Epic Iron Bowl Makes Nick Saban's Hire of Lane Kiffin Look Like Stroke of Genius

"Is this what we want football to be?"

That question was posed by Alabama head coach Nick Saban in 2012, when he was asked about the rise in popularity of no-huddle offenses in college football according to Andrew Gribble of AL.com.

Well, Nick, Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin sure does. 

A lightning rod for controversy, Saban's decision to hire Kiffin established the duo as college football's odd couple. It wasn't just a shock to the college football world outside of Tuscaloosa, but even Saban's boss—athletics director Bill Battle—was perplexed.

"My first reaction, because I didn’t know Lane, wasn’t very positive," Battle told Marq Burnett of the Anniston (Ala.) Star.

On Saturday, Kiffin led the Crimson Tide to 539 yards in a record setting 55-44 Iron Bowl win over Auburn in Tuscaloosa. Kiffin's crew only ran 61 plays in the game, but that was more due to a time of possession discrepancy than anything else. This Tide team used tempo and creativity to set records in the Iron Bowl and establish this offense as Alabama's most feared unit during the Saban era.

This might not be what Saban wants football to be, but sometimes it has to be. With Kiffin calling the shots, Alabama has a new way to win.  Now the Tide can outscore teams, too. 

Saban himself even admitted it in the postgame press conference according to Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com:

Alabama is averaging 72.7 plays per game this season, which is nine more than they averaged last season under former coordinator Doug Nussmeier. Not only are they running more plays, they're mixing things up and calling pass plays on traditional running downs.

That leads to some interesting photos of Kiffin and Saban 'discussing strategy' in the middle of games, but there's a method to the madness.

Kiffin is challenging Saban. He's challenging the traditional way of thinking. He's challenging Alabama to evolve, and it's working.

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No team in America has a wide receiver like Amari Cooper, and Kiffin figured out, after Blake Sims won the job, that getting him comfortable with a short passes to Cooper early was the way to go.

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Not exactly rocket science, but not exactly "the Bama way" either.

He also figured out that Sims thrives with tempo and can stretch the field when it's appropriate. He evolved with his quarterback, rather than forcing his scheme on Sims.

At no point during the season has it been more evident than in the middle of the third quarter, when Kiffin was celebrating a touchdown moments after the ball was snapped.

No team in America has the wealth of riches that Alabama has at running back. A hot-button issue heading into the season was whether T.J. Yeldon or Derrick Henry would be the feature back. They both are, with Henry—the 6'3" 241-pounder—serving as the changeup back. That's like bringing Madison Bumgarner out of the bullpen during Game 7 of the World Series.

Kiffin's career seemed lost when he was fired from USC in the middle of the 2013 season, but it has been revived in a place not known for offensive explosions.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

That revival earned Alabama the SEC West title, has them within 60 minutes of the conference championship and on the brink of not only a College Football Playoff berth, but the No. 1 seed—despite that defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Florida State hasn't lost.

Not bad, Lane.

Not bad at all.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.