Lane Kiffin pleased fans have embraced lofty expectations, were upset after LSU loss

Ole Miss played LSU down to the wire in Baton Rouge on Saturday night in a highly competitive game between two College Football Playoff hopefuls.

The reaction in Oxford, Miss., was something that surprised Rebels coach Lane Kiffin a little bit. Fans were irate.

“Yeah I remember when we first got here and we played Alabama down to the wire in a really high-scoring game and everybody was like, ‘Man, awesome job, awesome job,’” Kiffin said Wednesday on an SEC teleconference call. “And I was like, ‘Well we lost, we didn’t come here to play close games.’”

Kiffin was careful to point out back then that the expectation needed to be a little higher if Ole Miss wanted to get to a higher level as a program. That included the fans.

Well, his fans took that to heart.

Now Ole Miss, having suffered a second loss this season at LSU, is on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff. There’s still a chance to make the field, but it’ll require being near-perfect.

That’s sort of what the fans expect now, too.

“So it’s just interesting forward a few years later everybody’s upset and angry,” Kiffin said. “So lot of people would say, ‘Man, don’t they remember where they were just at? How hard it is to win at LSU?’ They hadn’t won down there in 16 years or something. That’s the expectation we created and how we wanted them to think.”

The fans are bought in. Kiffin has accomplished that much.

Now it’s just a matter of finishing off things on the field. That’s an equally difficult task. But at least the fans are on board with the expectations now.

“So I’m glad they feel like us in that they’re upset losing at LSU Saturday night in a game that had all the way till last play of the game and at points were in control of the game,” Kiffin said. “So, it’s a good thing.”

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