What's Wrong with Lane Kiffin's Alabama Offense?

First-year Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin was the talk of T-Town during the first month of the season. His offense—with first-year starter Blake Sims at quarterback—gained more than 530 yards in each of the first four games of the year.

Now? Not so much.

The Crimson Tide have managed just 623 total yards over the last two games, a 23-17 loss at Ole Miss and Saturday's 14-13 win at Arkansas.

The offensive problems have spawned fantastic images of Kiffin and head coach Nick Saban on the sideline, like this one from Saturday:

What's the problem with Kiffin's offense?

Offensive Line Woes

Alabama's offensive line is a far cry from the one in 2012 that plowed the road for running backs Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon.

USA TODAY Sports

There's no guard who can plow the road like Chance Warmack did for the 2012 Tide. Leon Brown, Alphonse Taylor and Arie Kouandjio, in fact, have been liabilities in the running game, missing assignments and committing too many false start penalties.

Prior to the Arkansas game, SEC Network's Joe Tessitore (h/t Bo Mattingly of Sports Talk with Bo) commented on just how this offensive line stacks up to those of the past:

Junior center Ryan Kelly's absence last week due to a sprained knee only contributed to the line's inconsistencies. As the "quarterback" of the offensive line, it's Kelly's job to get the unit on the same page at the line of scrimmage.

The line wasn't in sync last week, which is big reason why the Crimson Tide managed just 66 rushing yards against an Arkansas defense that gave up 137 or more in each of its two previous conference games.

Saban commented on the struggles of the offensive line versus Arkansas during Monday's press conference, according to Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com:

Alabama's offense has committed 39 penalties this year. Based on AL.com's count of the first four games and Alabama's play-by-play of the last two, 17 of those are on the offensive line or tight ends who stayed in as blockers.

The lack of communication and discipline of the line has been setting the offense back and forcing Kiffin and Sims to be more predictable.

A predictable offense is a stagnant offense, which has been a big problem for 'Bama over the last two weeks.

Joe Murphy/Getty Images

Absence of a True Weapon Not Named Amari Cooper

If there was a real criticism of Sims over the first four weeks, it's that he didn't develop chemistry with a receiver other than star junior Amari Cooper. Cooper averaged 10.75 receptions per game over the first four weeks, hitting at least the 130-yard mark in each of those contests.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press/Associated Press

He has only—which is a relative term considering how good Cooper is—managed 11 total catches and 113 yards combined in the two games since then.

Ole Miss' secondary was talented enough to take away the threat of Cooper getting loose deep, and it was fundamentally sound enough to prevent those yards after catch that Cooper has become known for.

Against Arkansas, Cooper only caught two passes and was in and out of the game with a shoulder injury, according to AL.com's Michael Casagrande.

Part of the reason for Sims not connecting with another option outside was the shoulder injury to DeAndrew White, who went out during the season opener versus West Virginia and missed the next two games. White caught a team-high four passes for 33 yards and a touchdown against the Hogs, which was a game played in rainy conditions in Fayetteville.

Sims, Kiffin and the rest of the offense certainly didn't benefit from White being out during games against Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss, which would've been the perfect time for White and Sims to jell and take some pressure off Cooper.

Player	Pos.	Rec.	Yds	TDs
Amari Cooper	WR	54	768	5
DeAndrew White	WR	16	154	1
Christion Jones	WR	11	154	0
T.J. Yeldon	RB	7	98	1
Chris Black	WR	7	77	0
O.J. Howard	TE	6	150	0
Jalston Fowler	RB	5	40	2
Kenyan Drake	RB	5	159	2

Keeping it Simple

During the first three weeks of the season, Kiffin employed a rather conservative game plan as Sims got his feet wet as the starting quarterback in Tuscaloosa. In the fourth game, Sims and Kiffin let things fly.

Sims threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns, and the Crimson Tide amassed 645 yards against what typically is a stout Gators defense. Florida had some personnel issues in the secondary at the time, but that game opened eyes.

The conservative game plan came back against Ole Miss and Arkansas, which might have come as a shock.

Joe Murphy/Getty Images

It shouldn't have.

Sims was making his first true road start against the Rebels, who—statistics aside—should be considered one of the best defenses in the entire country. Going conservative wasn't the worst idea. It just might have been a little too safe, which allowed Ole Miss to hang around and ultimately spring the upset.

Arkansas has been susceptible to the pass, but considering Cooper got banged up and the weather wasn't great, a sloppy game shouldn't be the most concerning thing in the world.

The bottom line is the Tide went in, did what they needed to do and got the win.

Alabama's offense is not going to be wide-open all the time. Former quarterback AJ McCarron told Tide 99.1 FM last week that Saban "handcuffs" his offensive coordinators, which is a poor choice of words. He does, however, want to play a more conservative brand of football when appropriate, and it was appropriate versus the Rebels and Hogs for two different reasons.

Sometimes it's better to go old school, as D.C. Reeves of TideSports.com notes:

It isn't permanent.

Alabama plays Texas A&M this week, and that Aggies pass defense (222.1 yards allowed per game) isn't exactly the most feared group in the SEC. What's more, Texas A&M has the weapons on offense to put pressure on Alabama's cornerbacks and force this game into a shootout.

If that happens, Kiffin will be just fine. He's done it before, and he'll do it again—just not as often as he'd probably like.

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.