Postgame Quotes vs. Texas A&M

OLE MISS HEAD COACH LANE KIFFIN

Opening statement...
"Alright, that was cool. I feel like usually when we win I'm complaining about something normally, so I won't complain about our red zone offense right now. That's a cool win on just a cool day. I just kept thinking we can just pull this off, I don't care if it's 2-0 or 52-51, just to get to 8-2. To end a day of College Gameday and the Grove like it was and all the energy and everything, it would just be amazing for this setting and for that to happen and I'm not saying we're great but it's a step closer from good to great. We know that we can play really good offense when everybody's healthy, and we've seen that. We've seen that movie, so to play how we did on defense today was huge because I always look at the big picture of the season, not just the one game. That's pretty cool because I know we are going to continue to get healthier with the receivers coming back, that was a great game by the defense. That is a team that was playing as well as anybody in America coming in with four wins in a row and beating Alabama, and we continued to stop them. We scored twice on defense which is amazing with the safety and the touchdown. It was really neat to not just stop them but to score like that. It was really cool."

On the defensive performance and the high amount of offensive yardage...
"Sometimes I think they're going to be one way or not. I would not have thought we were gonna have 400 yards at halftime. That's on pace for 800 yards in a game. Every game has its own deal and it's different every week whoever you're playing and you just never know. It's hard to predict what's going to happen, but the defense stepped up. Arguably our best or second-best defensive player goes out and so you're going, alright second half boy they're moving and we just lost our guy that has really been a big difference when [Jake] Springer is in there or not. Guys stepped up, and what an awesome play by AJ [Finley], so it was really neat."

On Snoop Conner and making the most of his opportunities...
"It was big. I mean I'm sure everybody felt it. It was like we just couldn't score. We kept getting down there. We had three drives, I think 10 in the first half, and we got three combined points which is obviously an issue. We joked in the locker room, Mac [Brown] and I, that we came off and we started to kick, but we ran the fake field goal and Mac had one carry for two yards, well we needed two and a half, so I wish we would've fallen forward. I told Casey Kelly "push him". It was just a really neat day. That play where Snoop broke right there I think was a big relief for all of us cause we really had been struggling there. I think that and then when they didn't make the two-point conversion, that was obviously huge for the score of the game. And the game would've been over if our quarterback wouldn't slide, but now we finally don't want him to slide for once and end the game with a first down and now he wants to slide."

OLE MISS QB MATT CORRAL

On emotions of victory…
"It was definitely a good win, regardless of how we won. We felt good, because for most of these guys in the locker room, including myself, that was probably the biggest game that we played here at Ole Miss. And, just the timing, the matchup, College Gameday, that was the biggest game that I've seen in my football playing career, and a lot of the guys in the locker room felt good to come out on top. But, it was sloppy towards the end, it was just miscommunication between me and the receivers and regardless of who was wrong we did not execute. (We) just from that, and be right and on the same page the next time we (play)."

On the magnitude of the game...
"It was just a big game. It was a top matchup, it was SEC play and it was our home game. College Gameday did not change the way be approached the game, but it made it a bigger game. I'm definitely proud of the guys for stepping up on the defense, they did their thing for sure, and the running backs in the run game, because they were giving us run looks. Hats off to them, because they got it done."

OLE MISS RB JERRION EALY

On the locker room mood after the game…
"Just like any other win you know we were all happy. We were happy for the weekend. I don't know, this was a little bit different though with College Gameday being here. It was like [kissing noise]. We were just happy."

On the differences between how the offense played in the first versus the second half...
"We got the ball moving in the first half but we couldn't capitalize on some drives when we should have. We should have been up 24 or 30 to nothing at halftime. They played great defensively and we just ran the ball really well tonight."

OLE MISS DB AJ FINLEY

On his pick-six...
"Yeah that was a crazy moment for me. That was my first pick-six since I've been here, so that was really big for me. We knew they were going to go for the out route with the down and distance in that situation, so I drove it and the rest is history."

On if he immediately was thinking touchdown once he caught it...
"Yeah, and if I would've let the quarterback touch me or the quarterback catch me, I probably would've just walked off the field."

On what changed with the defense after the Arkansas game to turn things around this season...
"I wouldn't really say it was a schematic thing because we've been doing the same things defensively, but I think we came together and got closer. We took it kind of personally to improve our defense as a whole."

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH JIMBO FISHER

Opening statement...
"Gotta give credit to Ole Miss. They played a really good game, they have a good team, played a good first half. They controlled the first half very well. Their offense did a great job of moving the football up and down the field and they had lots of opportunities. Our defense became opportunistic in two or three chances that stopped them down there when they didn't kick field goals and things and that kept us in the game and gave us a chance."

On what Texas A&M struggled with in the game...
Offensively in the first half we had too many missed assignments and not enough poise. We didn't have enough poise on offense or defense at all in the first half. We didn't execute the plays and make the tackles. That's a disappointing thing coming up here. Putting ourselves behind the eight ball too fast and too quick to make the plays in which we needed to make and do that."

On how the team played in the second half...
"The second half on offense we just dropped the ball, missed two blocks, had too many penalties. Just self inflicted wounds, things like that. Miss a throw and then come back second half, moved it really well. We need to finish. On defense we played well because we kept them off the field and that's what we needed to do in the first half more but once they got hot they were moving it."

TEXAS A&M OL KENYON GREEN

On the Ole Miss defense slowing the offense down…
"It was all (of) us who made mistakes, little details that we tried to illustrate all during the week and we messed that up on ourselves. There were plenty of opportunities that we could have, we could have finished drives and kept it going but we didn't go that way."

On the sideline's energy after Jake Springer's targeting versus Demond Demas...
"(We were) trying to make sure he was okay first off, then go finish the drive, and finish it for him."

TEXAS A&M DB ANTONIO JOHNSON

On starting slow, rebounding but being unable to finish…
"Defense gave away too many yards early. In big games like this, you can not expect to make little mistakes like that and then prepare to come out with a win. I feel like as a team we gave it our all, we showed great effort and great heart. We just have to finish our season off harder."

On Ole Miss playing at a fast tempo...
"You have to be ready, have and make the play. You can not celebrate, find your man and get ready. It's difficult. I'm not going to lie to you, but I feel like we did a better job in the second half."

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Players Mentioned

Snoop Conner

Casey Kelly

Jake Springer

The University of Mississippi Athletics