SEC Extra Points with Barrett Sallee: Lane Kiffin, Blake Sims and Alabama Tempo
Tempo Is Bad, Except When It's Good
Last offseason, the possibility of the "10-second rule" that would prevent teams from snapping within the first 10 seconds of the play clock forced old-school and new-school coaches into a passive-aggressive war of words that served as a nice bridge between national signing day and the start of spring practice.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban was one of those old-school coaches at the forefront of that debate.
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"I think player safety is the No. 1 thing, and that was my No. 1 issue as well," Saban said in February according to AL.com's Joel A. Erickson. "I think when players get tired, they're more susceptible to get injured if you can't substitute players when they're tired or if they're injured and you can't get them out of the game."
Instead of digging in his heels, Saban has adapted. The Crimson Tide are averaging 72.3 plays per game—nine more than they averaged last year.
The combination of new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin's flexibility and first-year starter Blake Sims' comfort level with tempo is a big reason why.
"For us to sit here and think that [Sims] would come in this year and be completing 62 percent of his passes, throw 18 touchdowns and only three picks, that's absurd," ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit told B/R as part of his tour promoting the Allstate "It's Good" sweepstakes. "It's a combination of his skill set along with the way that Kiffin has found a way to use him. Early in the year, they were kind of tinkering with tempo, and over time, they recognized that Blake performs better in a hurry-up."
Kiffin's work this year is being highly underappreciated.
He took an offense to the next level with Sims—a quarterback who was largely considered to be a backup in the offseason. Kiffin has done it with creativity, flexibility and patience. He didn't give Sims too much too quickly or try to force too much into the game plan, and that's paying off for the Crimson Tide late in the season.
The Devaluation of the Regular Season
College football is the greatest regular season in sports because the margin for error is so thin, and one loss could spell disaster.
Well, that's how it used to be, anyway.
The importance of wins and losses has been replaced by the eye test and a silly subjective metric known as "game control."
"It might be considered somewhat subjective," playoff chairman Jeff Long said in a teleconference on Tuesday night. "The committee looks at the game, how the game was played, how close the game was played, whether there were lead changes back and forth, or whether a team was in control from the opening kickoff, or whether they gained control say in the second half and finished out the game."
When did a subjective stat like "game control" take precedent over wins, losses and strength of schedule? Apparently, this year.
Alabama, the committee's No. 1 team, has a loss on its resume and only one win over an opponent currently ranked in the College Football Playoff Top 25. Oregon has a home loss to No. 15 Arizona but also has wins over No. 9 UCLA, No. 11 Michigan State and No. 17 Utah.
Defending national champ Florida State has the biggest gripe. The Seminoles have looked sluggish but navigated the rather calm waters of the ACC without a loss and have two wins over current CFP Top 25 teams—No. 22 Clemson and No. 24 Louisville, the latter of which was on the road.
Apparently that's not good enough.
"I will say that those two Top 25 wins are against No. 22 and No. 24, so they're at the back end of the Top 25," Long said. "But they're very close."
Sure, the old BCS computers would have churned out similar rankings this week as the College Football Playoff selection committee did on Tuesday night. But how many of those voters try to mirror the CFP rankings now?
Remember when college football's power brokers used the possibility of devaluing the regular season as the biggest drawback to a playoff?
We're here.
Let Them Play
Texas A&M has made it known that it wants the rivalry with Texas rekindled.
Former Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin famously said that his program would play the Longhorns "anytime, anywhere" back in November 2013, but so far, the reluctance from the boys in Austin has prevented the two from getting back together.
Now, apparently the SEC is standing in the way.
According to a report from Chip Brown of HornsDigest.com, "SEC officials have indicated to bowls with SEC and Big 12 tie-ins that the SEC won't support a Texas vs. Texas A&M postseason matchup" because the Aggies have too much to lose.
If that's true, that's incredibly lame.
Outside of the playoff bowls and possibly the rest of the "New Year's Six," bowl season is largely college football's version of the postseason NIT in college hoops. A bowl game matchup—nudge nudge, perhaps in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl—would be wildly intriguing to the SEC, Big 12 and the entire nation.
Let them play, for college football's sake.
Texas A&M being the program with too much to lose in the matchup indicates the drastic shift in the landscape of college football in the state of Texas over the last five years. But really, is one bowl game loss going to force the loser to forget how to recruit, operate and run its program?
Of course not.
Let them play.
Running Back Depth For Days
Georgia running back Todd Gurley's playing days between the hedges are over after the draft-eligible junior tore his ACL late in last week's win over Auburn. As we pointed out on Sunday, the running game in Athens is still in good hands next year thanks to the emergence of freshman Nick Chubb.
It appears that Georgia may have a ton of depth behind him.
Junior Keith Marshall has missed the last seven games and could be headed for a medical redshirt, according to Seth Emerson of the (Columbus, Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer. Head coach Mark Richt compared Marshall's situation to that of quarterback Hutson Mason in 2012, who would have had his redshirt burned if something would have happened to then-starter Aaron Murray.
What does that mean for Georgia next year?
It means that Marshall—a former 5-star prospect in the class of 2012—would have two years left with rising sophomores Chubb and Sony Michel—both of whom have enjoyed success this year.
That'd be wildly beneficial for a Georgia team that will be undergoing another change at quarterback and will have to replace senior wide receivers Michael Bennett and Chris Conley.
Quick Outs
- As I wrote yesterday, it's more likely that there are zero SEC teams in the College Football Playoff than two despite No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Mississippi State both being in the current Top Four. With so much talk of "game control" this week, Mississippi State better not let Vanderbilt hang around this weekend. If it doesn't win the SEC, it needs style points.
- Arkansas has been getting a ton of respect down the stretch, and it appears that Saturday's shutout win over LSU has only helped matters. No. 8 Ole Miss—a team with an outside chance at winning the SEC West and earning a College Football Playoff berth—is only a 3.5-point favorite over the Hogs in Fayetteville this weekend, according to Odds Shark. That's quite a compliment to the job that head coach Bret Bielema has done this year despite several near-misses.
- What exactly is Ole Miss now? It seems like a month ago when wide receiver Laquon Treadwell suffered his season-ending injury, but since then, the Rebels have had a game vs. Presbyterian and a bye. What exactly will Ole Miss' offense look like? Can Cody Core, Quincy Adeboyejo or Vince Sanders step up? They'll need to this week against an underrated Arkansas defense (340.6 YPG).
- If you're looking for another reason why the SEC needs to go to a nine-game conference schedule, Week 13 is here to provide more evidence. Eastern Kentucky, Charleston Southern, South Alabama, Western Carolina and Samford all appear on SEC schedules this week, which should be unacceptable to the conference's television partners. They should tell the conference to schedule some compelling matchups on the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
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.
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