Steve Sarkisian Texted Lane Kiffin Playcalls During The Cotton Bowl
USA Today – Kiffin said he had gotten a text from Sarkisian during halftime of Alabama’s Cotton Bowl win against Michigan State with some tips for the second half. He’s been keeping up with Kiffin’s Crimson Tide these past few months.
“People go through things — doesn’t mean he can’t coach,” Kiffin said. “The guy’s a great playc aller. I always go back to his last year at Washington. In the history of the school, there had been six games of over 600 yards. He had six in the same season. There’s no question about that, no question about his relationship with his players, quarterback development. We all go through things, and I can tell talking to him, he’s come back stronger and he’ll be even better.”
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I know the game ended up being a blowout and we all watched it half (or maybe full blown) hammered drunk at whatever New Year’s event we were at (thanks, CFP committee). But if you rack your brain really hard you’ll remember that the Bama/MSU game wasn’t such a foregone conclusion after the first half. It was only 10-0, and the only scores were from a 1 yard touchdown run by Henry and a long field goal. Punts, mistakes, turnovers. Neither team was looking particularly sharp. Sure Michigan State had negative rushing yards, but anybody can spring to life and come back from 10 points down, especially the #3 team in the damn country. Alabama needed a spark to put it away for good, and that’s exactly what they got.
Where did it come from? Most people would assume Nick Saban. An intense, passionate speech in the locker room. Maybe it was Coker or Henry or a senior captain banging his head against lockers and firing up the troops. Maybe it was a hype video from the internet projected on the walls.
Wrong. It was this guy.
Steve Sarkisian drunk texting Lane Kiffin unstoppable plays to use in the second half. Halfway through the Patron bottle diagramming passing attacks on a Doodle app and texting them over to Kiffin.
Next thing you know, it’s 38-0. Game over. And nobody deserved more credit than Sark, who found out about the results when he woke up the next day at 1 PM.
Can’t wait til Saban retires and it’s Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian as co-head coaches of the Tide.
PS,
I love Lane.