Lane Kiffin: Ole Miss “should have played better” at Vanderbilt, but “good second half” something to build on

There’s an old football adage that many coaches and players live by.

Win the middle eight minutes. 

The thinking goes, college football games (the competitive ones, anyway) are more often than not decided by swings late in the second quarter and early on in the third. 

It certainly worked out that way for No. 9 Ole Miss at Vanderbilt on Saturday.

The Rebels trailed for just the second time this season deep into the second quarter in Nashville, but true freshman running back Quinshon Judkins capped a seven-play, 62-yard drive with one of his two rushing touchdowns on the afternoon. 

He has eight total through six games. 

The Rebel defense, which allowed Vanderbilt to score on all four of its first-half possession, got a stop out of the halftime locker room, and running back Zach Evans broke a handful of tackles, tip-toed the sideline and went in for six a drive later. 

In turn, Ole Miss turned a 20-10 Vanderbilt lead into a 24-20 Rebel lead.

“I just thought it was a great motivational speech by the head coach,” third-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin joked following the 52-28 win. Ole Miss has now won 17 of its last 20 games under Kiffin. 

“Did a great job. No, (the players) did what they were supposed to do in the beginning. We stopped them on defense (and) took advantage of a lateral to go up 21-0 fast (in the second half). That was good to see. You never know what’s going to happen. Last time we went on the road, we ran the ball 60 times or something. Today, we throw for 448. You never know what’s going to happen.”

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In all, Ole Miss outscored Vanderbilt 42-9 from the second quarter’s one-minute mark onward.

And in doing so, the Rebels flipped an early-season script that saw them mostly struggle in the final two quarters. Ole Miss combined for three total second-half points in their previous two games.

“It was a strange feeling, especially with this group,” Kiffin said of Ole Miss trailing at halftime. “Never had that feeling. We said, ‘We’ve been on the other side of this. Now, let’s play a good second half. And a good fourth quarter, which we haven’t done. Let’s flip it.’ 

“They came out and did it. We actually played a good second half.”

The about-face made for a happy postgame locker room. 

Ole Miss started slow, including two first-quarter drives that stalled out in the red zone, and Kiffin admitted the atmosphere on the sideline wasn’t great. The Rebels even faced their first halftime deficit of the year.

But the responded. 

Jonathan Mingo broke the Ole Miss single-game record for receiving yards (247 yards) on nine catches. He also became the first Ole Miss player to record multiple 70-yard touchdown receptions in a single season since A.J. Brown hauled in three such scores in 2017.

The difference, of course, is both of Mingo’s came on one afternoon.

“We were hurting ourselves,” Mingo said.

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Jaxson Dart was 25 for 32 for three touchdowns and a career-high 448 yards passing. 

With his effort, Dart, the transfer from USC, moved into a tie for fifth in Ole Miss history in single-game passing with Jordan Ta’amu, who had 448 yards against Southern Illinois in 2018.

Dart’s final tally was the highest since Matt Corral set the single-game record (513) against South Carolina two years ago.

“You’ve got to go into the game and see what they do,” Kiffin said. “Once you do something well, these guys are paid money to coach. They do. They did a good job with some run stunts up front. There wasn’t any pass rush at all when you do that, so you’re able to sit back and throw the ball. 

“Whenever you do something well and come in Top 3 or something in the country, people are going to gang up to stop you.”

Most important of all, Ole Miss improved to 6-0 (2-0 SEC) for the first time since the 60s.

Vanderbilt, meanwhile, fell to 3-3 (0-2). Ole Miss has won four straight over the Commodores, the longest streak for the Rebels since a winning streak of five from 2000-04. 

They’re sure to move up in Top 25 rankings released on Sunday, and they’ll likely draw at least some consideration for the College Football Playoff now that the season has reached its midway point. 

But Kiffin isn’t thinking that way.

“I’m thinking we should have played a lot better,” he said. “I’m certainly not talking about the national championship. We all watched that first half. We ain’t worried about that. We’ve got a long ways to go to improve to play in a matchup coming back we have’t won yet. 

“We’re going to need our fans to repeat their performance last week and show up and give us a home-field advantage.”