What is Mark Stoops Saying About Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin?
Mark Stoops' Kentucky Wildcats didn't have their best showing in opening week, falling to No. 8 Auburn 29-13 in a game that could have looked worse.
Ranked No. 23 in the nation going into week one on the road, they're now unranked as they host Ole Miss in week two. Ole Miss looked impressive on Saturday on the offensive side of the ball, despite falling to No. 5 Florida 51-35. Now they get a chance to prove that performance wasn't a fluke on Saturday against Kentucky.
Here's everything Stoops said about Lane Kiffin and the Rebels entering week two:
Generic Ole Miss opening statement:
"As I mentioned to our team it doesn't get any easier. When you're playing a schedule like we're playing this year we have to pick it up quick. We have to analyze ourselves and be very critical of ourselves early in the season because we didn't have any game out of conference, or any game, spring game, things of that nature, to get moving. We play Ole Miss this week and they put up a whole boatload of yards and points against a quality Florida team, so we have to get things corrected quickly and move on. That's what we plan on doing."
What he saw from Ole Miss in week one:
"We're going to have our hands full. They play extremely fast on offense and put up a heck of a lot of points and yards against a very good Florida team, so you know they can go fast and put up points. Defensively, you know they're going to make great improvements between week one and week two. DJ Durkin does a great job as their defensive coordinator, so you know they have a lot to build on and improve between week one and week two."
On the Ole Miss style of play:
"We have to adapt to any situation. We all understand the recipe we like to play with to give us best opportunity to win games but that's certainly not foolproof. We have to adjust, have to adapt each and every week and do whatever is necessary to win football games. Certainly, starting this week it will be much different. Ole Miss plays extremely fast on offense. Their quarterback is playing at a very, very high level, (Matt) Corral, and can throw the ball all over the place.
"They have a very good scheme that spreads you out and puts a lot of pressure on you. They want to be balanced. Even though they threw the ball for almost 450 yards they still had balance, they still ran the ball quite a bit, and were efficient with those aggravating yards on the ground. They run a lot of plays and put a lot of pressure on you so we have to be able to control that and play with a greater sense of urgency with the tempo because we're going to see an extremely high pace. We saw some of that last week vs. Auburn and we were good at times (but) we were not good enough with our urgency and our tempo defense so we have to work on some of that this week."
On whether he knows Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin personally, and what do you see as his streaks as a play caller:
"Just a bit, I don't know him personally too well but as a play caller and a coach he's very good, very talented. He grew up around the game with his father Monte being a coach, his whole life being around it. Lane's been around it and is very talented. And different, you can see Lane adapting and changing. He's a different coordinator now and they are a little bit different style, than the last time we crossed paths. But definitely puts a lot of stress on you."
On what he saw from Matt Corral and his development from last season:
"You saw a very talented player and in a system that's very good. You look at what Jeff Lebby did a year ago at UCF and you saw it carry right over... They put a lot of stress on you and Corral is very talented. He made some really impressive throws and that system puts a lot of pressure on you. It's a good combination of system and player."
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