Lane Kiffin shares why he hilariously got his own players in trouble amid Ole Miss Rebels’ huge SEC win over South Carolina

Lane Kiffin reminds fans, “sometimes you’ve got to have fun,” as his antics led to several penalties called after Ole Miss interception

Travis May — College Football Managing Editor
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Official Ole Miss Rebels Postgame Press Conference – South Carolina

Lane Kiffin is truly one of one. There’s no other head coach like him. He always says and does the things that other head coaches wish they had the guts to try to pull, and he was at it again on Saturday in Ole Miss’ 30-14 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Ole Miss was already up by 16 points over South Carolina, with the Gamecocks driving late in the fourth quarter with less than six minutes to go in the game. The Rebels’ defensive line forced Sellers to scramble out of the pocket, look desperately downfield, and throw an interception directly to Suntarine Perkins.

Then, amid the celebration, Kiffin hilariously pushed Perkins for several steps towards the student section, inevitably leading to multiple unsportsmanlike conduct flags thrown on Rebels players (after Perkins jumped into the stands and Kiffin threw a ball into the crowd). Kiffin shared why and how that went down after the game.

Lane Kiffin gets his team unsportsmanlike penalty and throws ball into the stands

If you’re not an Ole Miss fan, seeing an SEC head coach encourage his players to sprint towards the student section to celebrate and actually throw a ball into the stands, it might be easy to judge Kiffin negatively for it. But that’s just Kiffin. He was excited about the turnover by Perkins that essentially sealed the win for Ole Miss late, and couldn’t contain his excitement. Kiffin shared exactly how and why that happened:

“I probably got us a penalty there at the end because I was just excited that we made an interception. Those don’t happen a lot around here lately,” Kiffin said with a chuckle. “So when we did, and the student section was right there, I just – I didn’t tell them to jump into the stands – they did that and got the penalty. And then they were getting the penalty, so I just threw the ball there too. I’m like, ‘They’re not going to give us two penalties.’

“Sometimes you’ve got to have fun…I’m glad you didn’t see [the throw]. Kind of looked stupid. Shouldn’t have done that. I was just like, ‘We’re already getting a penalty, so whatever.’ I like our students, man. They’ve got great energy. They were there two hours before the game. So, I told our guys afterwards to go down there and thank them.”

It’s good to know Kiffin didn’t actually ask Perkins to jump into the stands, which was what initially drew the first unsportsmanlike conduct flag. However, he didn’t hide that he wanted his players, especially Perkins, to enjoy that moment and feel the love from the Ole Miss fans.

Kiffin’s love for the Ole Miss student section and fans in general has become a beautiful relationship. He mentioned later in the press conference after the game that it wasn’t that way initially when he arrived at Ole Miss, but so much has changed in the five-plus years he’s been in Oxford.

Again, Kiffin just looks comfortable. He’s doing and saying hilarious things that show over and over that he’s happy and at home in Oxford. The national media is going to continue asserting the “fact” that he could have so much more success elsewhere (like at LSU and Florida) if he’s offered a big head coaching job elsewhere, but there’s truly no reason for him to leave Ole Miss.

It’s wins like Saturday and hilarious moments like him throwing a football into the stands and getting his own players in meaningless in-game trouble that will make him an absolute legend with Ole Miss.

We’ll be back with more Ole Miss Rebels coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports Ole Miss Rebels, as Lane Kiffin shares why he hilariously got his own players in trouble amid Ole Miss Rebels’ huge SEC win over South Carolina.

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