Paul Finebaum says Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin are ‘obsessed’ with each other

Could Lane Kiffin be the first former assistant to beat Nick Saban?

Nick Saban’s coaching tree is formidable, and his former assistants have experienced a wide variety of success. But they still have yet to figure out how to beat their old boss.

After Alabama beat South Carolina’s Will Muschamp, Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M team and Jeremy Pruitt’s Tennessee team this season, Saban advanced to 19-0 against his former assistants who have become head coaches. Joining Fisher and Pruitt, others with multiple losses to Saban include Georgia coach Kirby Smart, former Florida coach Jim McElwain and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio.

But with Lane Kiffin, who was an offensive coordinator at Alabama for three years, taking the Ole Miss coaching job, Saban has another former assistant to regularly face.

And ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum thinks Kiffin is the one to snap the streak.

Kiffin spent the last three seasons at Florida Atlantic and just coached the Owls to their second conference championship under him. About his return to the SEC, Finebaum said Tuesday on ESPN’s Get Up to Mike Greenberg and Laura Rutledge:

“Lane Kiffin is obsessed with Nick Saban, and I think Nick Saban is obsessed with him. And Greeny, I firmly believe that of all these disciples — and we’ve talked about them ad nauseam between Kirby Smart and Jimbo and so many others — that Lane Kiffin is going to be the first Saban disciple to beat the GOAT. I’m not saying it will happen next year, but it’s going to happen because he will spent every moment — he will lose 11 games to prepare for that one.

“And I think Saban’s not intimitaed by people, but he’s going to look over there and go, ‘I don’t want to play Lane Kiffin.'”

Saban’s Crimson Tide will play several former assistants in 2020 with Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M on their schedule.

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