Kiffin wants team to settle into realistic expectations

BOCA RATON — The hardest part for Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin wasn’t getting his players prepared.

No, the toughest hurdle was keeping them from succumbing to the high expectations entering this season. Kiffin should have no problem achieving that the remainder of the season, especially after a 63-14 loss to Oklahoma in the opener.

It brought the Owls back to reality in a hurry and will keep fans and media from having unrealistic expectations. “That is why when a week or two ago in an interview and someone asked, ‘Did you start too low in the rankings to be able to make the playoffs?,’ ” Kiffin recalled. “What are you thinking about discussing FAU in the playoffs? That’s ridiculous.”

The Owls spent all offseason listening to how they were expected to be this year’s media darling. Last year’s success played a large part, but most of it was because of Kiffin’s popularity. His presence still draws interest from fan bases at his previous stops that include Alabama, Tennessee and the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.

While many are expecting an immediate turnaround, Kiffin said last Saturday’s performance is a reminder of how far the Owls’ program still has to go.

“So, I have tried to manage throughout the offseason and leading up to this game the reality of where this program was a year ago and that you don’t just turn into a top-five program in the country in one year,” Kiffin said.

Tackling a concern

Kiffin was so disappointed with the Owls’ tackling that he is having live practices this week in preparation for Saturday’s home opener against Air Force.

“We are going to have to tackle, which normally you don’t want to have to do inseason in practice,” Kiffin said. “All the schemes aren’t going to matter in diagrams, coverages and workouts, none of that is going to matter if you don’t start tackling.”

After watching the film from the Sooners’ loss, Kiffin said he was embarrassed by the performance. It was especially disappointing considering the Owls returned 10 starters on defense.

“We have to do something … it was horrible,” Kiffin said. “We didn’t tackle well at all, which was the whole game plan to hit low … We came in and did exactly what we weren’t supposed to do. We tried to shoulder tackle people and tackle up high. I thought that is about as bad a film as you can put out there. It’s a very embarrassing film (that) will be around the country.”

Still adjusting

While Kiffin was placing blame on several factors, he refused to pin any of the struggles on adjusting to so many new assistants on staff. The Owls have four firstyear coaches, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. and defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro.

“We did replace a lot of our staff, but I don’t know if that is why we performed so poorly,” Kiffin said. “We just didn’t play well. Offensively, we left a lot of points out there on the board. There were some plays there. We weren’t able to make the play, wrong read or a missed throw on some things. On defense, we just tackled horribly the whole day. On special teams, you don’t block a guy on the punt and give up seven points … Very frustrating day all around.”