BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has made a splash in his first season in Tuscaloosa. TideSports.com has reviewed and cataloged all of Alabama's 945 offensive snaps to give you the three best Lane Kiffin play calls - so far - this season.
Coming Next Week: Inside the numbers of Lane Kiffin's offense
Lane Kiffin's calls of the year
1. First play of overtime at LSU (Nov. 8)
Easy pick for me. First play of overtime at LSU. Huge spot in a huge game with an offense that had little success in regulation.
Of course Alabama being called for a personal foul after the play makes it a tad less impactful in the grand scheme, but it's a clear-cut No. 1 because when Alabama needed a play, Kiffin went to the well for a play that, at least once in a season, is practically indefensible.
What's the genius of it? When there are seven men on the line of scrimmage, only the two closest to the sidelines are deemed eligible receivers. To make this look as confusing as possible for LSU Kiffin puts Brandon Greene, a tight end and former offensive lineman, at what looks to be left tackle, then splits out massive 6-foot-6, 325-pound left tackle Cam Robinson as a slot receiver.
So who is elgible? To the right, it's DeAndrew White because he is on the line of scrimmage. Cam Robinson, even in his new spot, is not eligible to catch a pass. To make it work, both Derrick Henry (wide left) and Amari Cooper (slot left) are off the line of scrimmage, thus making Greene - the player lined up on the line of scrimmage standing closest to the left sideline - eligible.
If you're still confused, just imagine what's running through the LSU linebacker's head when Greene runs by him.
A play like this isn't drawn up on a whim.
"We practiced it over and over during practice," QB Blake Sims said. "(Kiffin) said 'This is how it's going to be' and you just hear coach say that and be like 'Man, we can't imagine it being that good.' We broke the huddle, we shift a little bit. I looked and I thought 'Man, this play's about to really work.'"
"We didn't even know we were going to run it for real," right tackle Austin Shepherd said. "We practiced it all year. I figured it was to just have fun in practice, but he called it and we ran it and executed like we wanted."
There's been a lot of talk about this play of course, but one underappreciated aspect is choosing the right situation. This play isn't nearly as effective on, say, fourth-and-20. There would be too many tacklers well off the line of scrimmage to corral Greene. First-and-10 of overtime, defense not looking or even ready for something sneaky, just a perfect play run in a perfect situation.
2. First play at Tennessee (Oct. 25)
So many things to like about this call.
1) Situationally it's a great design. Opening play on the road, Neyland Stadium packed and loud - thanks in large part to Kiffin's not-so-joyous homecoming - and a young Tennessee defense hyped up to make an early impact play. So Kiffin uses all of that hype against the defense, getting them to all go one direction and have his offense go another.
2) It's no secret to Tennessee that Kiffin wants to get Cooper the ball. The design not only sends Tennessee's defensive leverage the wrong way, it gets Cooper isolated on a linebacker and moves Cooper across the field behind the line of scrimmage, making it even more difficult for the linebacker to locate a guy who is already enjoying a huge mismatch.
3) It produced this handmade explosive:
4) It's a concept Kiffin has used fairly regularly in his first season at UA. He utilizes a lot of play action that starts with getting the defense falling one direction. He had used this concept plenty before the Tennessee game - including to Jalston Fowler the week before against Texas A&M - but it was the first time ever to Cooper.
NOTE: Two important pieces to this play's execution. First, downfield blocking by Chris Black and DeAndrew White. Without them, it's a 15-20 yard gain at best. I'll write for another time, but one of the most underrated things about this offense is how well the receivers block, and that includes guys like Cam Sims and ArDarius Stewart who are brought into games in specific running situations.
Second, I talked to an offensive coach I really respect and he says the seal by Brian Vogler on the defensive end on the play side is really what sells the fake. Safety and linebacker key that seal, then when it's a pass they are a couple more steps behind.
Honorable Mention: First play vs. Florida (Sept. 20)
Why this play worked so well: 1) Kiffin saw something on film that going empty would mean Drake would be isolated on a slower player. 2) All of the help on the first play of the game would almost certainly be rolled to the other side of the field with Amari Cooper. Knowing that, Cooper fakes like he's expecting a quick throw, assuredly pulling down any help that could be in Drake's way. Easy pitch and catch touchdown.
Worst play call
Another easy pick. To Kiffin's credit, Alabama head coach Nick Saban said he told Kiffin to run the sneak here instead of a running back.
To preface, really nothing worked offensively at Arkansas. If Alabama hands it off to Derrick Henry it may not get it, either. But the mystery of the sneak call came in two parts: 1) Alabama was playing with a backup center (Bradley Bozeman) on the road in his first road start. He hadn't had a particularly good game to that point (frankly, every offensive lineman may have had their worst game). It was just a couple of inches, but having an undersized quarterback try and execute his first QB sneak in a live game (and second true roast start) behind a backup center? That equals this result:
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1717887#sthash.PDwHtie0.dpuf
Coming Next Week: Inside the numbers of Lane Kiffin's offense
Lane Kiffin's calls of the year
1. First play of overtime at LSU (Nov. 8)
Easy pick for me. First play of overtime at LSU. Huge spot in a huge game with an offense that had little success in regulation.
