Alabama outlasted Ole Miss in a wild shootout of a game on Saturday night, winning 63-48 in a game that was not marked by many defensive stops. (Ole Miss forced one punt on the night. One!)
For Alabama coach Nick Saban, however, the win was soured by a horrific defensive performance, by Alabama standards. Alabama gave up 647 yards to Ole Miss, which is not something Alabama does to anyone.
Saban was piping mad. And after the game, he tossed out a possible theory for what had happened — he wondered if Ole Miss coach (and former Alabama offensive coordinator) Lane Kiffin knew Alabama’s defensive signals, and called his offensive plays specifically to beat them.
“It seemed like everything we did though they had an answer for,” Saban said, via ESPN. “I don’t know if they had our signals or what. That’s not anything unusual. It seemed like every time we called something, they had the best play that they could have against it.”
Saban never out-and-out accused Ole Miss of stealing signals, and took responsibility for the team’s struggles. (The same can’t be said for Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach, who threw his team under the bus after a loss to Kentucky.)
Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses went even farther, saying Ole Miss “definitely” had the signals.
“They had an answer for everything,” Moses said, “what we were lined up in.”
When asked why he thought scoring across the SEC was up, Kiffin replied: “Maybe COVID?”
