Lane Kiffin had a surprisingly bold take on Oklahoma's Brent Venables, given that now they are their permanent SEC opponents.
The No. 8 Ole Miss heads to Norman this Saturday to take on the Oklahoma Sooners. But before the actual game, Kiffin hardly ever fails to create some drama, especially when the game is against a strong team.
If anything, his pre-game exchanges with Kirby Smart from last week are proof enough.
This time, Kiffin had a shockingly bold take on a controversial topic in college football: signal calling.
The Ole Miss football coach subtly hinted at Venables stealing signs.
"They've done an amazing job. And (Venables) just somehow gets the information to the guys, and they do a great job of playing plays. They just do things that are very abnormal when they see plays they think are coming and go to take away and go to pick them off," Kiffin said in his press conference on Monday.
Brent Venables takes it as a compliment
As shocking as that might be, Venables took it in good faith, instead of reading in between the lines.
"I guess coming from Lane I take it as a compliment?” Venables said on his radio show. “Like, he must have watched our guys be really prepared. Cause that’s who they are, man. They’re relentless. Their detail, the time they spend above and beyond what’s required, that’s the proof of how we’re playing right now. That D-line, how they’re able to dominate physically.
“Honestly I don’t know of a team that hasn’t huddled. I think every single team we’ve played the last two years has huddled. And so between that and the helmet communication, I don’t know how that works, but we got enough to worry about just getting our guys lined up with the right call and things of that nature. But I guess I’ll take that as kind of a weird kind of compliment. Our guys must’ve looked pretty good on film.”
While it definitely not illegal, the tiopic can be quite stirring, controversial even, and Kiffin knows that.
Regardless of that, the Ole Miss Rebels should be more concerned about actually winning this one against Oklahoma coming off a fresh, stinglng loss to Georgia.