How would you grade Kiffin thus far?

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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This year's schedule is custom made for a new OC and new quarterback. Without checking the stats for each of the previous three OCs, my impression is that we have generally opened the season under Saban with a big game early on. Kiffin hasn't had to deal with planning for a real test to start the season, but has had the luxury of three cupcakes up front.

Comparing OC stats later in the season will offer a little more insight as far as rating the OCs under Saban.
Major Applewhite's first three opponents: Western Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas.

Jim McElwain's first three opponents: Clemson, Tulane, and Western Kentucky.

Doug Nussmeier's first three opponents: Michigan, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas.

None of them broke in a new QB or dealt with a QB battle during their first three games, either.
 

Bama Lee

All-American
Oct 13, 1999
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Major Applewhite's first three opponents: Western Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas.

Jim McElwain's first three opponents: Clemson, Tulane, and Western Kentucky.

Doug Nussmeier's first three opponents: Michigan, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas.

None of them broke in a new QB or dealt with a QB battle during their first three games, either.
Didn't McElwain break in McElroy
 

derek4tide

Hall of Fame
Jan 19, 2005
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I'd give Coach Kiffin an A. I like the play selection and the subtle changes he has made to the O overall. As for Coop getting the ball the most, he's just that good at getting open and making things happen. He's already projected by Kiper to be a top 10 pick in the draft and is a very gifted player.
 

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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Just watched TiderInsider TV for this week. To show how good the offense has been, Alabama has had 2 three-and-outs in 3 games. Of Blake's 21 drives (excluding the ones where we end the first half or the game), Bama has scored 15 times with 11 of them being TDs.
 

twofbyc

Hall of Fame
Oct 14, 2009
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How can you question the production so far? So far, A+, offense is moving and scoring, only two 3-and-outs in three games?????
And I don't know right off hand, but what are our running backs averaging ypc?
Yeah, this week we will know for sure, but I'll believe someone's defense can stop Bama's offense when I see it (ca) and if the lizards don't do it, I'm not sure anyone else in the SEC will either, including the who's.
 

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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From ESPN Stats and Info:

On 3rd downs Blake Sims leads all FBS quarterbacks in completion percentage (91.7%), conversion %(75%) & Total QBR (99.9).

Think we can thank Lane Kiffin for that.
 

Coach25

1st Team
Sep 1, 2014
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Yeah I think Amari is probably option number 1 on most pass plays and if your All American wide receiver is open then you pass it. No need going to option 2 or 3 when option 1 is open and catches everything. Once the SEC defense start trying to take away Amari is when we need to see Blake get the ball to the other guys more. This is going to be fun to watch!
I agree he is option 1 and should be option 1. The great thing about Cooper (other than all the obvious) is when Sims scrambles Cooper works his butt off to find the open spot because he knows no db can stay with him so he is even more dangerous with a few extra seconds. Most of our receivers are very good at finding the open space on broken down plays. That's why Sims has not ran as much when he has been forced out I the pocket.
 
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Al A Bama

Hall of Fame
Jun 24, 2011
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Well, I can't give him a grade yet!

Now, I can give him and his daddy a Progress Report. Usually in school you get a subject grade and a conduct grade. For conduct, I'll give him a satisfactory but incomplete. For his subject grade in that Graduate level course: National Championship #16, I'll give him an Incomplete. However he is progressing satisfactorily and he still has a chance to get an "A" for the course. He will need to ace all major exams + the final exam. He will receive an "A" when I see Coach Saban hand that trophy to him after that 15th game.

If he stays 2 full years and he does good in that next course: National Championship #17, then I'll consider an "A+". I don't expect him to stay any longer than that as Offensive Coordinator. He will then get rewarded with a New Job somewhere and will deserve it.

Each game is a major exam. His Final Exam will be after Bama's 15th game of this season in January 2015!
 

JustNeedMe81

Hall of Fame
Sep 30, 2011
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Here it is:
Saban and Kiffin: The not-so-odd couple
OCTOBER 3, 2014 9:00:32 AM PDT
By Chris Low



More than a few people did a double take, and some probably laughed out loud, when Alabama coach Nick Saban announced the hiring of Lane Kiffin as his offensive coordinator back in January.

