How would you grade Kiffin thus far?

4Q Basket Case said:

What I like: Kiffin has made Blake Sims an effective passer. I never expected that, and am glad to have been proven wrong.

What I question: We haven't played a defense that will be out of the bottom quartile of FBS defenses at the end of the year. So what do we really know?

What I fear, v1: Sims throws one of those outs to the WR that go about 30 yards parallel to the LOS before they're caught. An SEC DB jumps the route and intercepts it. Because there's nobody between a DB on the dead run and the goal line, there's a pick-six before the good guys can say bad words.

What I fear, v2: Sims throws one of those same passes, but this one is just slightly backward (as a lot of them in the first three games have been). So it's a lateral, not a forward pass. The WR bobbles it, and it hits the ground.

Because it's not a forward pass, that's a fumble, not an incomplete pass.

Best case, it goes out of bounds, or we recover. Either way, it's a 5-7 yard loss. Worse case, the bad guys recover, and we lose possession 5-7 yards behind the LOS. Worst case, the bad guys pick it up, return it, and because in that situation there are precious few good guys anywhere near in position to make a tackle, it's a return for a TD. Effectively, a pick-six.

The play calls have been fine for WVU / FAU / USM defenses. Sims arm strength may be a far more limiting factor going forward than it has been thus far.

We'll see.

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I guess it's possible for some of your fears to come true but those passes are supposed to be pretty safe as passes go and there's supposed to be a WR blocking as well.

What I think of Kiffin so far:

He does a good job of putting a lot of formations and motions out there for the defense to consider. We'll see how this progresses during the season.

I think he's done the best job of managing a scenario where we have 3 or more good backs of any coordinator. I feel like we've always gotten locked up in this two-man featureback rotation that has undermined just how much talent we have at the position. We're definitely going to see a lot of Yeldon, Henry, AND Drake this year. Going back to my first point, because of the variety of formations he uses it allows Drake to get on the field as a slotback or WR a good bit.

The tempo has been a nice new element. We're not really blazing down the field but if everyone else is going to prevent substitutions then we should do it too. The versatility of Drake may be a big element in this offense since he's able to line up on the perimeter, slot, or backfield. No huddle with a Fowler-Drake backfield lends itself to I-Form, 2RB shotgun, and even 3 or 4 wide.

I really hope he works out better for you all. @Tennessee I'll give him a DQ.

p.s. I miss seeing McCarron's gf :cool2:

TIDE-HSV said:

I think he will. If I'd heard him announced as HC, I'd probably have headed up a lynch posse. However, all who've played under him or worked with him seem to agree that he's a good OC. And, yeah, she's one of those Barners who married into the family so you have to accept them...

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Bless her heart.

TIDE-HSV said:

I hope that's right. I've developed some concern about the chemistry between Kiffin and Saban...

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Earle
There's a reason that "O" Coordinators don't last long under CNS. Like CNS stated in one of his interviews, he is very hands on and definitely not in the relax mode. I believe that things will workout..Kirby and CNS chemistry on the surface doesn't look that great but they have managed to weather the storm and I believe CLK will find a way to make CNS happy..not 100%, but who can?

42 PPG... I'll take it.

TideFan in AU said:

We've ran the ball 145 times and passed 83 times this year, so we are still very run oriented. I think we as fans have paid so much attention to what the QB's are doing that it just seems that way. It does seem that we come out the gate throwing more this year, but I'm a huge fan of that. So many times over the last few years we come out and get stuffed by a motivated team because we want to pound the ball immediately. Our quick passing game is only going to help our running game, IMO.

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Excellent point. I had not realized the run/pass ratio was so good.

he hasn't. he's just saying things that have truthiness to him

A+. I don't see how he could have done better to this point in the season.

I think the relationship between Kiffin and Saban is the same as you would expect off the field. I don't know if you guys know this or not, I'm hearing impaired and I can read lips very well, and the conversation between Saban and Kiffin aren't that bad as many indicated... Lot of times, they usually talk about what went well and what didn't go well. I think One of the play where Volger Caught the ball for TD, I think someone messed up on that play, because they indicated a person went the wrong route... But anyway, The camera is on them a lot, and its not bad thing.

A couple of things to consider.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember it being mentioned in 2 of the 3 game broadcasts so far, that Kiffin has changed terminology. If that's true, then the offense, and obviously the QBs are getting some on-the-job-training right now. And they are both being handled differently, I assume not so much on their grasp of the playbook, but in how quickly they can process the call and disseminate to their teammates. Therefore, we have seen that when Sims is in the game, they line up without huddling, and simultaneously he gets the call and is scanning the defense, and it is sometimes a struggle to get it all done before the play clock strikes zero. But once the play is run, execution has been great thus far through three games. He also performance excellently when they are running those first few plays of the game of 2nd half, by script. When Coker is in the game, he trots over to Kiffin to get the call directly in his ear, trots back over to a huddle, and then they run the play. Again, once the play is run, there has been more issues with Coker in execution as a team, including in his decision-making (when to get rid of the ball, etc). To me, the positive is that this will only improve with time, as they have both shown that they are more than capable. Things will start to click, with one or both. I'm looking forward to seeing Sims getting that play out quicker, and Coker hitting on more of those long throws.

Coincidentally, when DePriest, the defense QB, is not in the game, we have the same issues. In both cases, inexperience and/or youth needs to be overcome. Not everyone comes in like gangbusters, doing everything right, I've heard Coach Saban use the word 'develop' quite a lot through spring and so far this fall, and that's what these guys need to do. Sims/Coker are no McCarron between the ears, in experience, in instincts, etc yet, and that's OK. DePriest is no Mosley (he's not TOO far off), and that's OK. We can and will still win with these guys.

Why? We have the best head coach in all of college football. And we have quite possibly the best coordinator tandem in college football. We'll be OK.

Tide-HSV, One thing we do have to remember is that, I would expect the playbook to open up a little against FLorida, but definitely look for Howard/ Yeldon /Henry to be let loose against FSU. Only thing I'm concerned about Kiffin and his playcalling is that almost all throws were targeted at Cooper, and I don' tknow if it was done on purpose to fool Florida, or Cooper is too talented to stay covered, or... I don't know...

I don't know if anyone noticed this or not, We didn't throw so many screen/bubble passes in this game.... and It's not a bad thing, I just think He's doing good job of doing that. We just have to do better of getting the plays out quicker... I just don't know if Kiffin looks at defense, and then gives out the play and they usualy snap the ball with 8 seconds or less... We need to be snapping the ball within 10 seconds left. This is why I don't think We will ever hear Saban naming the QBs for a while because of Kiffin constantly switching up. Both Qbs did well in the game so that tells me we'll be fine under Kiffin. Now, if we had Nuss another year... Oh boy....

It's hard to say how he is doing at this point. The teams we have played are a combined 4-5. I still think we have work to do on our lines and all the play calling in the world will not matter if we get no push on O and pentration on D.

I wonder if our running game is the result of lack of rhythms because of time it takes to get the play in.....

CoolBreeze said:

I think that Lane is doing an awesome job. If the offense would execute the plays correctly we will be fine. My biggest concern is with the defense and how we keep getting gashed in the middle of the field. Certainly, that is not Kirby's fault either...just need to execute better.

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You do realize that the same guy who you think is doing an awesome job is also the person responsible for preparing the offense to execute the plays correctly, right?

TideEngineer08 said:

A+. I don't see how he could have done better to this point in the season.

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Agree. We have done everything we have needed to win games against our level of competition to this point.