'I probably overthink things:' What Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss football win vs. Auburn

OXFORD − Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin talked about his team's successes, his team's failures and his tendency to overthink the most minute details after the Rebels' win over Auburn.

No. 9 Ole Miss (7-0, 3-0 SEC) beat Auburn 48-34 on Saturday to match the team's best start in any season over the last 60 years. The Tigers (3-4, 1-3) ran for 301 yards against an Ole Miss defense that struggled to tackle but the Rebels' offense ran for its second-most yards in any SEC game ever and sealed the game with 285 second-half rushing yards.

WEIRD, WILD, FUN:Examining the surreal events of Ole Miss football's win over Auburn

REPORT CARD:How we graded Ole Miss football's 48-34 win over Auburn

Here's a rundown of everything Kiffin said about his team after the win.

Opening statement

Really good team win. It was unusual with the delay so I was really proud of just the long time sitting there and just talking to our players about finishing the play off and those guys really rallied and played a close game. I was very pleased on how we finished on offense and defense. You know we stopped them there, got the pick, and shut down the series. Then we gave the ball back to them and then they go those two first downs. We talked about that during the delay and evaluate what happened and we just have to stop them on defense. Those two first downs at the end of the game were good, we haven't been great at that. That was really good to see. Obviously, this is the story of the game but we just had to stop them from running. They had three rushers with over 100 yards and there were a lot of people doing things right. Like I told the guys, we had a cool story on that play when Mingo got that catch. When we have a record setting day, they talk about how well he's doing and how many rushing yards we had so that's really cool when you have selfless people like that.

Are you at all concerned about the defense after today?

Obviously, that wasn't up to our standards no matter who is in there. Unfortunately our best player tried to go and arguably our best player from an impact stand point. Cedric (Johnson) wasn't able to play at all. He made some excuses but our guys have to step up every time because this is the middle of the season, we're going to have injuries and obviously we don't have (tight end Michael) Trigg this week and we don't have a bunch of explosive runs. Then we announced that we have lightning eight miles from here and so we have to come up with a defensive play and then I was like well we have thirty minutes to go figure it out.

What was the inspiration for the onside kick in the third quarter?

It was a huge play for the players to make the play. Looks awesome on film. Coach did a great job on finding it and they had been practicing it all week. You know, we were struggling at that point in the game so we got the ball back in the game so I don't think that's what people were anticipating in the game in a high scoring kind of game. We got to that drive so let's do it. We get it and then they're back on the field again so we get twenty straight snaps on defense so the players needed it. Obviously, it helped us in the game a lot.

Did you expect to run the ball this much?

I actually wasn't one hundred percent coming in to this game. We had to talk through some things so we ran the ball really well. Our tight ends and our receivers remembered to block really well and a lot of those different types of schemes got our ball in the perimeter because our guys will get to the ball in between tackles so we can take the ball around the edge and get around them.

What was the difference between the first quarter and the rest of the game?

It was two things. It was third-down plays where their quarterback was scrambling, making plays, making big throws to keep drives alive. They had a 3rd-and-15 and a 3rd-and-9 on the same drive. Then the inability to make tackles in the run game. It felt like during the game ours was hard. We had to work our way downfield a lot more. Their runs were breaking. We'd have a guy there and miss the tackle. That's a major issue. It's not the first time it's showed up. We have issues on our team. We change every week. And we're 7-0, which is great. But we've got to fix these things, because it's going to get harder.

Can you recall ever coaching in a game with almost 750 rushing yards combined?

I'm sure we've had them here. Our first year it felt like everything was like that. It did have that feeling again, kind of like the South Carolina game one year. I just kept saying 'We've got to score and keep the lead and keep playing until we make the play on defense.' And we did.

What made you so comfortable running Dayton Wade so much in this game?

He's been hurt some, so he's always made plays in practice. The few times he's gotten in there, the balls we've gotten to him, he's done a great job. He does a good job as a returner. We always say we're a lot better when we can rotate guys in and not wear our receivers out. He stepped up much like Jordan Watkins had earlier in the year and he made plays. Jaylon Robinson was out again, so guys stepped up.

What are you seeing from Jaxson Dart as a runner?

Really good job by him. He actually wasn't 100% going into the game, so he really toughed through some things. He ran really well. Tight ends, receivers, perimeter blocked really well. A lot of those crack, different types of schemes they got the ball on the perimeter because I feel like (Auburn) always play well in between the tackles. We needed to take the ball on the edge and get around them.

When was the last time you were part of an offense that had three 100-yard rushers.

I don't recall. But that's the accumulation of guys doing things right. Offensive line, tight ends, receivers, how they blocked and running backs how they finished. You didn't see guys running out of bounds. Getting extra yards. Against Georgia Tech we were up near 69 carries too. It doesn't happen very often in SEC games. You've got to do whatever it takes to get to 1-0, and that was running the ball today.

Is being able to run the ball like that something you're proud of in terms of your reputation?

I don't care about the reputation. I just like it better as a feeling. We've had this conversation often, I don't know why it's always I'm associated with throwing the ball. But that was awesome to see today. The other way is fun, but this is more demoralizing to a team when you're able to continue to run the ball like that. We saw a lot of guys go down for them. We were able to wear them down and right before the lightning delay (Judkins') run finally broke. So that was good.

Did you try to do a handstand after the onside kick recovery?

I don't know. I don't remember. I was trying not to be up there and pay attention. Because I always think with the other coach 'Oh, if he's up there and talking to special teams, they're doing something.' I was actually pretending I was down there talking to the defense about the next series. I probably over-think things. I actually watched on the screen instead of watching the kick.

How tough are your running backs?

I think you have a combination of really tough kids. Jaxson, even though he's a quarterback, he has that mentality. It comes from his parents. His mom runs marathons and his dad was a safety. That's a pretty good combination for being physical and running the ball. It was just great to see. Zach had a great second half last week. He'll be the first to tell you it wasn't a great first half being physical. So I challenged him to come out today and play like he did in the second half and he did. It was huge.

Contact Nick Suss at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.