Lane Kiffin has some thoughts about the Alabama offense

College football writer

Tue, Jan 9, 2018, 4:17 AM

Alabama couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first half of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Georgia.

The Tide’s former offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin, had some thoughts about that.

Kiffin, who spent three seasons with the Tide before his unceremonious exit prior to last year’s title game, was a big proponent of quarterback Jalen Hurts. Hurts threw for 2,780 yards and 23 touchdowns while completing 62.8 percent of his passes under Kiffin’s guidance last year.

Kiffin encouraged current coordinator Brian Daboll to let Hurts loose through the air.

Time to roll!! Let #2 play. He will win it!!! #RTR. @espn @AlabamaFTBL
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) January 9, 2018

That didn’t happen. Alabama gained only 94 yards of offense as Georgia took a 13-0 halftime lead. The stout Bulldogs defense certainly played a huge part in that, but the Tide’s play-calling was quite conservative. Hurts completed just three of eight passes for 21 yards while adding 47 rushing yards.

Kiffin expressed hope that Alabama would take shots downfield in the second half.

Are we going to actually throw the ball downfield once??? @AlabamaFTBL @espn https://t.co/Jg4Rfiz9eq
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) January 9, 2018

Indeed, Alabama did, but with a different quarterback. Tua Tagovailoa played the entire second half for the Tide and got to be hero of the night with his winning 41-yard touchdown pass in overtime that gave Alabama the victory and the title, 26-23.

Kiffin, now the head coach at Florida Atlantic, has been active on Twitter all season. And Alabama has often been a topic of his tweets. Kiffin also encouraged Georgia to run the ball in the first half, but his Alabama tweets got more attention — for obvious reasons.