Texas A&M arrived in Oxford on Saturday night as one of the hottest teams in the country, having won its last 4 games, but it was Ole Miss that dominated the Aggies from the opening kick in a 29-19 victory.
The Rebels, who are now 8-2 on the season and 4-2 in SEC play, were especially impressive on offense against what had been one of the best defenses statistically in the country.
Ole Miss racked up 504 total yards in the game, led by 247 passing yards by Hesiman candidate Matt Corral and 152 rushing yards from Jerrion Ealy.
The Rebels also had a solid sowing defensively, as they scored a defensive touchdown and recorded a safety. They also pitched a 1st-half shutout, held A&M to just 141 rushing yards, and picked off Aggies quarterback Zach Calzada twice.
After the game, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin met with the media.
Here’s a look at some of his postgame comments.
His first thoughts on the win:
https://twitter.com/JakeThompsonOn3/status/1459739029436469251?s=20
On what a win like this means for the Ole Miss program:
Kiffin: "I kept thinking if we can just pull this off…get to 8-2….it would just be amazing for this setting for that to happen. It's a step closer from good to great."
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 14, 2021
On the Rebels’ defense scoring twice in the game:
Kiffin: "We scored twice on defense, which is amazing, with the safety and the touchdown. Really cool."
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 14, 2021
On the defense helping the offense:
Kiffin: "No explosive plays. We felt good knowing they were going to play really slow. We don't have a lot of depth, and we overplay our defense…it really helped us them going slow so we could rest…"
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 14, 2021
On the play of linebacker Ashanti Cistrunk:
Kiffin on Ashanti Cistrunk: "That was huge. We were down some guys today, so for him to step up like that….that was really big."
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 14, 2021
On the College GameDay experience in Oxford:
Kiffin on GameDay experience: "I said it on there…(I'm) the first dual-threat coach…you're picking and it's the day you're playing. Kinda didn't want the MS State game to go like I picked (laughing)."
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 14, 2021
On struggling to convert short-yardage conversions:
Kiffin on short yardage woes: "Whenever we're not making something, it's an issue. I feel like when Ben Brown went out, we have struggled at times inside. That's three games in a row starting a different guard to try and figure it out."
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 14, 2021
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