Saban and Kiffin together ... on the same staff? What’s next? Lil Wayne, who once dropped Kiffin's name in a rap lyric, opening for Saban's beloved Eagles?

Seriously, how many people would have guessed that Kiffin would be calling plays for Saban, producing the kind of wide-open offense we haven’t seen at Alabama under Saban?

Oh, sure, the Crimson Tide have been plenty productive offensively in the past under Saban. In fact, they were the only team in the SEC each of the past three seasons to average more than 200 rushing and passing yards per game.

Air Kiffin, though, has Alabama throwing for 335.8 yards per game and averaging 594.3 per game heading into Saturday's first true road test against No. 11 Ole Miss. It’s not just the eye-popping numbers, either, that make this version of the Alabama offense different from anything we’ve seen under Saban.

It’s the way the Tide are going about it. They’re rolling quarterback Blake Sims out of the pocket, emptying the backfield, putting running backs in the slot, splitting tight ends out wide, throwing screens to receivers -- and gasp! -- even going hurry-up.

And then when the situation calls for it, they can still come back and hammer away with downhill, power football as well as anybody.

“Lane’s made them more difficult to defend, no question,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “They’ve always been able to line up and beat you just because they were better. But you watch them now, and they’re doing things and you’re getting looks that you never got from them in the past.”

When Freeze was at Ole Miss the first time as an assistant, then-head coach Ed Orgeron had him travel to the West Coast and spend a week with the Oakland Raiders when Kiffin was their head coach.

“I can tell you, now. Lane is sharp,” Freeze said. “I know a lot of people get caught up in some of the things that happened and some of the things he said when he was at Tennessee. But from a coaching talent standpoint, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody that Saban hired him.”

Saban has a unique ability to filter through all of the clutter, as he would call it, and focus on what matters. Besides, it wasn’t like Saban was hiring Kiffin to be the face of the program.

At Alabama, there’s only one face of the program.

In this case, all that mattered was that Kiffin had the intellect -- not to mention the swagger and thick skin -- to take the Alabama offense to another level in this new era of college football-turned-ice hockey.

Saban, for all of the stories you hear about him being a control freak, relishes being challenged by his assistants. He’s constantly looking for new ideas, trying to stay ahead of the game and thinking outside the box. He’s old-school in a lot of ways and is on record as saying he doesn’t like the direction the game is moving -- or how fast it’s moving.

But that doesn’t mean he’s going to stubbornly sit around without adapting.

In Kiffin, he’s found the best of both worlds -- somebody who’s progressive offensively, and also supremely self-confident and brash enough to stand up to Saban. Deep down, Saban appreciates that brashness. He might not show it all the time, and anybody who’s coached under him better have a thick pair of ear muffs, but Saban was once a brash young coach, too.

Some jobs are easier than others, and there’s a reason Kiffin is the fourth different offensive coordinator under Saban at Alabama in eight years.

Never mind that the Tide have won three national championships under two of Kiffin’s predecessors. Saban spends about as much time thinking about what’s happened in the past as he does thumping to the beat of Lil Wayne.

So if you look deeper, the Saban-Kiffin pairing isn’t as odd as it looked nine months ago. In fact, Saban was interested in hiring Kiffin as his offensive coordinator when he first got to Alabama in 2007, but the USC assistant wound up getting the Raiders’ head job a few weeks later.

While Kiffin would go on to make headlines at Tennessee by calling out Urban Meyer, racking up secondary violations and generally being the Eddie Haskell of the SEC, what resonated with Saban was what he did between the white lines.

In particular, Saban remembered quarterback Jonathan Crompton during the recruiting process when Saban was at LSU and felt Crompton was an excellent prospect. But at Tennessee, Crompton had struggled until his senior season, when Kiffin came in and turned him around. What’s more, Saban remembered how Tennessee, a year removed from going 5-7, beat Georgia and South Carolina and came within a blocked field goal of upsetting his No. 1 Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

As legend has it, Kiffin waltzed to midfield after that bitter 12-10 loss and brazenly told Saban, “We’ll get you next year.”

Well, here they are together again, this time on the same side of the field.

Who would have thunk it?

That’s easy. Saban.



Tried it again and nothing.
 

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