Lane Kiffin says self-inflicted wounds hurting Ole Miss vs. LSU early

All in all, Lane Kiffin actually thought his team played pretty well on the road in the first quarter against LSU. They just didn’t have any points to show for it.

And while Ole Miss kicked a field goal out of the break to start the second quarter and take a 3-0 to open the scoring, Kiffin knows they had left points on the field. And that was a result of unforced errors, he said.

“Huge missed opportunity, it was a touchdown that we dropped. Very unusual. He ain’t going to drop one of those again. Then we miss a field a goal then we don’t get cutoff on 4th and 1,” Kiffin said on the ABC broadcast.

The dropped touchdown Kiffin referred to was a deep pass attempt to star wideout Tre Harris, who had gotten behind the defense but couldn’t reel in a deep post pass from Jaxson Dart. And the 4th and 1 stop came within the LSU five yard line, another spot where the Rebels could’ve gotten points but fell short.

But the flip side of that coin, Kiffin acknowledged, is that his team is playing well enough to win. They just need to stop hurting themselves in key spots.

“So, to be 0-0 with all the mistakes, I like the feel of this game,” Kiffin said. “I like how we’re playing. I feel like a much better team right now. But we’re not finishing the plays.”

Kiffin reiterated the point at halftime

Ole Miss took a 17-13 lead over LSU into the half. Given that the game is at night, on the road in Death Valley, that’s not bad for 30 minutes of work.

But Kiffin knows his team left plenty of meat on the bone in the first half. And not because LSU was coming up with countless clutch defensive plays.

“Lot of confidence,” Kiffin said to sideline reporter Molly McGrath at halftime, speaking about his defense holding the Tigers late. “We really played one really bad series of defense. Other than that, we’ve played really good. We just keep handing opportunities like giving three points there at the end. Obviously back to the beginning of not completing the touchdown pass. So, I like where this is at. We’ve gotta clean things up, and I’m excited for the second half.”

And Kiffin’s message to his offense at half will fall along similar lines: Take care of the ball, and the rest is already taking care of itself.

With more than 250 yards of total offense in the first half, there’s some credence to that idea.

“We’ll we’ve just gotta take care of the ball and manage the situation,” Kiffin said. “Again, we’re just handing away some points so basically I feel really good with how we’re playing, except for certain situations. So, excited to go and get this thing fixed and come out for a great second half.”