Lane Kiffin shares how much ‘GOAT fuel’ motivates Nick Saban

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin owes his career’s second-act revival to Nick Saban. Prior to becoming the Alabama offensive coordinator, Kiffin had been fired by the Raiders in the NFL and was coming off being fired by USC. On top of that, he had burnt bridges on his way out of Tennessee. Since he was able to revive his career as a Saban assistant, though, Kiffin has been able to develop into a successful head coach.

Because of their relationship, it’s no surprise that Lane Kiffin would know what motivates Nick Saban, which included GOAT fuel, as provided by people like Paul Finebaum.

“Well, I don’t know the stat, but off the top of my head, I don’t think you–I mean, maybe since the first year he was there, I bet he’s never lost after a loss,” Lane Kiffin said.

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“So, that should tell you how well he does motivating the guys after a loss. So, when you guys can look that up, but I’m gonna bet he’s undefeated since his first year at Alabama–in the regular season, outside of maybe the Iron Bowl followed by the Sugar Bowl.”

If you exclude his first season at Alabama when Saban was just getting things going, and postseason games, Lane Kiffin is right. Back-to-back regular season losses don’t just happen at Alabama. If Ole Miss does beat Alabama, it would be the first time that has happened since 2007.

“So, he does a phenomenal job at it, and even though his intensity is up all the time, I think it’s even more up after a loss,” Lane Kiffin concluded.

Ole Miss is set to host Alabama at 3:30 PM EST on Saturday.

Lane Kiffin on the demise of Alabama’s dynasty

There are a lot of analysts who think this season is a sign that the Alabama dynasty is coming to an end. Lane Kiffin, however, thinks that couldn’t be further from the truth. He even went so far as to call it ‘ridiculous.’

“I understand it’s you guy’s job, it’s the media’s job, it’s Paul’s (Finebaum) especially to create attention and create a storyline all the time. Once he said what it did, it got a lot of attention. But it’s ridiculous. When you really dive into coaching and not the result of a game, you go ‘okay Tennessee, loudest place, the whole thing.’ And then if they just make a kick — Alabama can kick, Tennessee can’t win the game and Alabama wins the game,” Lane Kiffin said.

“Then you go down to a two-point play which is 50% either way. The guy is literally one foot from being stopped short. If he’s stopped short, it’s one play. Then they’re undefeated, they’re No. 1, No. 2 in the country. Those statements if they were getting beat by 14, 21 points, or something — that would be different. So it really is ridiculous but I understand it’s what you need to do in the media to have something to talk about.”