Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says the Tigers are not concerned with the fact Alabama head coach Nick Saban let offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin go a week before the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Saban announced on Monday that he and Kiffin agreed to part ways in the best interest of both parties. Kiffin was hired last month to be the new head coach at Florida Atlantic University. Saban promoted former Southern Cal and Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian as Kiffin’s replacement.
“I guess you’ve got some nuances that might be a little bit different maybe from a play call or something like that, but you’re not going to – it’s not like they’re going to come out and run the triple option,” Swinney said on a Tuesday teleconference with the media to preview next Monday’s national championship game in Tampa, Florida against the Crimson Tide. “They’re going to dance with who brung ’em. They’re going to do what they do. It’s just as simple as that.”
What the Tide (14-0) likes to do is run the football. They rank 11th nationally in rushing yards per game at 246.7 yards per game. Alabama rushed for 269 yards on 50 carries in its Peach Bowl win over Washington, while averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
Running back Bo Scarbrough rushed for 180 yards and scored two touchdowns in being named the Peach Bowl’s Offensive MVP.
Sarkisian came on board in the offensive season at Alabama as a quality control coach after suffering through some personal issues at Southern Cal, which cost him his job as head coach. Saban had already announced Sarkisian would be Kifffin’s replacement after the College Football Playoff run was over.
Though there are some difference in the way Sarkisian coaches and calls plays as opposed to Kiffin, Swinney does not feel Clemson will see to many changes in the Crimson Tides approach considering there is only a week to get ready for the game.
“Maybe it would be a little bit different if they had a month to get ready, like that first game, but you’ve got basically a game week to prepare,” the Clemson coach said. “You’re not going to vary too far from what you do – and why would they? They’ve been really, really good. They’ve won 26 in a row. I don’t think they’re going to do much different.
“Like I said, there may be some little nuances here and there, but it’ll be within the framework of who they are offensively, and again, why would they change. They’ve been incredible – nobody has stopped them. They’ve been incredibly successful.”
Reports serviced on Monday that Kiffin was not giving Alabama his full attention, a no-no on Saban’s staff, and had lost focus. He reportedly was late for staff meetings in the weeks leading up to the Peach Bowl and was 15 minutes late to media day last week in Atlanta, and then got left at the Georgia Dome when he was late coming back from media day.
Alabama struggled to throw the football against Washington as freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts completed just seven of 14 passes for 57 yards. The Crimson Tide just had 326 total yards in the Peach Bowl. Alabama is averaging 461 yards per game.
As for Hurts, he is averaging 252.9 total yards per game and has thrown for 2,649 yards, while completing 64.7 percent of his passes for 22 touchdowns and just nine interceptions in his 351 attempts. He is averaging 189.2 yards a game through the air and 63.6 on the ground. He has 12 rushing touchdowns.
“The quarterback has played very, very well,” Swinney said. “They’ve run him. They’ve got outstanding backs. They’ve got the best receivers we’ve seen, and a great tight end.
“They’re going to do what they do. They’re going to play within the scheme of their system, and then I’m sure that the way the game goes dictates maybe how things could get called. If they get up on us, then they’re going to call things a certain way if they’re behind. So those are all things, in-game adjustments as you go, but as far as just the scheme of things, they’ll do what they do.”
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