🏈 At seasons end, how will you judge whether Kiffin has been a success?

[TerryP]

We're going to have to put ourselves in January of 2015 to think about this answer. It'll be easy to say, "I want to see improvement." The real issue is improvement where? How?

Take a few things into account for a minute before you answer.

In 2013 our offense put 496 points on the board in 13 games. We played 14 in 2012, scored 42 against Notre Dame in the BCSNC, and as a whole put up 542 points on the season. That's 46 more on the season with one extra game.

Averages?
2013- 38.15 points per game
2012- 38.71
(Those two seasons marked about a four point increase over 2011.)

Do you use yards per game?
2013- 454.1 per game.
2012- 445.5 per game.

These are the two metrics used most often by national, and local, analyst when judging an offense. That bar is set pretty damn high.

I suspect we'll see a lot think "3rd down conversion." Yet, that wasn't an area we struggled with last season.

Nationally, we finished in the top 20 in that category. It's important to note how many teams had fewer attempts to convert on third down. (In other words, find one.)

Turnovers? We had 17 last year, 15 in 2012. It's not the fewest in the nation, but it's also not far from that mark.

I've not beaten this horse to glue, yet. There's one area I think we can call a definitive measuring stick—Red Zone Conversions.

In 2013 we reached the RZ 54 times, scored 43 of those trips—34 of those RZ opportunities were converted to touchdowns. Folks, that's less than 65%.

(FYI: 2012- 62 opportunities, scored 56 times with 46 of those being touchdowns.)

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There's a bar set pretty high there, right? You may think fewer fumbles when it matters, but isn't that on Burton Burns? A bigger push on third and short falls to Cristobal, doesn't it?

How will you judge Kiffin at seasons' end?

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Kiffin not out to rebuild Tide offense

You don’t hire Lane Kiffin without igniting certain expectations. There’s his baggage, of course, but there’s also the enduring sense that the former USC and Tennessee head coach still has a trick up his sleeve, that somewhere beyond the headlines there’s the former coordinator who helped the Trojans to a 23-3 record and the most productive offense in college football from 2005-06.

Nick Saban remembered that Lane Kiffin when he offered him the job of Alabama’s next offensive coordinator. He remembered the Lane Kiffin who brought a depleted Tennessee Vols team into Tuscaloosa in 2009 and nearly beat the eventual national champions. He remembered the Lane Kiffin he tried to hire away from USC three years earlier.

So what will this reincarnation of Lane Kiffin bring? The coordinator with a gift for coaxing the best out of his players or the head coach who was fired after three-and-a-half underwhelming years of guiding USC?

Everything is set up for him to succeed at Alabama. There’s the matter of finding two new starters on the offensive line and picking a quarterback, of course, but there’s also a wealth of talent across the board. Amari Cooper may be the best receiver in the country, T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry could be the scariest duo of tailbacks in the SEC and tight end O.J. Howard has the potential to be an absolute nightmare for defensive coordinators to game plan for.

Kiffin, for his part, seems to understand what he’s walked into. And rather than trying to rebuild his reputation by putting his stamp on Alabama, he’s doing the wise thing and trying not to do too much.

“As far as the offense, the last thing we'd want to do is come in and change a bunch of stuff,” he said. “As I mentioned before, it's a great offensive staff that's been together here. Had a great run here last year on offense, the number of players had great success last year. Really just coming in and looking at some things, very small changes just to make sure at the end of the day we're putting our great players in the best position to utilize their talents in the best position for us to win games.”

That, in a nutshell, is Kiffin’s job description. He’s the caretaker of Alabama’s offense now.

Because, make no mistake, this is not his offense. It wasn’t Doug Nussmeier’s or Jim McElwain’s either. Saban is the architect of the run-oriented, pro-style attack Alabama won three national championships with. He may not call the plays himself, but, as Nussmeier put it when he was hired in 2012, “This is Alabama’s offense.”

Kiffin is instead tasked with making the most of it: more explosive plays, more of a vertical passing game, a more even and consistent run-pass balance. He must get the most out of Cooper, pull the right strings with a deep group of running backs and make Howard a more complete player.

“The last thing I want to do here is focus on what they do really well,” Kiffin explained. “That’s our challenge here this fall: Let’s focus on what you haven’t done so well and not what you’ve done. We know what you can do, let’s bring your game up.”

If Kiffin can do that -- if he can do that even a little bit -- Alabama will be in good shape. There’s plenty of talent in Tuscaloosa. There’s a proven system in place as well. Kiffin doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Saban did that for him. He simply needs to get the wheel to spin a little faster.

From ESPN's SEC Blog...

 

[BamaFan334]

I think we look at efficiency, plays ran to the amount of yards and points. Wins, points per game, and yardage can all be skewed in my opinion by blow outs of lesser opponents. But finding a way to look at how many plays we ran and how many it takes to score would be a cool barometer. We can win a game 35-0 with two defensive touchdowns and 200 yards of offense.

In the end, I think success for Kiffin will be minimizing turnovers and red zone efficiency. We're going to have big plays and long runs, but capitalizing in the red zone and keeping the ball will be where we dominate.

 

[riz]

I'm gonna go off the number of times I type LAIN KIFFKINS!!

