Lane Kiffin admits Saturday night was personal after Jimbo Fisher called him and Nick Saban clowns

Lane Kiffin isn’t one to mince words, and he didn’t shy away from the fact that Saturday’s victory over Texas A&M was personal to the Ole Miss coach.

Prior to the 2022 season, Kiffin to exception to Aggies leader Jimbo Fisher calling him a clown, and it’s evident that comment was in the back of the Rebels coach’s mind. Speaking with the media during his post-game press conference, Kiffin admitted the showdown was personal with Fisher and Texas A&M.

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“Yeah, I don’t give you coach-speak, so yeah, that’s real,” responded Kiffin, asked if the war of words pushed Ole Miss toward success. “Someone attacks you personally, calls you and your buddy Coach Saban both clowns, you take that personal. So, glad we won.

“I guess I can be a clown for Halloween then.” 

Indisputably, Kiffin was in a fantastic mood after rebounding with a victory over the Aggies, as he was on the money with his quotes throughout his on-field post-game interview, as well.

“I was asking our record, making sure we’re 8-1,” joked Kiffin, as he began his on-field interview after the win. “That was a great finish there by our defense and we really played a good second half. You know, this is a tough place to play and they’ve got great players. You saw their players show up today and their receivers make some great plays.

“Proud of our guys to get a win on the road and get to a bye. We’re really banged up so it’ll be good to be healthy.”

Continuing, the Rebels leader appeared to take a jab at the highly-touted recruiting class that Texas A&M has built, pointing out that his team gained nearly 400 yards on the ground against the Aggies defense.

“I thought the running backs did well — I mean, 390 yards rushing against a bunch of five-stars is pretty good,” added Kiffin.

Finally, in addition to his clown joke during his postgame press conference, Kiffin was given a green-light to crack a joke he was all-too-ready to use when asked if he had any costume plans for Halloween this year.

“I don’t know, maybe Jimbo has a Joker outfit for me,” cracked Kiffin.

Nothing goes together better than a live microphone and a Kiffin scorned.

Nevertheless, despite the off-field battle of words, Lane Kiffin has quietly become one of the more dominant coaches in the conference over the past three seasons. Since 2020, Kiffin and the Rebels have won 22-of-27 games — good for third-best in the SEC over that time period.

On3’s Austin Brezina contributed to this article.