CHICK-FIL-A KICKOFF GAME: LOUISVILLE VS. OLE MISS

September 6, 2021

Chance Campbell

AJ Finley

Ole Miss Rebels

Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Press Conference

Ole Miss Rebels 43, Louisville Cardinals 24

Q. Chance, what did it feel like out there and get to play? The first drive, what was that like?

CHANCE CAMPBELL: Nice to get started as a team. Playing and practice is a big deal, but being able to do it in a game is fun. Those guys make my job easy.

Q. A lot of talk about the offense but how good did it feel going into halftime pitching a shutout?

A.J. FINLEY: It felt good going into halftime with a shutout but coming out of halftime, we came out a little flat. We have to take that out of our game to be an even better defense than we were today.

Q. At the half, you held the quarterback to the leader in passing, rushing and receiving yards. What do you feel you guys were able to do successful in the first half?

A.J. FINLEY: I feel like the D-Line did a pretty good job getting the rush on the quarterback the whole game. So that got him a little uncomfortable and got them outside the pocket, and we were rallying and tackling every time we got outside the pocket.

Q. This one is for either of you but so much of what you guys have talked about to us during this fall camp has been you guys know you're better on defense and you guys got to show it tonight on national TV. I imagine that probably feels pretty good to show people that you are better than what you were last year?

A.J. FINLEY: It is pretty good to come out and show people what we have. Still some improvements we need to do but good to show what we have?

Q. Several targeting calls tonight. Does that change how you play? How do you go about that?

CHANCE CAMPBELL: It's tough. I understand football, they are looking to protect guys. It's tricky sometimes, some of those angles make those hits hard. I guess with so many of those thrown today, just make guys more cognizant of keeping their head up and trying to make good hits. We know that refs are looking for, and now it's kind of on us to be better about it.

Q. Were able to set the tone with that fourth down stop on that first drive. What worked on that play and how much did that set the tone for what you were able to do in the first half?

CHANCE CAMPBELL: Yeah that was a fourth down stop but we got them to fourth down, so we had guys doing their job in first, second, third. Everyone did their job so when everybody does their job, those plays are pretty easy. So it's just guys doing their part. 7

Q. You've been through two pretty tough years defensively. What does it meaning able to move forward with the defense?

A.J. FINLEY: It does mean a lot to come out the way we did, the start we had. It just means we have to come out and keep improving. We can't settle for what we did today. We have to keep improving.

Q. Coming from the Big Ten, a lot of really great linebackers come out of the Big Ten. What kind of attitude have you brought over the summer, over the fall and into this game for that Ole Miss defense to build on this year?

CHANCE CAMPBELL: Yeah, just buying into everything that we already have established here. Luckily I don't have to do anything crazy or bring too much. Just get to be myself, play hard and that's not hard because we've got a ton of other guys beside me and then a load on deck that also play hard. So kind of make you the odd man out if you didn't, so just kind of fly around and do what you do.

Q. A nuts and bolts question, but what does the 3-2-6 let you do that the sets from last year didn't allow you guys to do?

A.J. FINLEY: I feel like that allows for the safeties to actually just make plays. You know, it allows us to come down and make a lot of tackles. It's really just a different look. It's just a different look. We really do a lot of stuff out of it and it's good for us.

Q. You mentioned you guys came out flat to start the second half. But ultimately you guys were able to retain the lead and the offense was able to put up points. Do you feel that there were other factors that contributed to you guys kind of letting them score in the second half?

A.J. FINLEY: I feel like we weren't as locked in as we were in the first half because we made a lot of silly mistakes that we shouldn't have made that would have stopped a few of those touchdowns they had in the second half. But I feel like not being locked in mentally to what we had to do was a big part of that.

Q. Obviously Lane isn't here because of COVID stuff. Did that affect you and how odd has the situation been?

CHANCE CAMPBELL: It was a little strange, a little chocking. But Coach Kiffen does a really good job of distributing and all our coaches do a fantastic job. I guess this might not be the best question for me to answer because it's our first game so I guess this is all I really know. But it was pretty seamless. I think they put a good game plan for us. All the communication was still solid, so I think we were in good shape.