Lane Kiffin reveals what he learned about his team after comeback win

Lane Kiffin has seen Ole Miss play some tremendous first halves in 2022, but the second half — specifically the fourth quarter — has been the Rebels’ bugaboo.

When Ole Miss was down to Vanderbilt at the half last Saturday, worry could’ve begun to creep in. However, the Rebels played their best second half of the season, outscoring the Commodores 35-8 in the third and fourth quarter en route to a 52-28 victory.

Afterwards, Kiffin elaborated on what he learned from his team after their comeback win.

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“It was a strange feeling,” stated Kiffin, speaking about trailing at halftime. “Especially with this group, never had that feeling. I said, ‘Hey, we’ve been on the other side of this. Now let’s actually play a really good second half, and a really good fourth quarter, which we haven’t done for the most part. Let’s flip it.’ They came out and did it.

“So like you said, you can make anything positive now. I can say we actually got to play a good second half.”

Ole Miss is in the middle of a fantastic season, sitting at 6-0 with a couple of SEC wins to boot. As Lane Kiffin continues to do a phenomenal job with his squad in 2022, the sky is the limit for the Rebels.

Paul Finebaum: Lane Kiffin doing a remarkable job at Ole Miss

Meanwhile, few believed Lane Kiffin could keep Ole Miss at the same pace after their great 10-3 season in 2021. The Rebels went through so much turnover that it wasn’t going to be difficult to gel and keep the winning going early. However, the exact opposite has been the case with the 6-0 start in Oxford, which is now home to the No. 9 team in the country. To Paul Finebaum, it has been one of the best coaching jobs in the nation so far this season.

Finebaum spoke with Matt Barrie to recap Week 6 and highlighted Ole Miss’ success. He says the transition of the Ole Miss roster is what has made their start so impressive.

“Give Lane Kiffin credit. He had Matt Corral last year. He had a lot of other key players (and) he just hit the reboot button with a whole new team,” said Finebaum. “It’s like a fantasy football team that you have to get rid of everybody. That’s a remarkable coaching job.”

Kiffin brought in 17 transfers compared to 19 freshmen during this offseason. They have been a pivotal piece of Ole Miss’ roster construction under Kiffin. While it is risky considering how the puzzle pieces may or may not fit, that hasn’t been the case for the Rebels to this point.

Ole Miss will control their own destiny the rest of the way. After facing Auburn this weekend, they’ll take on a five-game stretch featuring LSU, Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi State. That tough, five-game stretch in the SEC West will make or break Kiffin’s team. Still, it allows them even more time to gel and be better prepared to take on that challenge.