Sign stealing has been a hot topic ever since Alabama head coach Nick Saban and linebacker Dylan Moses commented on Ole Miss possibly knowing the team’s defensive signals from last Saturday’s 63-48 win.
“It seemed like everything we did, though, they had an answer for,” Saban said during his postgame press conference. “I don’t know if they had our signals or what. I’m not — that’s not anything unusual. But it seemed like every time we called something, they had the best play they could have against it. They had a really good plan.”
“I definitely think so,” Moses said when asked about the signals last Saturday. “There were a lot of things we had to adjust to and like I said, it didn’t help that Coach Kiffin was our coach for like three years and knows the ins and outs of our defense.”
Following both of their comments, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin responded with his own series of tweets denying his team’s ability to have the signals.
FYI when u go as fast as we do we call our play first. Stealing signals wouldn’t help us at all because we are snapping the ball why they were still trying to just line up. #facts #ComeToTheSip @AlabamaFTBL go win the natty @OleMissFB https://t.co/6EvFe8PX4R
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) October 11, 2020
Stealing signals? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ICLFagvSM9
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 12, 2020
Kiffin knowing some signals would not be out of the ordinary since he served as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator for three seasons, but during his Monday press conference he pointed out that his offense was hitting Saban’s defense with so much tempo that knowing the signals may not have mattered.
“I love Coach (Saban) and have a lot of respect for him,” Kiffin said. “But if you understand tempo, a signal wouldn’t help us. We call a play, basically, before the last play is even over — before they mark the ball, we cal our play. Then they scramble to get a play called. They’re just trying to get their guys lined up so it wouldn’t do us any good.”
During his Monday afternoon press conference, Saban was asked once again about his comments over the matter after Kiffin and Ole Miss shared its responses. The head coach took a minute to clarify exactly what he meant by his original claim.
“I think what I was really speaking to was we were more like, I felt like we were always one play behind,” Saban said on Monday. “When I say one play behind, I mean, sometimes when you play in the NFL against Jon Montana or somebody really good, you always feel like you’re one play behind if you call this, they do the right thing against that. I think that was more sort of what I was referring to, as if they knew what we were going to do.”
Whatever Kiffin’s offense was able to do last Saturday proved to be highly effective against Alabama and Pete Golding’s defense as it racked up 647 total yards, setting a Crimson Tide school record for yards allowed.
*Get the BEST Alabama football insider information, message board access, and recruiting coverage today! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our subscriber only content!*
Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
