who is lane kiffin?

yes, it's the question on the tip of all our tongues: who is the new raiders' coach? sure, we know he's from USC, and we know he's monte kiffin's kid. but, really, who is this 31-year-old unproven, the nation's last-gasp hope, the chosen one?

in 1994, kiffin began his post-playing career as quarterbacks coach at fresno state, where he also played qb.

in 1999, he went to colorado state for a year, where he was offensive lineman coach. they went to the liberty bowl that season.

in 2000, he worked with the defense of the jacksonville jaguars. the team went 7-9 that year and had an average defense.

then, of course, he came to usc. first to work with quarterbacks and tight ends, and eventually becoming the wide recievers coach, then passing-game coordinator in '04.

when norm chow left, he and sark took over as o-coordinator.

so, for a 31-year-old, he does have a respectable 12-year background. but to really get an idea of what he can offer, let's look at usc's past season:

usc got a bad rep last season, many suggesting that their offense wasn't what it used to be. i couldn't disagree more.

a lot of people forget about the first game of the season, in arkansas, and how dominant the team was in their 50-14 ass whooping. people also forget that the team lost their senior fullback ryan powdrell in a nasty ankle-foot injury and, in effect, lost a lendale-white type force that could push up the gut for yardage.

that said, the team then handily beat a tough nebraska team, and then four pac-10 teams before losing a shootout shocker to oregon state. let's look at that game:

sc couldn't rush the ball, going only for 86. this, no doubt, was a factor in their losing. this also should worry raiders fans because they lack the same backfield tools that sc lacked this past year. how will kiffin deal with this? i don't think fargas is the answer.

als0, in as much that j.d. booy is not matt leinert, walters and co. don't have the understanding and experience that usc quarterbacks have had over the past six seasons. how quickly will kiffin be able to establish an effective offensive system that people can understand and believe in and execute? that's a lot to ask of a 31-one-year old coaching one of the oldest teams in football.

we'll see what happens on draft day.