Lane Kiffin asked if he wanted to coach in Alabama’s title game loss: ‘That was very hard to watch’
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Would the outcome of the National Championship Game have been any different had Lane Kiffin finished out the season as Alabama’s offensive coordinator? That’s a question the former Tide play caller and current FAU coach asks himself to this day.
Of course, Kiffin never had the opportunity to do so after Nick Saban handed over the controls to the Alabama offense to Steve Sarkisian following the National Semifinal Game against Washington. The Crimson Tide still managed to score 31 points and rack up 221 rushing yards against Clemson, however, the ineffectiveness of the passing game in the second half proved to be a major factor in the outcome of the game.
None of Alabama’s first seven drives of the second half went longer than four plays, eventually leaving the team’s defense on the field for a high volume of plays. Eventually, Bama’s defensive dam broke and Clemson managed to score 14 points in the closing minutes of the game.
Kiffin was recently asked if he would have liked to coach the Alabama offense for the game and his disappointment was evident in the clip below:
Did @Lane_Kiffin want to coach in last years @CFBPlayoff National Championship Game? Hear what the new @FAU_Football HC told Full Ride. pic.twitter.com/bijePWPgtd
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) July 20, 2017
We’ll never know if anything would have changed had Kiffin remained as an active member of the coaching staff but it certainly sounds like that answer will haunt not only the Alabama faithful but their controversial former coordinator for quite some time.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
