Lane Kiffin had trouble sleeping due to relief of 'not screwing it up' against LSU and other RebTalk notes

Like most everyone else in Oxford last Saturday night Lane Kiffin had trouble getting a decent night’s rest following Ole Miss’ win over LSU.

A lack of sleep during the season is not uncommon for head football coaches and even more common after victories in big games. Kiffin’s issue falls in the latter category.

Once the celebrating was over and the Ole Miss fans left the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium Kiffin headed home, which was after midnight. But then commenced to barely get a handful of hours sleep.

Getting that big win, or signature win for those in that camp, has been the one demerit on Kiffin’s otherwise successful resume at Oxford. Ole Miss took care of that for the fourth-year head coach in thrilling fashion.

“Doesn’t really work like that,” Kiffin said smiling when asked during his RebTalk appearance on Thursday if he slept well after the victory.

“I actually didn’t. It was a few hours and then I was up at (4 a.m.). I went to bed at like 1 (a.m.) but I was up at 4 because I was so excited from the feeling of winning like everybody else, but the relief of not screwing it up. Because we almost did.

“But it was so exciting to know that, ‘Okay.’ It sinks in a little bit. Like, ‘Alright, that’s LSU. Two of the last three years. Super-talented team with a really good coach.’ So it was exciting the way that it was. So many reactions from people, including (David Kellum), being around here for a long time saying if not the one, one of the top three most exciting ones they’ve been at.”

Kiffin also spoke on the atmosphere created by the fans at VHS last weekend one last time.

“It was awesome,” Kiffin added. “When I jog out it’s like the first thing I look for. I look to see, ‘Okay, student section,’ which has been really good. Then I look all around, like, what type of game is it going to be? Are we going to have the crowd or not? It was really cool to look out and see everything full and then to feel their energy. I thought that third quarter with the light show and everything but then Jaxson (Dart’s) run, jumping over the guy as the last play of the third quarter. I thought it really was, I was like, ‘Okay, now we have some great energy in here.'”

Other topics discussed during Kiffin’s Reb Talk appearance:

• What does Ole Miss need that other SEC teams already have?
  • Kiffin: “Depends on which day. Like Saturday, a better defense. The previous Saturday a better offense. No, it’s exciting what’s going on here. I think you’re seeing players from around the country come here and the (transfer) portal has changed college football. In my opinion I think that it has made this easier to be successful at here. It has not been a place, over the course of time, to always get the five-star players, like some of the others in the conference. So to be able to have a free-agency way when the others guys are kind of drafting first has been able to help us.

• Did playing mobile quarterbacks the last two weeks prepare Ole Miss for KJ Jefferson?
  • Kiffin: “Yeah, I think it does a little bit. I think they’re all very different. This is, seriously, like a defensive lineman playing quarterback. For real. I mean, (Jefferson’s) like that big and that hard to bring down. This is very challenging and one that we’ve struggled at. We got a lot of ideas and we got to do them well.

• Would Kiffin sign the visor that he threw to the fan that caught it after the LSU game?
  • Kiffin: “I would and I saw that, by the way. The news did a special on him and it was really cool story about how the dad’s been an Ole Miss fan and now the kids are. It was really awesome. I actually already said, when I saw it, to somebody about inviting them to practice.