Ole Miss Rebels College Football Pregame Quote, 10/04/2021

Alright so, first time since watching the film and meeting with the players. Obviously a disappointing loss. Unfortunately it really is what we talked about during the week. You go into that place against the No. 1 team in the country and you don’t play really well in all areas, don’t execute and make mistakes, they’ll knock you down really quick, which is what happened. They have really great coaches, great players that came to play. I’m sure last year’s game was in their head, defensively especially. Hats off to them for doing a great job. We gotta get back to work. We’ve addressed what we need to improve and what we need to work on. Like I’ve told our coaches before, I wish we could open our season with Alabama every year so then if you’re not playing right, you’re not playing with good fundamentals, you’re not playing physical, and you get exposed instead of getting by with some stuff until the fourth game of the year. Hopefully we’ll get better.

On how much was schematic and how much was talent in regards to what he noticed about offensive line issues:

Well we’re always looking at schematic things that we can do better or could’ve done better. It appears to me that they really mellowed down, did not play a lot of different things defensively and got their cleats in the grass, which is much different from the year before where they were trying to line up and get things done. It seemed very different. So when those guys line up and their cleats are in the grass, they have really good players. No. 31 dominated us, whether it was coming down on the guard or the tackle. He’s a great player. I think No. 10 has made them a lot better because he’s a great player and it really seems that he gets them lined up really well, which I feel has always been a key to that defense, having a really good player in that spot to do that.

On his thoughts on Arkansas and what he sees the keys to Saturday’s game being:

This is the SEC and the SEC West. You go and play the No. 1 team, and now you have to go up against a top 15 team that obviously struggled last week. What it appears is that there are two super teams this year with great players on both sides but especially defense, and then it seems like there’s a dropoff, so gauging them in that game, everyone has struggled. Georgia has great players and exposes people, so prior to that they were playing extremely well. They run the ball really well, they don’t give up explosive plays, I think they’re second in the country in pass defense, so this is a scheme we struggled with a year ago. We basically switched to it for our defense because it’s really good and they do a great job, plus they play super hard.

On what the process is on his staff on consuming data and then presenting it to him:

I usually get our what we call a report card yesterday, and it goes over every situation, verifies what you should have done and whether you did it, so that book comes early in the week. It’s based off of the opponent, it’s based off of how you’re playing, who you’re playing. I think to sum the whole thing up, the question got asked to me of well are you just doing that because it was Alabama? Were you being aggressive? No, that was all analytics and following it. I think in those games, because I’ve been in those discussions where we’re like alright what are we going to do? We’re the heavy underdog, let’s just keep it close so it doesn’t look as bad. Well we don’t play that way. I don’t think when you’re the heavy underdog that you win that way, especially with a good quarterback. So we followed them, and they didn’t work. A year before they did, and then we had a press conference saying how it was brilliant. So that’s what it is, and I’ve compared it to blackjack. When there’s five dollars out there, everybody hits when they’re supposed to on 16, but suddenly they have all this money out there and they’re supposed to hit, and they know it, but they don’t because they get scared. That’s kind of the comparison.

On how much he leans on analytics compared to the feel of the game:

I have that analytic told to me right there. It can even tell on each first down what you need to make three or less, so if you’re at fourth and three or less you should go. We usually follow that, but there is a feel sometimes to a game, and sometimes you can go above it, which we did this year. There was a time we were supposed to punt, but we were playing so well on offense that we went for it when we weren’t supposed to, and it worked. So yes, there is a feel to it.

On if anything changes the feeling going into this game with both teams coming off of losses:

Obviously not in preparation, but maybe on the outside. Both teams struggled a week ago against the two best teams in the country, but it’s still a matchup of top 20 teams that have come a long way in two years, especially them. I mean this was a team that two years ago struggled to play any game close. I remember them losing by a couple scores to North Texas, so Sam [Pittman] has done an unbelievable job.

On Corral handling last year’s Arkansas game:

I think that game taught him a lot I think it helped a little bit in this one when this one wasn’t going really well. He forced one, but outside of that he really scrambled back and got two years. It doesn’t look pretty but is not a sack or forced fumbled. It’s obviously a big difference, he threw no interceptions versus six. I think his arm will be tested this week because I wouldn’t think they’d change.

On an update for Jonathan Mingo’s health:

We do not, hopefully he plays.

On an update for Jake Springer’s health:

Same.

On Arkansas’ KJ Jefferson:

Big plays with play action or kind of trick double-move type plays. Runs the ball really well, looks like he weighs about 250. It looks like it may be an issue tackling this guy and bringing him down.

On CBS Interview (popcorn):

As you guys know I tell it like it is. Not premeditated, sometimes you get caught up in emotions and I just heard something, yelling in the locker room so on saying that I don’t even know why it came out. I actually told everyone ‘I actually said something really stupid you guys got to score a lot of points.’ And it was the last question, they were calling for kickoff return and there were 30 second on the clock. I literally did not know there was another question and when I found out afterwards that that looked rude, I contacted Jamie and made sure she knew that was not on purpose. I do apologize for that, that was not done on purpose at all.

On balancing tempo in short-yardage situations:

You give up a lot when you sub because now they can bring in bigger people and can get aligned. That was discouraging when they stopped us in those situations in short yardage. I even got discouraged why we threw later on in another one. Unfortunately, you don’t get to look at the tape right at that time and realize that if that happens on penalties there’s a first down that stops and first there’s a touchdown. The guy makes an unbelievable play on us. So that’s why you wish you could see the replay to know that, and we really should have kept running it in short yardage as strange as that seems.

On offensive line in film:

That’s the ultimate test. I just watched Georgia and in the first quarter. I watched Arkansas’ offense. Alabama and Georgia if you sign the best players especially on the defensive side of the ball over years and get all the five-star players it starts to show up and you see that happening with both teams. To answer your question, we struggled. We struggled up front in a number of matchups. It is what it is.

On Jerrion Ealy’s involvement after being stopped on fourth down:

That wasn’t (situational). 10 made a great play. We short motioned the back over here and he ran like he thought like he was going all the way out and ran into it. But that was not because of that, I think later in the game it was really Harlem was running really well and he was one of our few guys that played well and played like he belonged on that field.

On Plumlee’s involvement:

Those questions don’t come as much when you score all the time. So, fair question and it’s tough to be in positions and your backing up Drummond one of our best players so it’s not ideal for him. He was backing up one of the best quarterbacks in the country and now is backing up one of the best slots. So, not ideal for him.

On Jadon and Danis Jackson’s performances:

Jadon’s had the penalty for not getting aligned which is what we do trying to go fast and they’re not aligned. He did some good things. Danis made the big catch so that was good to see. We’ve said it for two years, we need better play out of our backup receivers because our guys play too much again this year and you see it with 13, Braylon was tired in the game. He did not look like the Braylon you’ve seen before running by people.”