TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If anyone knows how difficult a Lane Kiffin offense is to stop, it's Nick Saban.
During his weekly appearance on the Hey Coach Radio Show Thursday, Saban detailed the challenges Kiffin and Ole Miss pose against Alabama's defense.
"They do a lot of multiples and formations a lot of motions and this new age (offense) we talk about," Saban said. "Last week LSU actually did it in the game too, with the kind of quarterback who can do it. Where you run like zone plays and the tight end comes across and he avoids and goes in the flat, a quarterback pulls the ball and he can throw it to him or he can run it. And then it's like a triple option."
The Tigers struggled to move the ball with much success in the first half against Alabama last week, but when quarterback Jayden Danials got out into space, it caused the front seven to lose contain as he scampered for more than 90 yards in the win.
LSU's two plays in overtime showed the Crimson Tide's struggles to contain a mobile quarterback as Daniels scored the tying touchdown on a read option for a 25-yard score and then followed it up with the 2-point conversion, rolling out to the right to find Mason Taylor in the flat before he powered through to the end zone.
Along with the ability to run multiple different plays out of the same formation, Saban also said the Rebels like to run uptempo similar to Tennessee. All of those factors combined have allowed Ole Miss to ascend up the polls thanks to its top-five offense in the SEC.
"The thing that they do is they'll do something different in every game," Saban said. "The cumulative effect of all the things that they do, you got to try to expose your players to all those things during the course of the week. It makes a lot to prepare for, but you may not even see it in your game and you may see something completely different. I think that's always a challenge, you got a lot of things to work on, so the things that they do extremely well that you really have to stop, you really have less time to work on."
It will be another strength-against-strength matchup as Alabama sports the No. 3 total defense in the SEC, allowing more than 303 yards of total offense per game.
The Crimson Tide defense will need to return to its dominant form on Saturday with the team's new goal of winning 10 games in sight. It's something Saban harped on as he closed out the show on Thursday, telling the team this week that it'll be remembered by how it finishes the regular season.
"The legacy of this team is going to be determined to a large degree by how they finish because people will respect the way they respond to the adversity with their ability to go play with focus and do the things the way we need to do it," Saban said. "So that's what we're trying to develop on our team. That's what we need.
"You know, I'd like for our fans to do the same thing. I’d like for our fans to think about building, not tearing down, think about being positive, think about being supportive, think about coming and supporting the team in any way you can."
