The "Lane Train" Everybody

[The Six]

We need an emoticon for media splooging.

[Snaggletiger]

People all over the world, join hands.  Join the Lane Train.  The Lane Train.

[Godfather]

 

Is Lane Kiffin making a case to succeed Nick Saban at Alabama someday?
By Kevin Scarbinsky

How much of an impact has Lane Kiffin had on Alabama four games into his coaching rehabilitation assignment as offensive coordinator?

You could do the math.

Second-best passing day by a Crimson Tide quarterback.

Most total yards by anyone against a Florida defense.

Most total yards after four games by an Alabama offense.

All in the history of ever, which in Alabama's case includes Hall of Fame passer Joe Namath and the juggernaut wishbone era.

But there may be an even better way to address what Kiffin has accomplished with the Alabama offense and quarterback Blake Sims during the Crimson Tide’s 4-0 start -- by asking a question:

One week shy of one year since USC fired him as head coach at LAX in a nightmarish conclusion to his dream job, is Kiffin starting to make a case to one day succeed Nick Saban?

It’s possible to ask that question without snark or sarcasm, without having everyone in earshot question your sanity. It’s possible to ask it because hot coordinators are always viewed as head coaching candidates, and at the moment, Kiffin could be considered the hottest coordinator in college football.

Hotter even than Kirby Smart, the long-presumed heir to Saban’s throne in Tuscaloosa.

Smart is still elite at his job, but his rep has lost a bit of luster for several reasons. He didn’t jump through the head coaching window of opportunity after Alabama’s dominant defensive seasons of 2009 and 2011, and the longer you stay, the more you risk getting labeled a next-generation Mickey Andrews. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but in some cases, the longer you’re second-in-command, the less you’re viewed as presidential material.

It’s also Smart’s misfortune to be a defensive coordinator as college football has become more and more of an offensive game for the Xbox generation.

“The fast pace of play and the way college football is right now definitely favors the offense,” Saban said Monday before his speech at Birmingham’s Monday Morning Quarterback Club. “That’s why we see the points that we see.”

This may be the most important point in Kiffin’s favor. The time-honored tradition that offense sells tickets while defense wins championships has been invalidated. Now offense can sell tickets and win titles, which is a win-win deal for any AD in search of a new coach.

Gus Malzahn’s Auburn team became the first in SEC history to lead the country in rushing as it won the 2013 conference title. Jimbo Fisher’s Florida State team set a major college record for points in a season en route to the last BCS championship, outscoring Auburn in a last-team-with-ball-wins shootout.

Give Saban credit for bending to the way the game is trending by stockpiling playmakers and hiring Kiffin to deploy them in new, exciting and record-setting ways.

Saban’s not retiring to the lake anytime soon, and Kiffin has yet to help beat Ole Miss or Mississippi State, let alone Auburn, so this entire discussion is premature food for thought. But think big picture. It’s reasonable to project that the longer Kiffin stays at Alabama, the more success he’ll enjoy, the more his past mistakes as a head coach will recede and the more interest he’ll receive to run another major college program.

One day, that interest may even come from the program that employs him now.

Sound crazy? One month into his tenure as the starter, one game into the SEC schedule, Sims has outdone Namath, Jay Barker and AJ McCarron in the Alabama record book. So crazier things have happened in Tuscaloosa than AD Ozzie Newsome stepping to the podium on Jan. 15, 2020, and introducing the next head coach of the Crimson Tide ... Lane Kiffin.

http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2014/09/is_lane_kiffin_starting_to_mak.html#incart_2box

[The Six]

Is Lane Kiffin making a case to succeed Nick Saban at Alabama someday?

[Snaggletiger]

SPLOOOOOOOOOOOGE

[Token]

Sigh.

[Buzz Killington]

My prediction?  LANE!

[Kaos]

Kicked off another radio show yesterday. 

Fifteen minutes of the hosts blowing Cooper, sucking Cro Mag's dick, licking Saban's ass, dry humping Kiffin and so on and I had enough. 

