Would the last national title game have turned out differently had Junior been manning the Alabama sideline? You bet. Just ask him.
It is one thing for Kiffin to feel his absence cost Alabama in that moment. What about now, eight months removed? If Saban hadn’t removed him, does he think Alabama would have won?
“I do,” Kiffin said. “It’s no disrespect to Steve. No matter who it was, you’ve been there all year long. You’ve been there for the quarterback. You’re all he knew. You were undefeated together. We’ve won [26] straight games together. You feel like, okay, it’s different. As great as Sark is, it’s just different. Again, if it had been 14 points either way . . . when it’s one play here or there, you think if those guys had the person they were used to, it would have made a difference.”
Lane Kiffin is the Donald Trump of college football.
Get The Picture 
If he were there it would of been YUGE. The best play calling you’ve ever seen.
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Well, I think any open minded person would admit he has a point.
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Agreed Waterloodawg.
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He had his audition against Udub and mostly failed that night.
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Totally agree…how many games did they lose with Lane Coaching O?
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A better, more accurate question is how many games with Lane as OC did they win while giving up 35 points in the process?
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Agreed. Just because he’s a butthole doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a point, and it didn’t seem to be expressed in a controversial way. Besides that, what would you expect him to say? “Nah, Bama probably would have gotten steamrollered if I was there, I was totally unfocused.”
I take a back seat to no one (OK, maybe Saban, and the ghost of Al Davis) in my general disdain for the Laner, but anyone who says he isn’t a talented OC is just fooling themselves. I think he’s right, and right for the reasons he stated. Sark took on an impossible, almost thankless job. And Sark did a pretty good job. He wasn’t coaching the Bama defense that collapsed in the 4th quarter, was he? That’s a hell of a spot to drop a guy into. If someone asked Lane a question and he told the truth, or at least, gave his honest opinion, why is this a big deal? I bet even Nick would agree it would have been better had Lane been there (if Lane had been focused on the OC job, which apparently Nick felt like he wasn’t)
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Yeah. Hate to agree with him. I think Jr. has proven he’s a disaster as a HC, but the dude is one hell of an offensive play caller.
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You mean Lane Kiffin IS the Donald Trump of college football.?
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Just like Trump!
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“We’ve won [26] straight games together.”
Did I miss something where Laner doubled as Hurts’ high school coach or did Alabama play 27 games last season?
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Hate to defend Kiffer but uh tactically speaking he may have a point.
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I despise the guy, but he’s 100% right on with this. Everyone knows this is the truth, but he’s going to be portrayed as a douche for saying it…and well, he IS a douche.
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Yeah, he’s a douche, plain and simple.
I still think he’s right, though. In a game that close, it had to make a 2-3 point difference.
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Bama’s D got tired and lost them the game. That, and CJP not being able to figure out to stop those quasi-illegal rub routes Clemson ran, including the one to win the game, is what did them in.
Kiffin was a disaster against Udub in the semifinal game; hell Bama only threw for around 40 yards, which is why Saban rightfully pulled the plug.
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Lane is a monumental A-hole but he might be right about that.
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At least Lane is competent at something other than fooling rubes. If there is a Donald Trump of coaching football, we’ve never heard of him and he’s unemployed because there simply was no winning, ever. Not that I’m complaining about the incompetence. The silver lining of the Trump presidency is the total failure in putting any plans into action. He’s like Hitler if the trains never ran at all, he had lost in Poland and his plan to exterminate the Jews was to do so with poisoned BBQ ribs. Evil in intent yes, but too incompetent to achieve anything more than a temporary, nuisance-level evil.
If Lane were a president he’d be John Tyler. If trump were a college football coach he’d already be getting paid NOT to coach the team.
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What? Jews don’t like BBQ?
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This is a slow moving thread so I’ll ask…..
Do you not think that major tax reform is important for the middle class?
I’m mostly disgusted with all the attorneys sitting in the houses that can’t do anything because they choose to parse words indefinitely. I’m convinced that the legislative branch is gridlocked because no one is willing to sacrifice anything for the greater good.
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Tax reform is vital to the middle class. However, every tax bill I ever see the GOP come up with significantly lowers taxes on the rich and then the poor and middle class get hit with regressive sales taxes and fees at the local level. Any middle class tax cut is insignificant.
No one is interested in sacrifice because you have one half of the people who think “the poors” are living fat and happy on the dole and another half can’t believe that there in not a single CEO in the country that pays a higher marginal tax rate than his own secretary. There no incentive for either to give an inch to the other because both premises are, to a degree, flawed.
The result is that the middle gets totally screwed. It started as formal policy in 1981. It hasn’t gotten better. The top 10 to 12% have done quite well. The rest are fighting with each other over the scraps while the people that own the government keep shoving cash in their pockets.
