Lane Kiffin’s aggressive accusation against Oklahoma Sooners could mean trouble for Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin offers strong accusation toward Brent Venables and Oklahoma Sooners’ study habits of opponent’s signals
Lane Kiffin is at it again, stirring the post ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners game. Can his Rebels offense take the Sooners down?
Based on how the Ole Miss Rebels looked through the first three quarters of action against the Georgia Bulldogs last week, the answer is a definite yes. Five drives. Five touchdowns. 35 points. However, then something happened. Trinidad Chambliss missed a couple passes, and in late-game dramatic fashion the Georgia Bulldogs held on to beat Lane Kiffin and the Rebels, handing them their first loss of the year.
While most might expect that Georgia’s defense is the toughest Ole Miss will play all year, that is incorrect. The Rebels will now have to face the number one defense in the entire country this week on Saturday against Brent Venables and his Oklahoma Sooners. Why are they so good? Lane Kiffin believes he has the answer.
Oklahoma defensive stats heading into Ole Miss game
- The Oklahoma Sooners are allowing the fewest yards per play among all FBS teams (3.85 per offensive snap)
- The Sooners lead all power conference defenses in sacks for the year with 28 of opposing quarterbacks
- Oklahome ranks first defensively in adjusted EPA (expected points added) per play, total success rate allowed, yards per drop back, and havoc rate (plays like tackles for loss, fumbles, interceptions, sacks, etc.) among all FBS teams
Lane Kiffin accuses Oklahoma Sooners of knowing opponent signals and predicting plays
First off, this is not like the Michigan Wolverines scandal–not exactly anyway. However, Lane Kiffin did make it completely clear with his comments on Monday that he believes Oklahoma studies their opponents’ signals closely. Then they actually have the confidences to execute the perfect answer in stopping them in game action:
“I think it’s two-part. I think one, it’s phenomenal prep. A film study of signals. I mean, I’ll just tell you how it is. I think they do a great job of that. So if you study people really well, and then you have enough confidence as a coach to go after those, that seems to be what [Brent Venables] does. Seems like they’ve got a really good bead on the plays that are coming when they’re called. They do a great job of going and taking those away. You look at the Auburn game. I told Hugh [Freeze, Auburn head coach] after the game, watching it, ‘Hey you might want to switch his signals.’ It looks like they have the plays. The middle safety’s running down to steal slants, which is very abnormal.”
The issue (and primary accusation) with the Michigan scandal was that they were sending staff to scout opponents’ signals in person (not allowed) rather than studying film to learn signals. In this case with Oklahoma, it doesn’t seem that Lane Kiffin is accusing the Sooners of doing anything outside the rules. It’s just that he believes the Sooners are so good at studying opponent signals that they’re able to have specific defenders sprint to exact spots where they know routes are going to be. That’s some wildly impressive study and execution from the Sooners. If true, it’s no wonder why the Sooners have the best defense in the country.
In response to Kiffin’s comments he was asked if he makes plans to change signals weekly depending on his opponent, especially knowing what Oklahoma does in signal study now. In typical Lane Kiffin fashion he answered with a sly grin:
“Nah, we’re going to keep our same signals (chuckling)…That’s a really good question, and competitively I can’t answer that for you.”
The Sooners rank first in defensive sacks, yards per play, adjusted EPA per play, yards per drop back, and overall total success rate allowed among all FBS college football teams this season. It makes sense that their defensive preparation is the best in the nation. Knowing this, Ole Miss might be in trouble on offense.
However, Lane Kiffin has been known to make key adjustments for his opponents in the past and will surely have some answers and tricks up his sleeve this week. He better anyway. The winner of this Ole Miss versus Oklahoma game will put themselves back on track to potentially make the SEC Championship Game and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. The loser will have to remain perfect the rest of the way.
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!
