Lane Kiffin on Actions Late in Egg Bowl: 'I Probably Shouldn't Have Done That'

Ole Miss took down hated rival Mississippi State in Thursday's Egg Bowl, 31–21. As his offense scored a big late-game touchdown to go up 18, Lane Kiffin admits he got swept up in the emotions of the game.

With 5:35 left in regulation, Rebels quarterback Matt Corral hit Jerrion Ealy for a 15-yard score to push things to 31–13. The Bulldogs would answer on the next drive, but it was too little, too late for Mike Leach's squad.

Right after the Ealy score, Kiffin gestured to the home crowd, hitting them with the famous Vince Carter "it's over" move from the 2000 Slam Dunk contest. The move came just days after Kiffin tried to downplay the importance of the heated SEC West rivalry.

"It is just football," Kiffin said. "You really shouldn't hate people because of where you go to school."

Thursday's game in Starkville changed Kiffin's mind about things. He had been to Davis Wade Stadium as an opponent before, as offensive coordinator at Alabama. He says that visiting with Ole Miss is much different, which led to the emotional reaction.

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that, but, you know, I get it now. It's different than coming here at Alabama. There's a lot of things said to you on the way out. Their players say a lot of things during the game and, you know, it gets emotional and it gets competitive," Kiffin said. "So, I did kinda get caught up in that.

"Those bells are really annoying by the way. They don't even come close to following the rules, so whatever rule that is that they're supposed to stop, they don't."

With the win, Kiffin is now 2–0 over the Bulldogs as the Ole Miss coach. Thursday's win was also the 10th for his program, the first time in Ole Miss history that the team has won 10 games in the regular season.

With it, the Rebels are in great shape to make a New Year's Six bowl game.