Lane Kiffin on missing week one: 'I'll just stay here'

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin had a memorable 2021 season opener, to say the least. The Rebels’ coach spent Monday night at home — still in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 — and watched the game on television. He merely sent tweets throughout the night as his Ole Miss team pounced on Louisville, winning by a final score of 43-24.

Just about everything went right for Ole Miss on Monday: quarterback Matt Corral threw for 381 yards, completing 22 of 32 passing attempts, and a touchdown, while rushing for one more on 55 rushing yards; Kiffin’s rushing attack was unpredictable and gave Louisville trouble, as Snoop Connor ran for 60 yards and two touchdowns, Henry Parrish Jr. added 38 yards and Jerrion Ealy had a touchdown and 37 rushing yards himself; and even Kiffin’s defense was able to force a pair of turnovers, one off a fumble recovery and one from an interception.

So far, so good for Ole Miss — and, as Kiffin pointed out, maybe there’s no reason to fix what’s not broken.

“They played like that without me on the road, I’m good with it. I’ll just stay here,” Kiffin said via postgame Zoom, joking that he’d stay home permanently. “I’m already here; I don’t have to travel back. I can already watch Austin Peay film right now.”

In Kiffin’s absence, Ole Miss did not have an acting head coach, he said. Kiffin pointed out over Zoom that there is no rule requiring a replacement under a circumstance where the head coach is unable to attend a game. He said he didn’t want to take one of the current coaches “out of the role they’re already in,” so he ultimately decided not to select a temporary replacement.

“The whole being there, and your locker room speeches — that doesn’t really matter,” Kiffin said. “You can have some great locker room speeches and you can go out, and they’ve got better players and it doesn’t matter. So, I think part of it is overrated, but it was interesting to see.

“I think head coaches get too much credit on things,” Kiffin said.

Jokes aside, Kiffin appeared excited to get back on the field for Ole Miss’ Week 2 matchup with Austin Peay. The Rebels, after entering the season unranked, earned a No. 20 ranking in the latest Week 1 AP Poll, and they’ll look to make it 2-0 as they return to Oxford.

“It was actually more stressful,” Kiffin said of his experience watching the game from home. “I thought it would be the other way around, but when I’m on the game, and there’s a headset, it’s not very stressful because you’re just in the moment.”