Lane Kiffin pokes fun at Nick Saban after he apologized for Coke bottle rant

It’s not often that Nick Saban walks back something that he says. It’s actually so rare that, with him doing it at his most recent press conference, Lane Kiffin had to check in with his old boss in Tuscaloosa.

Kiffin never misses a chance to poke at Saban and did so again on Thursday morning. In a clip where Alabama’s head coach apologized to and corrected himself for Austin Hannon of BamaCentral for going at him in his postgame press conference last weekend, Kiffin had to check in considering how unlike him that the response was.

You feeling ok Coach??? @AlabamaFTBL https://t.co/erxOhOpwbc

— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) September 7, 2023

Gannon’s question had to do with the development of QB Jalen Milroe which Saban deemed “hypothetical” about how he is going to play moving forward and in the future. At that point, Saban picked up his bottle of Coke on the podium and said that “it (wasn’t) a crystal ball”.

Most are well aware of Saban’s temper and how it can come out on the sidelines or at the mic. Kiffin has likely been on the receiving end of it too over his three seasons on Alabama’s staff.

Still, to see him retreat in such a way doesn’t happen very often. That’s why Kiffin wanted to send his compassion considering just how unlike him that this was.

Kiffin blasts new clock rules for shortening games

It’s been one week and some change in college football, giving teams the chance to adjust to the new clock rules the NCAA implemented ahead of the 2023 season.

Not everyone likes the change, which has effectively served to remove a few plays per game on average.

“I just don’t understand it,” Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin said. “People pay to see. They sit down with their family to watch a game, they pay for tickets to go to a game. And we’re going to shorten it? I mean it’s not like it was broke. There’s a lot of problems that need to be fixed in the world around college football. And running the clock so the game’s quicker? I don’t get it.”

The change has made games shorter, though more data is needed to see whether that shortening is primarily in the number of plays versus the actual time games take to reach completion.

Either way, Kiffin doesn’t really get the logic behind the move to the new clock rules.

“You go to a country concert and want to have them sing two less songs when you pay for a concert?” Kiffin said. “No. So why do you want a game to be shorter? That just does not really show much awareness about what should be getting worked on and fixed around college football, in my opinion.”