I’d love to believe that:
1) trump was really a populist looking for a political realignment rather than an opportunist and a con man out primarily for his own personal benefit and
2) that the GOP would be willing to go along with him on tax relief for the middle, tax increases on the rich and a trillion dollars worth of infrastructure. (FWIW I am totally opposed to the populism talk on trade. Free trade is a big net plus for America.)
I question 1 and 2 is a bigger pipe dream than beach front property in Hahira. The people who run the GOP are not interested in fixing government. They are interested in eliminating government so that their fat cat friends can gain even more power over the destiny of the republic. As long as the people in Charlottesville, on “both sides”, believe that their problems are really the result of people who are poorer than them, look differently than them and believe differently than them, the kleptocracy will continue.
People of all stripes and beliefs need to step up and realize that our future is dependent upon the ability of the free market to create massive wealth and the publics ability to make sure that it serves the rest of us fairly and efficiently.
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“Huey Long is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice,”
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Socialism was quite popular in the bayou before the voting and civil rights acts. Wonder why the change in attitudes?
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“Roger Ailes is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice,”
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Kinda like Charlie Weiss?
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Exactly. If only we had a national AD this nightmare would come to a quick, merciful end.
You’re fucking fired! Terminated…with extreme prejudice.
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Oh no, remember all the rumors about Lane and the coaches daughter? Lane seen at nightclub with blonde beauty coeds. He is a lot more like the Bill Clinton of college football! lol
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If you want to compare Lane to Presidents who were philanderers, that’s a damn long list.
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But, oddly, not Nixon!
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My God.
https://twitter.com/hddixon3/status/897925714518855680
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Tricky Dick was spending his time with Bebe Rebozo.
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Of course he is. And I’m going to sue all those sexual misconduct accusers after the election.
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I agree with the Laner on this one.
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Did he also say the Falcons would’ve won the super bowl if he were calling the plays?
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No but they’ll win with Cutty calling the plays
http://deadspin.com/steve-sarkisian-named-as-new-atlanta-falcons-offensive-1792091561
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I know Donny John has a place in South Florida but this was my first thought that came to mind when I saw the headline “The Laner Alone Can Solve It”:
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I alone can solve Lanertime.
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Junior is dead on, Saban blew that game because of his ego. One of the more stupid decisions I have seen a HC make. Couldn’t he waited one more week? Funny how you don’t here the media or Bama fans continually bring this up. They lost to a Clemson team that might have been in the Top 10, but probably not in the Top 5. I am no defender of Laner but that was a dumb mistake.
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No it wasn’t – and I personally like Lane. As said above, Lane proved himself in the semifinal game against Udub, in which the Bama O was a disaster. Afterwards Lane admitted he was distracted and it played a part in their poor performance. That, and that alone is a huge red flag. Next, it was Bama’s D that lost the game to Clemson, not the O. I swear, some of are acting like Bama lost 10-9 or something.
Finally, Sark helped call plays all year and knew exactly what was going on. Even the players said it was a seemed transition, and Bama’s O played far better than they did against Udub. Oh yea – Lane also started showing up late to team meetings or skipping them altogether during this time – yet another fact conveniently forgotten, and QB Hurts said Lane was barely around.
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Everyone is entitled to an opinion, I am sure there is someone out there who agrees with you. It was dumb beyond belief, but you are right, there is always more than one specific item that leads to a defeat. I would put Scarborough’s broken leg as the 2nd most significant reason, or even Sark could have run out the clock on that last Bama drive.
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This is the same Lane Kiffin who probably cost them the Ohio State game in 2014 because he put the offense almost entirely on Blake Sims’ shoulders and put up a whopping 24 points against Washington the week before the Clemson game he claims he would have won, right?
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Worse than that – bama got a pick 6 in that game and the only 2nd half points was a 70 yard td run in which Udub badly defended the play. Bama’s D also constantly gave the O great field position but they did nothing with it.
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The only controversy about President Trump is: Is he merely the greatest president ever or is he the greatest human being who has ever lived.
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Both.
https://twitter.com/ajnabifinlandi/status/903665842994499585
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/903397452241391617
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Google : Trump pays off farm mortgage after father’s suicide. I have known Betsy for about 15 years and know the story to be true. This was done way before Trump thought about running for president. So much for being a mean and hateful person huh? But I am sure Obama and Hillary have done the same many times. I just must not have heard about it. Maybe you could educate me on all the strangers who have had tragic things happen to them only to have Obama or Hillary step in and save the day. I’ll wait for your reply.
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I have no idea how this relates to my comment.
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https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/903781234534469633
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