Lane Kiffin accuses Brent Venables' Oklahoma defense of stealing signals

Ahead of their matchup on Saturday in Norman, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, as usual, didn't hold back on why he believes the Oklahoma Sooners' defense has found so much success under Brent Venables this season.

During Monday's press conference, Kiffin praised the No. 13 Sooners' elite defense during his opening statement while subtly insinuating that OU steals signals. After then being asked about it later, Kiffin flat out admitted that's why he believes the Sooners have an edge over offenses this season.

Lane Kiffin praises Sooners defense while taking shot

"This is probably, I don't know this, but feels like looking at it probably, statistically, the best defense we've ever played here," Kiffin said during his opening statement. "Basically, hardly anyone's done anything against them. ...

"They've done an amazing job. And (Venables) just somehow gets the information to the guys, and they do a great job of playing plays. They just do things that are very abnormal when they see plays they think are coming and go to take away and go to pick them off."

The Sooners enter Week 9 leading all of college football in total defense while giving up just 213 yards a game. They're second in the country in scoring defense, averaging 9.43 points a game under Venables, who took over defensive play-calling duties as head coach this offseason.

Kiffin was later asked during his presser why he thought the Sooners seem to know what's coming like he mentioned.

"Well, I think that's two-part," Kiffin said. "One, it's phenomenal prep -- film study of signals. I mean, you know how it is, I just tell you how it is. I think they do a great job of that. So if you study people really well, you know tendencies, and then you have enough confidence as a coach to go after those, that's what (Venables) does. It seems like they've got a really good beat on the plays that are coming when they're called. And they do a great job of going and taking those away.

"You look at the Auburn game, I told Hugh (Freeze) after their game watching it, I mean, 'You might want to switch your signals.' It looks like they have the plays. The middle safety's running down to steal slants, which is very abnormal."

Kiffin is on the opposite side of the ball of Venables as an offensive-minded coach, who is now tasked with trying move the ball against the Sooners, which nearly everyone has failed to do to this point. That chess match doesn't just happen between the white lines, though, and Kiffin joked that the No. 8 Rebels plan to keep all of their signals the same for their trip to Norman.

He wouldn't truly admit, though, if Ole Miss always switches up its signals, or it just depends on if there are concerns, like Kiffin has about the Sooners.

"That's a really good question," Kiffin said. "Competitively, I can't answer that for you."