'We're trying to break some habits': Lane Kiffin evaluates Ole Miss' season-opening win
The start of each week for Ole Miss during the regular season brings about “tell the the truth Mondays” and head coach Lane Kiffin did just that.
Coming off the season-opening win over Troy last Saturday the third-year head coach provided a little bit deeper evaluation after having a day or so of film study.
On Monday afternoon the mood towards Ole Miss’ play was a little brighter but Kiffin still acknowledged areas that need improving moving forward.
“We had tell the truth Monday. It’s what the meetings are in the morning,” Kiffin said. “The good, bad and the ugly of the game. There were some loafs in there. There’s some not effort that we’re looking for. Nothing against other places. Everyone does things different so I’m not saying we do it better. We’re trying to break some habits.
“People just coach different on certain things. I told them, ‘A couple of you guys come from other places. This was your one game. We told you it. You screwed up. You have to break these habits or your playing time’s going to suffer.”
Related: How did Ole Miss grade out after season-opening win over Troy?
The start of the game for Ole Miss went much smoother than how it finished, which Kiffin is trying to keep in perspective.
Ole Miss put up 21 points in the first two quarters and looked like a mostly well-oiled machine on offense. But then the grease came off and that machine struggled to move, scoring seven points in the final 30 minutes.
In the second half where Ole Miss’ offense was non-existent the defense also showed more holes in its game than at the start, allowing Troy to have more success and score a touchdown of its own.
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“You always feel the way you end, normally, right after the game,” Kiffin said. “Because we didn’t end well, as you guys know, I was pretty down. But that’s really better than the other way. Because the other way would be, ‘Man, we came out when everybody’s ones versus ones and we’re done at halftime,’ or something.
“I think it’s a lot easier to correct finishing and doing things well in the second half versus, ‘Well, we’re just not very good.'”
The play of the offensive line drew major concern after the game, especially with its lacking ability to pass protect.
Dart did not have many plays where he was comfortable in the pocket or even time to get comfortable. In the modern college football there is a need to have a sense of urgency by the quarterback but Dart looked uncomfortable more times than not.
The offensive line did not grade out very well as a unit blocking efficiency grade of 85.9 to tie with Alabama A&M as the 161st best. In what might have been a shock it was Micah Pettus that had the highest individual blocking grade of the front five on Saturday.
“I thought our O-line did really good in the run game and not in the passing game,” Kiffin said. “It’s not all on them. There’s some other stuff in there but it’s really fitting of our passing game not really on. (Troy) has some good players. They always have, especially defensively. It’s why they beat LSU, Nebraska. They’ve always got a lot of Alabama kids that are really good players”
