<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4UdUC1_0vHfTAxt00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4UdUC1_0vHfTAxt00" width="1200" height="628" >In just about every phase of the game, it appears <a href="https://247sports.com/coach/Lane-Kiffin-523">Lane Kiffin</a>'s <a href="https://247sports.com/college/ole-miss/">Ole Miss Rebels</a> played about as well as one could hope for a season-opening game this past Saturday, especially with so many new faces.<a href="https://247sports.com/Player/jaxson-dart-46099432/">Jaxson Dart</a> and the offense got plenty of attention for racking up 772 yards of offense and dropping a 50-burger before going into halftime. However, on the other side of the coin, Kiffin's revamped defense had itself quite a first impression as well. The Rebels held <a href="https://247sports.com/college/furman/">Furman</a> to just 172 yards of offense, with just 26 yards given up on the ground. They also had a whopping 16 tackles for loss and gave up less than three yards a play on average. However, the scoreboard spoke for itself at the end of the night, and Ole Miss pitched its first shutout since September of 2022 against <a href="https://247sports.com/college/georgia-tech/">Georgia Tech</a>.With Kiffin's newly hired analyst and brother <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/chris-kiffin-1412/">Chris Kiffin</a> by his side, Lane later realized that his father, Monte, was smiling from above. It all seemed fitting at the end of the night"I thought after the game, it was special as far as for me thinking about my dad watching the game, my brother being here and dad's excitement because game day was always his favorite all the time," Kiffin told the media on Monday. "To have a shutout on defense, and as a head coach, I was thinking that this is not only my first season of life without him, but my only season as a head coach without him on our staff but one, and that was the last year at <a href="https://247sports.com/college/usc/">USC</a>, which I only made it five games into before being fired, I think it was more evidence that he was very valuable to our program in all four places I was head coach. It was pretty neat to have a shutout."<a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/monte-kiffin-531/">Monte Kiffin</a>, a legendary defensive-minded football coach, passed away in early July, and Lane has documented in multiple interviews since then how much he impacted not only Lane himself, but the people around him, even in the lowest positions of authority or pecking order. Monte previously served on Lane's staffs at Tennessee, USC, FAU and Ole Miss.Many defensive players saw action on Saturday, especially with the score getting out of hand very early on. Transfer players such as <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Chris-Paul-Jr-46083174">Chris "Pooh" Paul</a>, <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/walter-nolen-46083769/">Walter Nolen</a>, <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/princely-umanmielen-46046991/">Princely Umanmielen</a>, <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/trey-amos-46078836/">Trey Amos</a> and <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/louis-moore-46128943/">Louis Moore</a> had some key moments throughout the game, along with true freshmen <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Kam-Franklin-46128626">Kam Franklin</a> and <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/william-echoles-46138952/">William Echoles</a> on the defensive line, after first-team defenders were relieved of duty early."Our guys didn't play a lot of snaps, a lot of our defensive players played in the 20's, some even in the teens of snaps," Kiffin said. "We're going to have to continue working on playing more snaps I guess and continuing to work up. The numbers were more of a preseason game, an NFL team with so few snaps for the starters."Paul lead all defenders with eight tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss in his Ole Miss debut, not even starting the game."I just want to continue bringing the energy for those guys. There's no reason to sit back and pout about it. It's a blessing to be here. I've said that before. It's a blessing to watch those guys work. They've put in the work and just trusting the coaches. My main thing was to keep the energy on the sideline, keep those guys engaged, coach them up on things I've seen on the field, and take the coaching from our coaches on the sideline. Really excited to get out there in front of those fans and watch those boys work," Paul said in postgame.The Rebels will return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7 to take on <a href="https://247sports.com/college/middle-tennessee-state/">Middle Tennessee State</a>. Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. CT and can be seen on SEC Network or listened to on the Ole Miss Radio Network."It was a very successful day for a first game (versus Furman)," Kiffin said. "A lot of new players, moving parts. I thought coaches and players did a really good job of a clean first game, regardless of opponent, with no turnovers, three penalties, didn't see substitution issues going on. I was very proud of that. I thought players and coaches working through the last two weeks in having the mock game last Saturday at the same time, ironically was 72-0 and the exact average rushing given up on defense, and pretty much all the goal charts were hit the same. That was interesting."</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Lane Kiffin saw Ole Miss shutout of Furman as a fitting tribute to his father

In just about every phase of the game, it appears Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels played about as well as one could hope for a season-opening game this past Saturday, especially with so many new faces. Jaxson Dart and the offense got plenty of attention for racking up 772 yards...

Lane Kiffin saw Ole Miss shutout of Furman as a fitting tribute to his father

Comments / 0