Kiffin spoke about his old assistant at Ole Miss prior of the home game against Oklahoma.
Oklahoma dismissed offensive coordinator Seth Littrell on Sunday, following a 35-9 loss to South Carolina, the Sooners’ worst home defeat in a decade. Joe Jon Finley, the program’s tight ends coach, has been named interim playcaller for the team’s Week 9 game versus Mississippi. Lane Kiffin, the Rebels’ head coach, claimed he has no idea what to anticipate from Finley, despite hiring him as the passing game coordinator and tight ends coach for Ole Miss in 2020.
“Usually, they don’t change a whole lot when someone’s been there and was the co-coordinator already,” Kiffin said when asked if he expected Finley to change the Sooners’ offense this week. “There is no magic formula for figuring out what they’re thinking.” It isn’t like Joe Jon was our coordinator. He was the tight ends coach. He has never called plays. It’s not like there’s any movies to go see.”
Oklahoma is last in the SEC in total offense, averaging 288.1 yards per game. Ole Miss leads the league with 560.7 yards per game. The Rebels score 19.3 points more per game than the Sooners.
“I don’t think that really matters,” Kiffin said when asked if his connection with Finley will benefit the Rebels on Saturday. “I can see why you believe that would mean a lot. He did not call any plays here. He was our tight ends coach here. I don’t think his previous experience working here will help us figure out what he’s going to do. With only a week to call plays, folks frequently add a play here and there while sticking with the same system. “You cannot reinvent a system in six days.”
On Oklahoma’s first three possessions against South Carolina, quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. committed three turnovers, including a pick-six and a scoop-and-score. In the first quarter, the Sooners benched Hawkins in favor of former starter Jackson Arnold, who completed 18 of 36 passes for 225 yards and one touchdown. Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables was silent on who would be the Sooners’ starting quarterback going forward, saying he’d have to “figure” it out in practice this week. Kiffin stated that Ole Miss is preparing for both.
“Both guys played a lot this season,” Kiffin said about Hawkins and Arnold. “We’re ready for both. We’ve focused on improving our defense. We want to focus more on ourselves, especially against a club with so many unknowns on offense. It is rare to not know who the quarterback is and not have a fresh guy calling plays. We’ve decided to focus more on ourselves. … “Both guys move really well. Both are quite talented. We need to make sure we take care of ourselves and play well.”
