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Lane Kiffin sounds off on narrative that Alabama’s dynasty is ending
By Corey Long
Published:
Lane Kiffin isn’t buying the hype that Alabama’s dynasty has ended. The Ole Miss coach is well aware of what the Crimson Tide are capable of and doesn’t believe that two close losses changes that.
“Dynasties are over when you start to see people being out-coached, out-played,” Kiffin said during the SEC coaches teleconference. “Losing by 21 points. You’re talking about two of the hardest places versus two really elite teams that at the time were as hot as anybody in the country as they went into both of those places. And elite quarterbacks and down to one play.”
Alabama, ranked No. 9, in the most recent College Football playoff poll, lost 52-49 to Tennessee on a last-second field goal and suffered their second loss last Saturday to LSU, 32-31, in overtime after the Tigers were successful on a two-point conversion.
Kiffin said the Tide are just a couple of plays from being undefeated and likely ranked No. 1 in the polls.
“You go down to a two-point play and it’s 50 percent either way,” Kiffin said. “The guy is literally one foot from being stopped short. If he’s stopped short, okay, or the guy misses it. One play. Now they’re undefeated and either No. 1 or No. 2 in the country.”
Kiffin, who was the offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2014-2016, is 0-3 against Saban. His teams have played the Crimson Tide relative close. When Kiffin was at Tennessee in 2009, the Volunteers lost 12-10 at Bryant-Denny Stadium when Terrence Cody blocked a field goal. In 2020, Ole Miss put up 48 points on Alabama, but lost 63-48 after Mac Jones threw for 417 yards and two touchdowns.
The Kiffin-Saban saga has been often been a fun topic for the college football media to dive into. With the talk of Alabama’s dynasty ending, Kiffin just thinks it’s more media noise.
“Well I think, and I understand,” Kiffin said. “It’s your guys job, it’s the media’s job, it’s Paul [Finebaum’s] job especially to just create attention and create a storyline. Once he said what he did he got a lot of attention. But it’s ridiculous.”
No. 9 Alabama will travel to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this Saturday to take on No. 11 Ole Miss. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on CBS.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