All I said was "if you guys will take your hands out of Bama's pockets for ten seconds, there's another team in the state that's already beaten two teams that would skull drag every team on Alabama's schedule so far... " 

And they booted me.  Not allowed on the air. 

[Buzz Killington]

Come on now...they're world beaters.

[Snaggletiger]

I think Florida was badly overrated coming into the season.  Not that anyone had them in the top 10 but tons of people in the media thought they would be significantly better.  Myself included.  But, I didn't look for much out of them against Bama after watching UF and Kentucky and thinking to myself how crazy it is that UK has better overall talent than Go Gaytah.  They just do.

Now having said that, while the obligatory media splooge was inevitable, you have to say the Tahd handled business about as well as you can, dysfunctional Gaytah squad or not.  I just find it funny how all you heard last week was that Sims was completely one dimensional and they'll be in trouble when they face a good defense.  One game later, I even heard one "expert" say yesterday that Sims is easily the best QB in the conference and probably the nation.

[Snaggletiger]

Come on now...they're world beaters.

snap

[WiregrassTiger]

Kicked off another radio show yesterday. 

Fifteen minutes of the hosts blowing Cooper, sucking Cro Mag's richard, licking Saban's ass, dry humping Kiffin and so on and I had enough. 

All I said was "if you guys will take your hands out of Bama's pockets for ten seconds, there's another team in the state that's already beaten two teams that would skull drag every team on Alabama's schedule so far... " 

And they booted me.  Not allowed on the air.

I thought that I heard you on Rush Limbaugh yesterday.

[WiregrassTiger]

Floridy isn't very good. But, they had Mrs. Cooper's boy covered pretty well a lot of the time and Sims to Cooper still worked. That and Sims'ses mobility ability is what has me eating the crow.

I do not believe they would have the same success against AU but I certainly hope that we have Mr. Lawson back by then.

[djsimp]

Soooo, the mo bammer splooge the mo better when AU comes out of Tuskalooser with a win.

[Godfather]

Now having said that, while the obligatory media splooge was inevitable, you have to say the Tahd handled business about as well as you can, dysfunctional Gaytah squad or not.  I just find it funny how all you heard last week was that Sims was completely one dimensional and they'll be in trouble when they face a good defense.  One game later, I even heard one "expert" say yesterday that Sims is easily the best QB in the conference and probably the nation.

No doubt that the tahd has looked better than I thought they would.  However, they haven't played anyone worth a shit...seriously, they have played some bad teams.

[Godfather]

from coacheshotseat.com

I thought this pretty much summed up the gatahs and Muschamp.

2.  Will Muschamp, Florida –One of the main reasons we wanted to travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama this weekend was to see the Florida defense in person was because there is only so much one can see when watching football on TV and what we saw in person at Bryant-Denny Stadium of the Florida defense should scare the Hell out of anyone that has an interest in the Gators winning a lot of games in 2014 and anyone interested in Will Muschamp’s immediate coaching future!

After giving up 20 points to Kentucky (in regulation) in the Gators first real football game of the season in Gainesville a good buddy of ours that played football at Florida in the 1960s told us over the phone….

“Even average offenses will shred this Florida defense because there are opposing wide receivers running wide-open on almost every play that even I could hit with a ball they are so wide-open!”

What?

“Wide receivers running wide-open on almost every play against a Will Muschamp coached defense?”

We had to see that for ourselves and what we saw against Alabama was exactly that because on almost EVERY Alabama offensive play there were….

1, sometimes 2, often 3 wide-receivers running WIDE-OPEN!

….and if Alabama had wanted to they could have beaten the Gators by 70 points EASY by just throwing the ball to open Bama wide-receivers that were shockingly left to run free in what looked like some kind of NUTSO zone defense that Muschamp was playing as if Muschamp was trying to hide the Gators’ weaknesses on defense.

What?

This is Will Muschamp’s FOURTH season at Florida and he still doesn’t have enough talent to play the Alabama wide-receivers man-to-man in a direct and challenging way on EVERY Damn play with only some safety help?

FOURTH Freaking Season at Florida for Will Muschamp!

