Alabama Football vs. Florida Postgame Notes
9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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ALABAMA
GENERAL NOTES
GAME CAPTAINS: Alabama's captains for today's game against Florida were Landon Collins, Amari Cooper and Blake Sims. The Crimson Tide won the coin toss and elected to defer the opening kickoff.
SERIES HISTORY: With the win, the Crimson Tide owns a 23-14 advantage in the series with the Gators and has won four straight dating back to a 32-13 win in the 2009 SEC Championship Game. Alabama has won three straight inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. UF's last win in Tuscaloosa was a 16-10 win in 1998.
SEC OPENERS: Alabama has posted a 57-21-3 (.722) on-the-field record in Southeastern Conference openers dating back to the league's inception in 1933. The Crimson Tide has won 23 straight SEC openers, dating back to the 1992 season. The streak began with a 25-8 win over Vanderbilt on Sept. 5, 1992. The 23-game winning streak includes 12 wins over Vanderbilt (1992-2001, 2006-07), six wins against Arkansas (2002, 2008-12) and one win against Kentucky (2003), Mississippi (2004), South Carolina (2005), Texas A&M (2013) and Florida (2014). The last time Alabama lost an SEC opener was Sept. 14, 1991, when Florida beat Alabama 35-0 in Gainesville. The 23-game winning streak in SEC openers is the longest streak in school history and the longest active streak in the SEC.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
HOLDING OPPONENTS UNDER 300: In head coach Nick Saban's 98-game tenure at Alabama, the Crimson Tide has limited opponents to under 300 yards of total offense 63 times, or 64.3 percent of the time. UA has held three of four opponents below 300 yards in 2014 (Florida: 200 yards, Southern Miss: 263 yards, Florida Atlantic: 145 yards).
DEFENSIVE BACKS PICK OFF DRISKEL TWICE: Alabama recorded its first interceptions of the season in Saturday's win over Florida with junior defensive backs Jabriel Washington hauling in the first and Landon Collins the second.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
SIMS THROWS FOR CAREER-HIGH 445 YARDS: Senior quarterback Blake Sims set a new career high for passing yards when he tossed for 445 yards, completing 23 of 33 passes. His 272 yards in the first quarter alone surpassed his previous career high of 250 yards for the game vs. West Virginia on Aug. 30, 2014. Sims finished the first half with 335 yards, which is second most in a half behind Greg McElroy's 339 yards on Nov. 26, 2010, against Auburn. His 445 total yards also ranks him second for most yards in a single game behind Scott Hunter's 484-yard performance against Auburn on Nov. 29, 1969.
COOPER WITH ANOTHER BIG GAME: Junior wide receiver Amari Cooper tallied a school-record six straight 100-yard receiving game finishing with 10 catches for 201 yards and three touchdowns. His 201 yards and three touchdowns were both career highs. He became the fourth player in school history to catch three touchdowns in a single game. Cooper's 43 receptions in the first four games are only two shy of his total for the entire 2013 season.
COOPER SETS ALABAMA RECORD FOR CAREER TOUCHDOWN RECEPTIONS: With his three touchdown receptions in the win over Florida, junior wide receiver Amari Cooper set the school record for touchdown receptions in a career with 20. The previous high was 18 by Dennis Homan from 1965-67.
RARE TRIFECTA: The win over Florida featured a 400-yard passer, a 200-yard receiver and a 100-yard passer. That is the only time in Alabama football history in which that trifecta has occurred. Blake Sims passed for 445 yards, Amari Cooper had 201 receiving yards and Derrick Henry rushed for 111 yards.
TOTAL OFFENSE: Alabama has gone over 500 yards of in all four games of the 2014 season, averaging 587.5 yards per game and five straight games dating back to the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma. The Tide had 495 yards against Auburn. The Crimson Tide collected 538 yards of total offense (288 rushing, 250 passing) in the win over West Virginia and 620 yards (430 passing and 190 rushing) vs. Florida Atlantic before totaling 547 against Southern Miss (333 rushing, 214 passing) and 645 yards (448 passing, 196 rushing) against Florida. The 645 yards also ranks fourth in Alabama history for most yards in a game.
TOTAL OFFENSE DIFFERENTIAL: Alabama outgained Florida by 445 total yards (645 to 200), which is the 10th-largest yardage differential in a game in Crimson Tide history.
ALABAMA SCORES ON FIRST PLAY: The Tide scored on its first play of the game, an 87-yard pass from Blake Sims to Kenyan Drake. The last time Alabama scored on its first play was when Terry Grant rushed for the 1-yard score following a 69-yard punt return from Javier Arenas against Vanderbilt on Sept. 8, 2007.
SCORING STREAK CONTINUES: With junior Kenyan Drake's 87-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter, Alabama has scored in 173 consecutive games - the longest streak in program history.
MOST YARDS THROUGH FOUR GAMES: Entering today's game UA had amassed 1,705 total yards through its first three games. Alabama added 645 yards against the Gators bringing the total to 2,350, which ranks first all-time for the most yards through four games in UA history. The previous record was 2,243 yards set from Oct. 20-Nov. 17, 1973.
FLORIDA
Team Notes
• Florida scored 21 points off turnovers, and has now outscored its opponents 41-14 off miscues this year.
• The Orange and Blue forced four Alabama turnovers, marking the Crimson Tide's most turnovers in a home game since 2011 vs. Kent State.
• The Gators forced at least three fumbles in a game for the second time this season (also: 4 vs. Eastern Michigan).
• UF scored its most points in Tuscaloosa since 1951, when the Gators scored 30 in a nine-point win.
Individual Notes
• Marcus Maye forced a fumble at the 12:09 mark in the first quarter, and Vernon Hargreaves recovered to set up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Driskel to Valdez Showers.
• Neiron Ball forced a fumble at the 9:24 mark in the first quarter, and Keanu Neal returned it 49 yards for a touchdown that gave Florida a 14-7 lead.
• Neal's scoring return was the sixth-longest in school history and the longest since Keiwan Ratliff had a 77-yard fumble return for a touchdown against FSU in 2003.
• The scoop-and-score was Florida's first since Jaye Howard had a two-yard fumble return for a touchdown vs. Kentucky on Sept. 24, 2011.
• Leon Orr forced a fumble in on Alabama's first drive of the second quarter, and Dante Fowler Jr. recovered the fumble.
• Neiron Ball tipped an Alabama pass on the opening drive of the second half, and Antonio Morrison made the interception to set up a 14-yard touchdown run by Driskel.
• Quinton Dunbar caught a 17-yard pass from Driskel on the final play of the third quarter, extending his streak of consecutive games with a reception to 31. Dunbar now owns sole possession of second place on Florida's all-time list, four games behind Ike Hilliard (35 games, 1994-97).
• Big Plays Saturday:
o Valdez Showers: 28-yard touchdown pass, first quarter
o Keanu Neal: 49-yard fumble return for a touchdown, first quarter
o Matt Jones: 11-yard run, first quarter
o Jeff Driskel: 14-yard touchdown run, third quarter
o Jeff Driskel: 18-yard run, fourth quarter
Other
• Today's attendance: 101,821
• Game Captains: SR P Kyle Christy, RJR QB Jeff Driskel, RSR OL Max Garcia, SO CB Vernon Hargreaves III
• Weather at Kickoff: 83 degrees, sunny, winds E 7 mph, humidity 53 percent
• Alabama won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half; Florida received the opening kickoff, with the Crimson Tide defending the south endzone.
