Lane Kiffin Says Screw The Penalties, Shares Why He Celebrated Like A Wild Man After Ole Miss Interception

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Ole Miss took care of South Carolina on Saturday night to the tune of 30-14 to move to 8-1 on the season. The win also marked the Rebels' 21st home victory in their last 22 games played inside Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.

Head coach Lane Kiffin wanted to show a little appreciation to the Rebel faithful on Saturday night, and he managed to do so in a unique fashion.

With just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Rebels up 16 points, Ole Miss put the game on ice with Suntarine Perkins picking off South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers. After celebrating with teammates and the coaching staff on the Ole Miss sideline, Kiffin grabbed Perkins and gave him a few shoves, telling him to go celebrate with the student section. 

During his postgame press conference, Kiffin explained that he didn't tell Perkins to jump into the stands, which is always going to result in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but after the penalty flag came out, he too got in on the fun and launched a football into the stands.

"I probably got us a penalty there at the end because I was just excited that we made an interception. Those don’t happen a lot around here lately," Kiffin said with a smile. "So when we did, and the student section was right there, I just,  I didn’t tell them to jump into the stands, they did that and got the penalty. Then they were getting the penalty, so I just threw the ball there too. I’m like, ‘They’re not going to give us two penalties.’ Sometimes you’ve got to have fun."

Kiffin showing some major appreciation to the student section on Saturday night was well warranted, given that he asked for students and fans to show up and sell out the game against the Gamecocks earlier in the week. Folks listened, as Ole Miss announced on Friday afternoon that the game had sold out.

Plenty of college football fans will see Kiffin's celebration and claim it's disrespectful or immature, but at the end of the day, that's just Lane being Lane and celebrating with his guys.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, but wants it on the record that he does not bleed orange. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets, including BroBible, SB Nation, and The Spun. Mark also wrote for the Chicago Cubs' Double-A affiliate in 2016, the year the curse was broken. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.