Lane Kiffin Admits Pete Golding Has a Major Advantage in Ole Miss vs. LSU

Pete Golding and Lane Kiffin obviously know each other very well.

Golding was Kiffin's defensive coordinator for three years in Oxford. Schematically speaking, at least, Golding knows what Kiffin and his offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis Jr., are going to try to deploy on Saturday.

In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if he were able to key in on a good number of Kiffin's tendencies, either when the Tigers head to Oxford to take on Ole Miss on Saturday.

Kiffin has already admitted as much.

“When I worked for Saban, I think after I left, it benefited me much more than it benefited him,” Kiffin said. "I had listened for three years to all the things that he would teach us that he didn’t like, and then we ended up using that. I think in this way, this benefits [Ole Miss] more than us in the coaching way, because Pete (Golding) sat there for the three years hearing me say what I don’t like to play against."

Pete Golding, however, see's a different side to the situation.

Ole Miss might overthink it if they're not careful

Lane Kiffin (left) shares a laugh with Pete Golding — Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin (left) shares a laugh with defensive coordinator Pete Golding (right) during warm ups prior to the game against the Georgia Southern Eagles | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

While Golding admitted that Kiffin was on to something, he also raised another interesting point: sometimes, familiarity can lead to overthinking.

And the last thing you want to do when facing a Lane Kiffin offense, is get into your own head.

“I think it goes both ways,” Golding said. “There’s a lot that you know about them on both sides. Them about us, us about them. There’s a very big database of going against somebody for three and a half years... every spring, every fall camp, all the scrimmages. I think it’s really easy to overthink things as well, and try to have a plan for everything they’ve ever done under the sun, which is really tough within one week for your players. I think you can outthink yourself sometimes.”

“You’ve got to put your focus and decide what you’re trying to stop, based on who they have and who we’ve got, and then be able to adjust to some other things. Sometimes you make it a lot harder than it should be when you know somebody really well. But we know it’s going to be really challenging. Charlie (Weis Jr.) does a really good job. Lane does a really good job on game day as well. They’ve got a good quarterback. I think it’s good that there’s familiarity, but sometimes for coaches, we overthink it a little bit.”

Golding isn't wrong here either.

Heading into a matchup assuming you know what another team is going to run based on anything other than what you have seen them do this season is folly.

Last year doesn't matter. Neither do the previous two years before that.

Kiffin has new personnell and a new quarterback. A much different quarterback, in fact.

His offense has new strengths. It has new weaknesses.

Will it have some of the same tendencies? Sure. But there is also likely a lot that will be different.

Some of that is based on the differences between Sam Leavitt and Trinidad Chambliss alone, but also on the contrasts between Kewan Lacy and Dilin Jones, Deuce Alexander and Winston Watkins, or Caleb Odom and Trey'Dez Green.

Personnel dictates tendencies and comfortability within a system.

Fortunately, Golding knows that if he focuses too much on the familiarity, rather than preparing for what Kiffin has changed, it could get his defense into trouble on the field.

And the last thing he needs before Kiffin returns to Oxford, is another distraction for his team.

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