SEC Shorts trolls Lane Kiffin, fourth-down decision making

Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels did everything in their power to avoid an upset against Bryan Harsin and No. 18 Auburn, but their efforts fell short as Auburn won 31-20.

For Kiffin, that included fourth-down conversion attempts, a risky play-calling strategy that has almost become the norm for Kiffin.

Ole Miss has opted to go for in on fourth down 34 times, which leads the nation, as Kiffin rarely opts to punt when most teams would make that decision. This past weekend, Ole Miss went for it four times on fourth down, converting only once, and Harsin was pleased with Auburn’s ability to both prevent any damage, and covert on its only two fourth-down attempts against the Rebels’ defense.

In the latest edition of “SEC Shorts,” a weekly comedy skit about SEC football, the popular YouTube show poked fun at Kiffin’s oft-questionable fourth-down playcalling.

The skit depicts Kiffin, when faced with a fourth-and-short yardage situation, coming up with his play of choice for Ole Miss. On one hand, a devil on his shoulder is urging Kiffin to go for it on fourth down, while on the other hand, an angel is pushing him to take the safe option and kick the field goal.

Bryan Harsin addresses Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss fourth-down attempts

Bryan Harsin was pleased with Auburn’s ability to keep the Ole Miss offense in check on fourth down, despite Kiffin testing his luck time and time again.

“That’s pretty good, in our favor,” Harsin said of Auburn’s ability to stop Ole Miss on fourth down. “I didn’t know all the stats, but I knew we converted some [fourth downs]. We knew they would go for it on fourth down, so that was part of our preparation and I think those fourth downs were in the red zone. I believe all of them were. And we were able to make plays, and that’s points. They’re not going to take points in special teams, they’re going to go for it, and we can get the ball back. You kind of think of that as a turnover. And then we had the one interception too in the endzone, that was a big play by Simpson.”

Not only was Auburn able to limit Ole Miss to one fourth-down conversion in four attempts, but as Harsin alluded, defensive coordinator Derek Mason forced the Rebels to turn it over on downs in critical territory. Ole Miss’ three failed conversions came on the Auburn 20-yard line, the Auburn 13-yard line and the Auburn 18-yard line.

Meanwhile, Harsin and the Auburn Tigers were able to convert both of their fourth-down attempts, extending the offense’s drives in key situations.

“Those were critical moments in the game that we were able to win,” Harsin said. “We obviously had a couple in our favor on fourth down which helped us extend drives, but those are things that are going to happen in a game like this when you’re when you’re playing against a good team that’s scoring a lot of points. That’s their mentality, and we need to have that same mindset going into this game to stop them and also convert some of our fourth downs.”