Of course Alabama being called for a personal foul after the play makes it a tad less impactful in the grand scheme, but it's a clear-cut No. 1 because when Alabama needed a play, Kiffin went to the well for a play that, at least once in a season, is practically indefensible.
What's the genius of it? When there are seven men on the line of scrimmage, only the two closest to the sidelines are deemed eligible receivers. To make this look as confusing as possible for LSU Kiffin puts Brandon Greene, a tight end and former offensive lineman, at what looks to be left tackle, then splits out massive 6-foot-6, 325-pound left tackle Cam Robinson as a slot receiver.
So who is elgible? To the right, it's DeAndrew White because he is on the line of scrimmage. Cam Robinson, even in his new spot, is not eligible to catch a pass. To make it work, both Derrick Henry (wide left) and Amari Cooper (slot left) are off the line of scrimmage, thus making Greene - the player lined up on the line of scrimmage standing closest to the left sideline - eligible.
If you're still confused, just imagine what's running through the LSU linebacker's head when Greene runs by him.
A play like this isn't drawn up on a whim.
"We practiced it over and over during practice," QB Blake Sims said. "(Kiffin) said 'This is how it's going to be' and you just hear coach say that and be like 'Man, we can't imagine it being that good.' We broke the huddle, we shift a little bit. I looked and I thought 'Man, this play's about to really work.'"
"We didn't even know we were going to run it for real," right tackle Austin Shepherd said. "We practiced it all year. I figured it was to just have fun in practice, but he called it and we ran it and executed like we wanted."
There's been a lot of talk about this play of course, but one underappreciated aspect is choosing the right situation. This play isn't nearly as effective on, say, fourth-and-20. There would be too many tacklers well off the line of scrimmage to corral Greene. First-and-10 of overtime, defense not looking or even ready for something sneaky, just a perfect play run in a perfect situation.
2. First play at Tennessee (Oct. 25)
So many things to like about this call.
1) Situationally it's a great design. Opening play on the road, Neyland Stadium packed and loud - thanks in large part to Kiffin's not-so-joyous homecoming - and a young Tennessee defense hyped up to make an early impact play. So Kiffin uses all of that hype against the defense, getting them to all go one direction and have his offense go another.
2) It's no secret to Tennessee that Kiffin wants to get Cooper the ball. The design not only sends Tennessee's defensive leverage the wrong way, it gets Cooper isolated on a linebacker and moves Cooper across the field behind the line of scrimmage, making it even more difficult for the linebacker to locate a guy who is already enjoying a huge mismatch.
3) It produced this handmade explosive:
4) It's a concept Kiffin has used fairly regularly in his first season at UA. He utilizes a lot of play action that starts with getting the defense falling one direction. He had used this concept plenty before the Tennessee game - including to Jalston Fowler the week before against Texas A&M - but it was the first time ever to Cooper.
NOTE: Two important pieces to this play's execution. First, downfield blocking by Chris Black and DeAndrew White. Without them, it's a 15-20 yard gain at best. I'll write for another time, but one of the most underrated things about this offense is how well the receivers block, and that includes guys like Cam Sims and ArDarius Stewart who are brought into games in specific running situations.
Second, I talked to an offensive coach I really respect and he says the seal by Brian Vogler on the defensive end on the play side is really what sells the fake. Safety and linebacker key that seal, then when it's a pass they are a couple more steps behind.
Honorable Mention: First play vs. Florida (Sept. 20)
Why this play worked so well: 1) Kiffin saw something on film that going empty would mean Drake would be isolated on a slower player. 2) All of the help on the first play of the game would almost certainly be rolled to the other side of the field with Amari Cooper. Knowing that, Cooper fakes like he's expecting a quick throw, assuredly pulling down any help that could be in Drake's way. Easy pitch and catch touchdown.
Worst play call
Another easy pick. To Kiffin's credit, Alabama head coach Nick Saban said he told Kiffin to run the sneak here instead of a running back.
To preface, really nothing worked offensively at Arkansas. If Alabama hands it off to Derrick Henry it may not get it, either. But the mystery of the sneak call came in two parts: 1) Alabama was playing with a backup center (Bradley Bozeman) on the road in his first road start. He hadn't had a particularly good game to that point (frankly, every offensive lineman may have had their worst game). It was just a couple of inches, but having an undersized quarterback try and execute his first QB sneak in a live game (and second true roast start) behind a backup center? That equals this result:
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1717887#sthash.PDwHtie0.dpuf
