Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin said he believes if he'd still been offensive coordinator for Alabama for last season's national championship game, the Tide would have beat Clemson for the College Football Playoff title.
Kiffin, the Tide's offensive coordinator for three seasons, was hired as Florida Atlantic coach on Dec. 12. He was the offensive play-caller for Alabama in the CFP semifinal against Washington and was expected to stay through the title game.
But a week before the final, Alabama coach Nick Saban announced that Kiffin was out immediately. Saban named Steve Sarkisian to replace Kiffin as Bama's offensive coordinator and play-caller for the title game.