 

[sean]

i'll judge our success mainly on positive play.

how does the o-line handle pressure from defenses on short yardage situations?
how does the entire offense handle the pressure in close-game situations when we NEED to score to win at the end of a game (if it comes to that)?
and how different does the offense look this season as opposed to the past couple of seasons? are they more efficient? are they more explosive?

 

[XXL TideFan]

Win the NC.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Win the NC.

Yep. That will mean the offense will have been productive to score enough points and consume enough clock to help the defense dominate.

RTR,

Tim

 

[psychojoe]

We have been very good over the last few years in (for the most part) avoiding the stupid penalties, such as false starts and lining up wrong. I expect this to continue. In our last two games our short yardage offense, especially in red zone situations, let us down. Fix this, including being willing in those situations, if there is a matchup we like, putting the ball in the air. Fix the little things in pass protection and run blocking that hurt us a year ago. I know that other than the play calling a lot of this falls on the position coaches, but as the OC he needs to insist on concentration on these things.

As others have said, though, we measure success by the wins, and that will be how he will be judged,

 

[ElephantStomp]

I'm not going to judge Lane on anything. If our offense scores points then it's been successful. I don't think people can judge Lane on wins because he doesn't coach defense, so he doesn't control the other team from scoring. He's going to be successful.

As for NCs again you can't judge Lane on that because last I checked he's the OC, Kirby the DC, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Saban is the HC. So, it falls on Saban.

I'll say this no other OC is under the ridiculous expectations as Lane.

 

[We All Bleed Crimson]

In my opinion only....
I think some of the points to look at: How well prepared we are for each opponent... How consistent we are... How well we adjust as the game progresses... How predictable do we become... Do we develop an identity or are we still searching for answers well into the season... I think this can apply to both O and D coordinators.

Ultimately, the players have to perform and not have mental mistakes on the field. The coaches need to put the right gameplan together and communicate that to the players.

I have to think that Lane will do a good job overall. We definitely have the talent, both on the field and on the sidelines.

To all, ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

 

[BamaFan334]

Predictability is a good one that "We All Bleed Crimson" hits on. I'll never forget Nussmeier in the Championship against Notre Dame dialing up that tight end release out of the jumbo package and McCarron hitting Big Michael Williams for six. No one saw it coming, it was wide open, and just opened the flood gates again the Irish. If Kiffin can do something along the lines of that, we're gonna be pretty damn good. Being unpredictable with our speed and talent will be too lethal for Any one team to overcome.

 

[UAgrad93]

I think RED ZONE production is number 1 in my book, followed by points and yards. Third down conversions fall to fourth. I still look at our failure to get 6pts inside the 10 yd line as a failure 100% of the time. I hate settling for field goals! I still think that there were 3 short yardage calls inside the red zone that sealed our fate in the Barner game. One conversion on any of the three and it becomes a two score game and the Barn is sucking ass as usual! I also think that it sealed Nuss's fate too.

 

[alabama mike]

I am looking at a few things from Coach Kiffin:

1. Red Zone offense
2. Use of the TE
3. Production from others besides Yeldon, Henry, Copper and Howard

 

[jlabit]

I agree with uagrad93. Red zone offense kept us out of the BCSNC in 2013. If Kiffin can consistently get six when we get inside the 20 yard line, he will have done a great job in my opinion. Everything else is already in place. Nuss became too predictable inside the red zone, in my opinion.

 

[Bamabww]

1. Red Zone Offense
2. Not being predictable

If he improves those two items, we'll compete for the NC.

 

[planomateo]

QB development. All the number stuff is just noise to me this year. Its interesting that I'm the first person bringing up QB development.

I'm curious to see if he's calling plays - from the field or up in the box.

 

[sean]

I think RED ZONE production is number 1 in my book, followed by points and yards. Third down conversions fall to fourth. I still look at our failure to get 6pts inside the 10 yd line as a failure 100% of the time. I hate settling for field goals! I still think that there were 3 short yardage calls inside the red zone that sealed our fate in the Barner game. One conversion on any of the three and it becomes a two score game and the Barn is sucking ass as usual! I also think that it sealed Nuss's fate too.

i am in complete agreement here. our red zone work has to improve. i, too, am tired of just "taking the points". we need to be "TAKING THE POINTS!" SIX.....instead of three.

 

[252BAMA]

A bit off topic here, but I would like to see him install the most awesome HUNH offense in the history of HUNH offenses. So awesome that the rule makers can't wait to legislate it out of existence. Rest assured if Bama starts kicking everybody's ass with something, it is gone, out of here. Then we can get back to playing real football.

 

[bcracker]

A bit off topic here, but I would like to see him install the most awesome HUNH offense in the history of HUNH offenses. So awesome that the rule makers can't wait to legislate it out of existence. Rest assured if Bama starts kicking everybody's ass with something, it is gone, out of here. Then we can get back to playing real football.

Just like Bear's "tackle eligible." I agree, 252. And to slather copious amount of icing on that cake, it would be hilarious to watch Rodriquez, Malzhan, and the other HUNH faithful go absolutely spastic when teams start losing to Bama by 100 points!

 

[bamaraider]

Red zone success (one thing I think could have been better under Jim McElwain, FG's-TD ratio)

3rd down success. Keep drives alive, own T.O.P.