After Alabama’s 63-48 win over the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday night, Saban shared his frustration for how the defense played and even questioned if Ole Miss had their signals:
We didn’t do anything well. It seemed like everything we did, they had an answer for. I don’t know if they had our signals or what but, I’m not… that’s not anything unusual but it seemed like every time we called something, they had the best play that they could have against it. And they had a really good plan and Lane is a really good coach.”
And Alabama senior linebacker Dylan Moses blamed Lane Kiffin’s time at Alabama for knowing the defense so well:
“There were a lot of things we had to adjust to. And like I said, it didn’t help that Coach Kiffin was our coach for like three years and knows the ins and outs of our defense. So there are a lot of things we need to change up, the signals and all that because I’m pretty sure they were watching it. But we have to do better overall collectively.
Like, he (Lane Kiffin) was our coach for three years. I wasn’t here when they were here but if you were a coach somewhere for three years, I’m sure you would pick up the signals.”
By late Saturday night, Lane Kiffin himself made it clear on Twitter that he didn’t steal Alabama’s signals:
FYI when u go as fast as we do we call our play first. Stealing signals wouldn’t help us at all because we are snapping the ball why they were still trying to just line up. #facts #ComeToTheSip @AlabamaFTBL go win the natty @OleMissFB https://t.co/6EvFe8PX4R
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) October 11, 2020
So on Monday, during Alabama’s weekly press conference, Nick Saban cleared up the confusion by what he meant on Saturday night:
“Some of that is our issue in terms of how we disguise things. They were going fast. We were struggling to get lined up and we didn’t do a very good job of disguising things. So they were able to take advantage of a lot of situations. They know us well, so all those things contributed to me feeling a little bit like we were one play behind.”
Kiffin followed suit during his own press conference, and once again, made it clear that they didn’t steal anything:
“We call a play basically before the last play is even over. Before they mark the ball, we call our play. Then they scramble to get their play called. They’re just trying to get their guys lined up. It wouldn’t do us any good. By the time someone would relay that to us, we’re already snapping the ball.”
At the end of the day, we won’t truly ever know if Kiffin “stole” Alabama’s play calls.
But one thing we for sure know: Alabama has a lot of improvements to make on defense before the Crimson Tide faces Georgia on Saturday.
Nick Saban agrees.
“The only mistake that would be is that we don’t learn from the mistakes that we made so that we can get better in the future, work harder at making corrections and get everybody to be responsible to do their job a little bit better, coaches and players included. That’s the way we can improve.”
Alabama hosts the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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