Alabama just recently promoted Steve Sarkisian to become the full-time offensive coordinator after Lane Kiffin was booted to go start his new coaching job at FAU. Sarkisian has called plays before as a head coach and an offensive coordinator, but the last time he was an OC was in 2008 for USC.
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SI.com spoke to some rival coaches ahead of the National Championship Game about various topics and of course Sarkisian came up. One coach had concerns over this development:
"You can['t] be rusty now. It's game one and if it takes you a quarter to figure it out, it may be too late. They're going to run the same stuff, but there's a different feel and way of doing things. From what I saw, Lane communicated a lot and checked a lot from the sideline. They didn't want to put a lot on [Hurts]."
However, there was a scout who felt differently about Sarkisian's play-calling:
"I don't think it's as big of a deal as most people. He's been there all season. He comes from the same tree. He knows the language. The plays will be the same. Can't tweak much in a week."
As long as running back Bo Scarbrough touches the ball ten times or more, fans aren't going to want to do harmful things to Sarkisian. Getting him the ball more is the only real tweak Sarkisian will have to make from the game plan and most people are going to be just fine with it.
[h/t Saturday Down South]