Amari Cooper Has Record Perfromance at Tennessee
11/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Christopher Walsh
As far as first offensive plays in a football game, you couldn't ask for much better.
The University of Alabama had first down at its own 20, and with sophomore Chris Black late getting on the field and lining up in front of Amari Cooper on the left side the Crimson Tide had a tight formation with three wide receivers and Brian Vogler, and junior running back T.J. Yeldon the lone player in the backfield.
It was a fake toss sweep left to Yeldon with Cooper coming across like he might be taking a handoff for an end-around, only to break out into open space as the quarterback rolled to his right. At a full sprint the Tennessee linebackers didn't have a prayer.
"I knew that we were going to run that first play," Cooper said. "When I ran out I think I saw the linebacker blitz and I knew it would be a big gain, but I didn't quite know that I would score."
With Blake Sims hitting him in stride and both DeAndrew White and Black both taking out defensive backs all that was left was safety Brian Randolph diving in vain, unable to prevent the 80-yard touchdown.
Well, that and the white streak along the sideline, offensive coordinator Lake Kiffin racing along with his star receiver for a while.
"He said that he almost beat me to the touchdown," Cooper said with a laugh after the 34-20 victory as No. 4 Alabama notched its eight straight win in the "Third Saturday in October" rivalry.
"I didn't see it myself," Sims said. "I was too busy running myself, I was so excited."
While the touchdown gave the Crimson Tide an early lead and silenced the home fans at Neyland Stadium, it also caused numerous people in the press box to reach for their copy of the Alabama record book - which for many is showing serious signs of wear and tear due to Cooper's assault this season.
With his third reception in the game, Cooper notched his sixth 100-yard receiving game of the season, and 13th of his career. That equaled DJ Hall's mark from 2004-07.
The second touchdown, this time 41 yards, was his ninth of the fall and 24th of his career, adding to the record he broke earlier this season (Dennis Homan, 18, 1965-67). Cooper set the season record with 11 in 2012.
Cooper finished the first quarter with 185 receiving yards, almost certainly a record if that was monitored, and the 194 at halftime was already among the top five performances in Crimson Tide history.
He didn't stop until reaching the top, as his 14-yard catch with approximately 9:35 remaining gave him 224 yards on nine receptions, beating out the 221 Julio Jones had at Tennessee in 2010.
"I felt great out there," Cooper said. "I love playing at this stadium with all these people."
He's not alone as it was also the eighth time in nine games against Tennessee that Alabama had a 100-yard receiver. It left Volunteers coach Butch Jones using the "H" word - Heisman - not once, but twice during his postgame press conference.
"They do a great job schematically in terms of moving him around so you can't match up personnel," he said. "They do different things with him, but he runs after the catch, makes every catch. He's an elite player--very deserving to be spoken about in the Heisman Trophy race. I have a lot of respect for him as a competitor."
Incidentally, the last player to have 150 or more receiving yards against Tennessee was Cooper in 2012.
"Played great," Nick Saban said. "The guy is a great player and when he plays fast he's tough to cover.
"Obviously when you set a record that's really something significant, but at the same time I think Cooper would be the first guy to tell you his teammates did a really good job."
Actually, Cooper did narrowly miss a notable record on Saturday night, albeit barley. He'll go into the final month of the regular season with 71 receptions for 1,132 yards. Jones has the Crimson Tide single-season records with 78 for 1,133 yards.
He's also 23rd on the Southeastern Conference's all-time single-season list, and still on pace to break the league record set by another former Saban-coached player, Josh Reed at LSU, who in 2001 had 1,740 receiving yards. If Cooper maintains his 141.5 yards average that's second in the nation he'll finish the regular season with 1,698 yards, with as many as three postseason games yet to play.
White but is a distant second on the Alabama stats page with 23 catches for 243 yards, but was also the only other wide receiver to have a catch against the Vols as senior Christion Jones didn't play due to a hamstring problem is third with (11 for 154 for the season).
Consequently, 78.3 percent of Sims' 286 passing yards were to the guy wearing No. 9, and don't look for Alabama to start using Cooper as a decoy during the tough home stretch that includes games against division opponents LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn.
"That's kind of like saying you get 26 outs in the game throwing fastballs, so you should throw a changeup and then the guy hits it out of the park," Saban said. "I mean, should you play to your strengths or not? Now, we have other good players.
"D-White (DeAndrew) did a good job in the game tonight. He had some big catches and did a nice job. We need to get some other guys involved, and I think that'd be great, but as long as nine (Cooper) is getting open and as long as we're throwing him the ball, I don't think we should tell the quarterback don't throw it to him."
For his career, Cooper has 175 receptions for 2,868 yards. The Alabama records are 194 and 2,923, both by Hall (2004-07).
