No man is an island, but he can certainly put himself on one. Lane Kiffin, at last check the Alabama Crimson Tide‘s Offensive Coordinator, probably wishes he was on one, far, far away from Tuscaloosa after Thursday night’s Sugar Bowl defeat to the Ohio State Buckeyes 42-35. I say ‘at last check’ because a college football fan knows how the Crimson Tide are the Truth and the Way down in those parts and Kiffin’s head would certainly be welcome on many a plate January 2nd. The Blitz wondered when Lane Kiffin would have a Kiffin moment.

With the First Pick
But was it entirely Lane Kiffin’s fault? No, but the 1st year OC, fresh off of stints at numerous places within college football and the NFL, sure didn’t help the cause. The defense gave up 537 yards on offense to the Buckeyes, 281 yards on the ground. 230 yards of rushing to Ezekiel Elliott on 20 carries for nearly a nearly 12 yard average! The Buckeyes were also 10 of 18 on 3rd down conversions, but I don’t hear many coming after Alabama’s Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart, and he’s the 2nd highest paid assistant in the nation.
Someone is to blame, so let’s get on with Kiffin, a name that’ll be synonymous with the Sugar Bowl defeat. 70 plays on offense, 36 of them were passes. There was a stretch where Lane Kiffin called 3 straight pass plays, net result: punt. Derrick Henry, the absolute beast at running back, had 95 yards on 13 attempts for just over 7 yards per carry, but, Henry had a stretch between late in the 1st quarter to late in the 3rd where he didn’t get one single handoff.
And what about the deep ball? Amare Cooper had 9 receptions, but never for the ‘big play’ beyond 15 yards. And this was Alabama’s Heisman Trophy Finalist! Amare Cooper was never allowed to be a factor in the Sugar Bowl because he was handcuffed by Lane Kiffin’s play calling. Passing to Derrick Henry in the flat is a lethal combination because of his yards after catch and Henry had one where he scrambled for 52 yards, but, he only had 2 catches. Derrick Henry is 6’3″ 241 pounds, at running back. If you watched him play in last year’s Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma, Henry bulldozed his way around the Superdome in the run game and the short pass game. Bama had the parts, just the wrong instruction manual to put it all together on Thursday night.
Does anybody remember the Broyles Award speech from back in September? Kiffin joked in his speech about Nick Saban’s height and what they talk about on the sideline. The video is below but the joke is ‘What does Nick say to you?’ Kiffin’s reply?
"“Thank you so much for coming here. Can you please stop throwing the ball so much and just run it a few more times please.”"
Never has a joke backfired as much as that one will be for the time being. I think Alabama fans would agree with you on this one Nick in a non joking manner but to be fair to Lane Kiffin, you are the captain of this Crimson Tide ship, and Kiffin and Kirby Smart are your 2nd in commands. Captain needs to take charge every once in a while. Do it before there’s a mutiny…
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