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Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin apologized on Monday for saying, “Get your popcorn ready,” and then throwing his helmet away in an interview ahead of Saturday’s game in Alabama.
Kiffin made the comment to CBS reporter Jamie Erdahl, then threw the headset at a cameraman as he prepared for the opening kickoff at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The incident quickly went viral.
Kiffin said Monday his comment was not premeditated and he was caught up in the excitement of the game, which marked his first trip to Alabama since he was Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator under Nick Saban from 2014 to 2016. Ole Miss scored 48 points against Alabama in last year’s game at Oxford, and produced 647 yards, the most Alabama has ever allowed.
“I just heard someone screaming in the locker room and someone say that,” Kiffin said at his weekly press conference. “I don’t even know why it came out and I actually said to [offensive coordinator Jeff] Lebby, I put on the headphones and I said, ‘I just said something really stupid. You better score a lot of points. ‘”
Ole Miss was 28-0 behind at halftime and only scored halfway through the third quarter in a 42-21 loss. At halftime, Kiffin told Lebby, “Looks like we didn’t plug the microwave in, mate.”
Kiffin later saw the pre-game incident and contacted Erdahl.
“When I later found out that it sounded rude, which it did, I reached out to Jamie and made sure she knew it wasn’t intentional,” Kiffin said. . “I apologize for that. It wasn’t on purpose at all. It looked like it, though. I saw it.”
Kiffin said he didn’t realize Erdahl was still planning on asking another question before throwing the helmet. He also retweeted a tweet from Erdahl on Monday. which showed the Alabama mascot carrying a box of popcorn, adding the comment: “Now that’s funny !!!”
No.17 Ole Miss hosts No.13 Arkansas on Saturday.
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