The same word came out of
Nick Saban's mouth three times within the course of a couple of seconds Saturday as he described
Lane Kiffin's debut as his fourth Alabama offensive coordinator.
"Great," Saban said. "Great. Did a great job."
Numbers like Saturday's in Alabama's 33-23 victory over West Virginia will keep that sort of praise coming.
With a quarterback making his first career start against a style of defense Alabama hasn't seen often in recent years, the Crimson Tide rolled up 538 yards of offense, saw its three top playmakers clear 100 yards of their own, converted more than half of its first downs and punted just twice. There was even a no-huddle, two-minute drill series that led to a field goal at the end of the first half.
After all the "greats," Saban called it a "fantastic job."
"You know, the guy is a really good coach now, all right," Saban said. "Y'all need to fess up to that. And most places that don't like him is because he left and they were mad because he left. They weren't mad about anything he did while he was there. Just do a little research on that."
Kiffin's reputation of feeding his top playmakers was apparent from start to finish, as wide receiver
Amari Cooper caught four more passes (12) than he had at any other point in his Alabama career. The first play of the game was a quick screen to Cooper, who ran 24 yards down the sidelines. He finished with 130, the fourth-most of his college career.
Before he went down with a shoulder injury, senior
DeAndrew White was on his way to a 100-yard night of his own, catching six passes for 73 yards through two-plus quarters.
Running backs
T.J. Yeldon and
Derrick Henry each cleared 100 yards and averaged nearly 6 yards per carry.
"We're going to keep working and learning," Henry said. "T.J. played hard and ran hard today. Our gameplan was to play physically."
Saban lauded Kiffin's ability to relate to quarterbacks early in preseason camp. It was one of the main reasons why Kiffin, who prefers to call plays from the press box, was on the sidelines Saturday and, barring an unexpected change of plans, will remain there through the rest of the season.
Saban cited quarterback
Blake Sims' ability to "settle down" during a tight second half as a key to Alabama's first win of the season.
"Some people have a tremendous amount of knowledge, but you have to be able to articulate it to the players in a way they can understand it and it's simple for them to go out and execute it," Saban said earlier in the month. "Systematically, Lane does that with the players he coaches and with the entire offense, which I think is really, really important."
By the end of the first quarter, a screenshot of Kiffin looking Saban's way and Saban seemingly ignoring him had gone viral. One game certainly won't eliminate the perception of Kiffin and Saban as an odd couple arrangement, but it reaffirmed a lot of what Saban had said during his repeated explanations of the hire.
Continue reading...
