Lane Kiffin explains how Ole Miss leaned on Quinshon Judkins against LSU

The Ole Miss Rebels and head coach Lane Kiffin pulled off the upset victory at home against the then No. 13 ranked LSU Tigers. The contest between the two SEC West teams featured a ton of offense as the Rebels walked away with a 55-49 victory.

On offense, Ole Miss offense could do no wrong on Saturday. And one could argue that their best player on the field offensively was running back Quinshon Judkins. Following the game, Kiffin explained why their star running back was vital to their victory and why they leaned so heavily on him against LSU.

“He really battled. He got an IV at one point in the third quarter. So when he was out, I thought (Ulysses) Bentley ran extremely well in between. And when Quinshon came back out, it really played with a different mentality,” said Kiffin. “Nothing against before, just a different mentality today. You know, like big game mentality. He had a really big game a year ago against these guys. And so it was great to see.”

Ole Miss put up more than 700 yards of total offense; 317 of which came on the ground, and Judkins was responsible for 177 of those yards. Ole Miss also had a season-high 49 carries in the game. And there was a good reason for that, as Kiffin explained.

“I’ve been on Charlie all year to run the ball more. So he finally ran the ball more. It’s a joke. I try to tell you, we run the ball when it works. When we’re at two yards a carry in the half, we don’t run a lot. Well, today was different. There was success, and that’s why you have 49 carries in a game that we could’ve thrown all day, too.”

With LSU in the review mirror, Ole Miss now turns their attention to the Arkansas Razorbacks. While Arkansas is another SEC foe with a formidable offense, their defense has struggled at various points throughout the season. And that could lead to another massive performance by Judkins and another victory, putting the Rebels one step closer to an SEC championship game appearance.

With a marquee win like that, undoubtedly, Ole Miss is riding high right now, heading into their Week 6 matchup against Arkansas. But, the Rebels will need to ground themselves quickly to ensure they do not have a slip-up against the Razorbacks. And on Monday, Kiffin explained how he is helping his team keep their emotions in check after the big win.

“I’m sure for two days they heard how great they were outside of here,” said Kiffin. “So (we) made sure they saw they made a lot of mistakes in that game in all three phases, way too many penalties organization, poor decisions, selfish decisions on some penalties because players are frustrated, and that can’t happen. So, we have a lot to work on.”

For the wrongs that Kiffin pointed out, Ole Miss did a lot of things right late in the game. Following a questionable touchdown ruling by the officials, which gave LSU a nine-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Rebels focused in to close out the game.