New Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin had some bright spots in his debut coaching the Rebels, most notably, the numbers of passing yards put up against the Florida defense, largely to Elijah Moore.

But it wasn’t enough in a 51-35 loss to open the 2020 season.

“In order to beat teams like that, you have to play better than that,” Kiffin told reporters, per The Rebel Walk. “We’re going to go on the road and find a way to get to 1-1.”

Moore had 10 catches for 227 yards, as he developed quite a connection with QB Matt Corral.

“(Elijah’s) a special player. Matt played really well. It was great to see today against a team that usually people don’t do that to,” Kiffin said. “There was some really good execution by those guys.”

Although there were fewer fans inside the stadium, Kiffin appreciated them.

“They don’t like the referees very much. I thought the fans were great,” he said.

About the Ole Miss defense, Kiffin said, “That’s about as bad as you can play against the pass. Those are video game stats. The tight end (Kyle Pitts) is incredible. Two of those TDs, he was double covered. A lot of credit to them and we did not play well.”

Kiffin said his two-QB set was by design, but ultimately he went with the hot hand.

“We probably would’ve seen more of John, we did that early to cause them some problems,” Kiffin said. “With Matt playing so well and us being behind, we went with Matt.”

On Dontario Drummond, Kiffin said, “He played well in camp. Had two big TDs today. I thought he did well.”

On the roughing the passer call against the Rebels’ MoMo Sanogo, Kiffin said, “I did ask the referee and he said that he drove him into the ground too hard. So, big play.”