Lane Kiffin walks back signal-stealing accusation against Oklahoma defense

It seems, once again, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin spoke long before he thought.

Before playing the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday in Norman, Kiffin started the week by insinuating that Brent Venables’ defense steals signals and that’s why the unit has emerged as one of the best in the country. However, two days later on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference, Kiffin quickly restructured his comment.

Lane Kiffin says he complimented Brent Venables' defense

“Like I said, they do a great job of overall, everything,” Kiffin said Wednesday. “Playing plays. I said the signal thing, that’s a compliment. That’s part of your job is to ready your players all week for the plays that come, and then try to figure out on game day what they are. They do a great job and, obviously, Coach (Venables) has done it for years. He’s done this for a long time.

“Always been one of the elite information gatherers in the game. That’s a better term.”

Kiffin swore it was an intended compliment, which is exactly how Venables took it, sort of.

“I guess coming from Lane, I take it as a compliment,” Venables said during his coaches show on Monday evening. “Like, he must have watched our guys be really prepared, because that’s who they are, man. They’re relentless. Their detail, the time they spend above and beyond what’s required, that’s the proof of how we’re playing right now. That D-line, how they’re able to dominate physically.

“Honestly, I don’t know of a team that hasn’t huddled. I think every single team we’ve played the last two years has huddled. And so between that and the helmet communication, I don’t know how that works, but we got enough to worry about just getting our guys lined up with the right call and things of that nature. But I guess I’ll take that as kind of a weird kind of compliment. Our guys must’ve looked pretty good on film.”

Kiffin started his press conference on Monday with obvious praises of the Sooners’ defense. He went as far to say OU’s defense is the best the Rebels will face since he’s been at Ole Miss. And even if Kiffin did stand by his signal-stealing accusations, it’s actually not illegal in college football unless teams send personnel to scout opponents ahead of time in-person or record the signals electronically.

The Sooners enter Week 9 first in the country in total defense and second in scoring defense. This acceleration in success came after Venables, a former defensive coordinator, took over defensive play-calling duties for this season.

"Well, I think that's two-part," Kiffin said Monday of OU’s defensive success. "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.”