Lane Kiffin reveals his initial thoughts on Penn State ahead of Peach Bowl

Ahead of the Peach Bowl, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin shared some of his initial thoughts on Penn State.

As Kiffin explained, this is an opponent he doesn’t know much about. They didn’t have common opponents and it’s not like coaches spend their Saturdays watching every game.

 “I don’t know a lot,” Lane Kiffin admitted. “I don’t really — I kind of say this all the time.  I think you guys think that we watch more football on Saturdays than we do.  When we don’t play teams with common opponents and we don’t watch their film for breakdown purposes, I don’t really get to watch much football.  So, I don’t get to see great teams like Penn State in other conferences play.”

For now, all Kiffin has to go on are the reports he’s been given about Penn State, including that the Nittany Lions have an elite defense.

“So, I got an early report from my personnel people that phenomenal players, couple of first rounders on defense that I was hoping Coach [James] Franklin was going to announce they’re opting out.  That would help us with that too.  So, that’s all I know.”

Still, James Franklin and Penn State are in a very similar position at this point.

“Sometimes when you’re sitting around a hotel you get a chance to watch a few games or maybe just a few highlights,” Franklin said. “We do have some guys that we both recruited that are either on our team or their team that we’re familiar with, specifically their tailback we’ve got a ton of respect for.”

Both coaches will have the chance to watch film and get familiar with their opponents. For now, though, there is going to be a feeling out process.

Lane Kiffin not expecting many opt outs

One concern that Lane Kiffin doesn’t have is players opting out. As he explained, he’s not expecting many players to consider opting out of the Peach Bowl.

“I have not heard of any. I would expect that we don’t have any of we’re kind of not in one of those years where we really have some first rounders that are coming out that are concerned of injuries and so forth. So I would not anticipate that happening with us,” Kiffin said.

“I kind of mentioned before, I don’t think that — no disrespect to our guys just from grades coming back and in conversations with our players in general, I don’t think that we have guys really in that conversation, of that first round type of grade or projection to potentially opt out. I don’t think that will be an issue for us this year.”