about wins and losses, OK. But, from a coaching standpoint, it's about coaching really well and getting our guys to play really well and be hard to beat."

Last season, Ole Miss started off 7-0, but ended the season losers of five of its last six, suffering a 42-25 defeat to Texas Tech in the TaxAct Texas Bowl.

Kiffin said what went wrong at the end of last year is that Ole Miss wasn't "hard to beat." He said the Rebels turned the ball over, didn't get turnovers and "were horrible in the red zone."

"When you're a really good team," Kiffin said. "You're coaching really well. You're playing really well. You're hard to beat. You may lose some games, but you got to play really well to beat us, and I do not feel like that was the case at the end of the season."

---

Follow Casey Smith on Twitter @casey_smith2419

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Rebels? Click Here.

Follow The Grove Report On Facebook and Twitter.

Want even more Ole Miss Rebels News? Check out the SI.com team page here