Absolutely, totally true.Believing what? That he had many extracurricular activities that drove CNS up the wall? That he didn't properly develop Jalen after the LSU game? That he checked out sometimes last year? I believe all those things, but it doesn't take away what ultimately costed us the game and that was the inability to sustain drives and attack Clemson vertically.
1) No doubt some fans would have done so.As far as this blame everything on Kiffin angle consider two things. 1) had we lost the Arizona game would we had dumped the blame on Kirby because he was too busy stealing recruits and players on the roster to call a good game and 2) had we won the Tampa game would we even really be talking about Kiffin right now?
2) Probably not.
The only possible disjunction in what you're saying (by no means accusing you personally) is if one accepts the somewhat valid argument that Kiffin's failure to help develop the offense more was at the root of what went wrong in Tampa.
The problem is that while we can indeed say things went wrong in Tampa, it has to be more than just Kiffin, too. Not to sound Texas but the dynamic changed drastically when Bo got hurt. Yet at the same time, I'm compelled to give credit to Clemson for doing what they had to do. Hell, if one play in that game goes differently, that Stewart option pass and the Jalen dash for the TD goes down in history as the moment that defined Saban's career - his completing an unbeaten season with a freshman QB with an all-world defense stamped as the greatest team of all-time. The razzle dazzle is as remembered as Steinkuhler's fumblerooskie that got Nebraska back in the Miami game in 1984 or the Fifth Down play.
I think Kiffin got way too much media hype for his so-called development, but I also think he gets too much blame for SOME things and not enough blame for others.
I've not watched the Tampa game again - and I may never see it again. Even with my memory, it's hard to reconcile my emotions and evaluate "how we lost" rationally. OK, that's not exactly true. Someday I WILL watch that game again. I rewatched game 7 of the 91 World Series a few years later (and after you win one, it doesn't hurt so bad). I've rewatched the 2013 Iron Bowl, too.
But here's the deal - we had one helluva football team last year, it just didn't win the championship. Every other school in the country save perhaps OU and Ohio State would have LOVED to have been us last year. They'd have had no problem with that ending. Even great teams lose football games.