From the Locker Room: No. 13 Ole Miss is ‘united’ after it ‘overcame some stuff’ at Auburn

No. 13 Ole Miss is 6-1 (3-1 SEC) on the 2023-24 season following a 28-21 win at Auburn (3-4, 0-4) on Saturday. Head coaches for both teams met the media following the game, as did three Rebel players. Here’s some of what they had to say.  

OLE MISS HEAD COACH LANE KIFFIN

Opening Statement: I’m just really pleased with our players and happy for our fans. I don’t care what records are going into it; this place at night is a hard place to play. Look at the percentages; a lot of people lose in here. 

For our guys to take over in the second half, and, really, the last play of the third quarter and the fourth quarter, was awesome. We talked all week about how this season we’ve been a really good fourth-quarter team (and) second-half team. But we had to do it again, and that was good to see. I thought our defense … the last drive, obviously, was bad, and that one run (Auburn’s 50-plus-yard first-quarter touchdown run). But besides that, I think they got five first downs in the game. That’s really impressive defense. 

To play on the road, we said all week you have to pack your run game and pack your defense to come in here and win. We did that. The players did that today. It’s really good to see we overcame adversity and strange things that happen here like our backup punter not getting the snap and then throwing an interception. 

Our guys overcame some stuff today.

On his message to the Ole Miss offense when the game was tied at 14 apiece: Just to stay the course and things will pop. We were being a little conservative just by the way that our defense was playing. That’s going to put you in some third downs, and we did not convert on third down. We were really poor on third down today. 

If you’re taking three or four yards, you have to make the third downs. Those guys did a great job on third down. They played a lot of man, brought a lot of pressure, and we didn’t make them pay for it. 

Credit to those guys, too. I said all week they have really good defensive players, and, especially, have really good defensive backs.

OLE MISS RB QUINSHON JUDKINS (21 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown)

On returning to his hometown in Auburn: Even-keeled is the type of player I am. Just staying not too high or not too low with the environment that it was today. 

It was pretty hard to do so.

On Ole Miss getting the win: It speaks volume, honestly. It speaks that we have discipline to play throughout all four quarters (and) what type of team we are compared to the other Ole Miss teams in the past that have been here. 

It’s special, for sure.

OLE MISS LB JEREMIAH JEAN-BAPTISTE (team-leading seven tackles)

On the environment in the locker room after wins: Week-in and week-out, us, as a team, we’re getting closer as brothers. We embrace each opportunity, and we don’t take it for granted. I would say as a team, we’re united.

On the message to the defense when the game was tied: As we say, we’re the best fourth-quarter defense in the nation. Defensively, I told the guys not to panic, and we weren’t really panicking at all, to be honest.

RELATED: Condensed Game: Judkins returned home and helped tame Tigers in third straight Ole Miss win

OLE MISS QB JAXSON DART (10 for 17, 202 yards and three total touchdowns)

On winning in Jordan-Hare Stadium: I mean, obviously we like to make it interesting, so that gets kind of annoying sometimes. I thought we moved the ball around really well. We got a little stuck in the second and third quarters. 

We just knew that once we got a little momentum spark things were going to start clicking. Once we had that big connection to Tre (Harris, Ole Miss wide receiver, who had four catches for 102 yards), everything was great from then on. We had a lot of confidence in ourselves going into the fourth quarter. We’ve done it all year. 

I just feel this year we feel really comfortable in that kind of situation. There’s not a lot of stress (or) a lot of guys that have emotional swings. But I’m just really proud of this group and the confidence we have to be able to finish up games like that.

On the team’s mentality when the game was tied: Each team made adjustments. They did a really good job disguising their coverages. At pre-snap, it got really hard to pick out what they were in. 

Credit to (Ole Miss co-offensive coordinator and QBs) coach (Charlie) Weis for being able to keep his composure and just have some conversations with (Rebel offensive assistant) coach (Sterlin) Gilbert. We talked about the two plays where we hit Tre back-to-back before we went out on the field. 

Give a lot of credit to them for being able to make adjustments throughout the game and get things rolling.

AUBURN HEAD COACH HUGH FREEZE

Opening statement: Yeah, I’m disappointed. I think our kids played hard. We’ve got to coach them better, and it starts with me. Regardless of whether you may be the most talented team on a certain night, you certainly can be well-coached in critical areas and critical downs. The margin for us between winning and losing right now is so small that we can’t mess those up. 

Obviously, I’ve got to do a better job, too, to make sure we don’t make those mistakes in those areas. I don’t know if it makes a difference in the game, but it sure feels like it. And we’ve got to convert those critical downs. We continue to lose the battles on third and fourth down, and that’s disappointing. 

Whether it’s one guy or a play call, it’s really disappointing. I felt we had really good work this week and was excited about this chance for the great crowd we had. It was an incredible night, and I really felt like we would be in this game for the entirety of it. We had our chances.

The defense got some stops against a very explosive offensive. Offensively, we kept shooting ourselves in the foot, it felt like. And they made some plays, too, but some of it was of our own doing.

On his mindset behind still using the two-quarterback system: I don’t think it had anything to do with the outcome of the game. I think both had a really good package and both worked at times. It would be nice to have one, for sure, but we’re searching to see what the best avenue is for us to go and win. 

I still think Robby (Ashford) should have a package. Felt good about both of these packages tonight. I think they both worked at times, but it was when you get into the third-down area that we didn’t convert.