Oh by the way…

Steve Spurrier WON 10 Games and WON the SEC Title in his SECOND season at Florida

Urban Meyer WON 13 Games and WON the SEC and National Titles in his SECOND season at Florida

AND

…in Will Muschamp’s FOURTH season at Florida it was only his former head coach in Nick Saban taking it easy on the Gators that kept the Florida – Alabama game on Saturday to within three touchdowns?

Hell, the Coaches Hot Seat Flag-Football Team with the quarterback it now has in the shotgun could have put up 50 points easy with wide-receivers running Wide-Freaking-Open all over the field with them hardly ever being challenged at all in a direct and meaningful way by Gator defenders!

Hell, the opposing quarterback could just throw the ball up 40 yards down the field on the Florida defense and there is a better than 50 – 50 chance that there will be one or more Wide-Freaking-Open wide-receivers there to catch the ball!

What do we think is wrong with the Florida defense then?

The TRUTH:  There is precious little talent on the Florida defense in Will Muschamp’s FOURTH season at Florida and we will let you take that in for a moment because that is a Helluva statement for us to make because the TRUTH is there is…

Precious Little Talent on the Florida defense in Will Muschamp’s FOURTH season at Florida!

OK…whether if there is “Florida-like” talent on this Gators team or not this is now all about the WINS for Will Muschamp going forward and thus here is Florida’s remaining schedule:

At Tennessee
LSU
Missouri
Georgia in Jacksonville
At Vanderbilt
South Carolina
Eastern Kentucky
At Florida State

Well, both LSU and Missouri basically didn’t bother showing-up to play for their head coaches on Saturday in losses to Mississippi State and Indiana respectfully so who knows what those teams will be like when they show-up in Gainesville BUT they will both be better than Kentucky….right?

How many games CAN Florida win the rest of 2014?

Well, Florida COULD win all their remaining games…technically.

How many games WILL Florida win the rest of 2014?

Well, if that piss-poor and very Damn average Florida team that played against Alabama shows-up the rest of the season we would be STUNNED if the Gators won more than….

7 Games in 2014.

We have been told by someone we trust very close to the Florida football program that anything less than 8 wins AND a win over Georgia and the Will Muschamp-era at Florida will come to an end come December which raises the inevitable question:

What coach name will Florida AD Jeremy Foley yell out loud to himself while in bed to replace Will Muschamp at Florida come December?

Our recommendation to Jeremy Foley: After the hirings of Ron Zook and Will Muschamp who have posted to date a combined win/loss record at FLORIDA of…..

47 – 31 (.603)

….we would recommend you yell that coach’s name into a pillow so that you and no one else hears it and then move on to hiring a head coach at Florida that has actually….

WON as a head coach at another school FIRST!

Like Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer did before they took over the Mighty Florida Football Program!

This is still FLORIDA FOOTBALL we are talking about……right?

RIGHT!

[Saniflush]

Come on now...they're world beaters.

I agree

[RWS]

In all fairness, I think Scarbinsky wrote that article just so he could sit back and laugh at all of the retards. 

[WiregrassTiger]

No doubt that the tahd has looked better than I thought they would.  However, they haven't played anyone worth a shoot...seriously, they have played some bad teams.

We still won't know very much about Bama 2 weeks from now.

Things that I think we already know about us are that we have a pretty decent rush defense, we can run better than average and we've got a damn good receiver to throw to. We have more than one good ones but one that is exceptional.

Hopefully, playing a tougher schedule up front will pay dividends later in the season for us. We've been pretty fortunate concerning injury but we don't need any other players going squirrely and getting kicked off the team.

[AUChizad]

Kicked off another radio show yesterday. 

Fifteen minutes of the hosts blowing Cooper, sucking Cro Mag's dick, licking Saban's ass, dry humping Kiffin and so on and I had enough. 

All I said was "if you guys will take your hands out of Bama's pockets for ten seconds, there's another team in the state that's already beaten two teams that would skull drag every team on Alabama's schedule so far... " 

And they booted me.  Not allowed on the air.

I want to hear more about this.