TJ Yeldon's second touchdown of the night capped Alabama's dominating win over Tennessee. (Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE)
By David Purdum
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — No. 1 Alabama is on a roll and no one is even coming close to slowing it down. Certainly not struggling Tennessee.
Electric freshman receiver Amari Cooper caught two touchdowns from AJ McCarron, fueling the Crimson Tide’s 44-13 victory Saturday night at Tennessee.
McCarron finished with four touchdown passes, leading Alabama to its sixth straight win over the Volunteers. Cooper caught seven passes for 162 yards, including touchdowns of 43 and 23 yards. He had another touchdown called back by penalty.
The Crimson Tide (7-0, 4-0 SEC) have won 20 of 21 games by an average margin of 30.6 points. Each victory has come by double digits.
“It was a great win for the University of Alabama,” coach Nick Saban said. “This is still a big
rivalry for us. This is a big game to all of us.”
Kenny Bell added a 39-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter that put Alabama up 37-10 and sent orange-clad fans headed for home.
An announced attendance of 102,455 was down to predominantly crimson stragglers with nine
minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Vols quarterback Tyler Bray was on the bench and coach Derek Dooley was slumped on his crutches with his head down on the sideline.
Dooley is recovering from hip surgery, but toughed it out on the sideline after coaching from
the press box last week at Mississippi State. He’ll have to face more questions about his job
security in the coming weeks.
Tennessee (3-4) is now 0-4 in SEC play for the second straight season under Dooley.
“We got whipped by a great football team in just about every phase,” said Dooley, who was an
assistant on Saban’s staff at LSU. “I’m really disappointed that we didn’t execute a little better
on offense. That’s probably the thing I was a little surprised at.
“The quarterback didn’t play well. Not sure why. It’s a great defense. That’s not to take anything away from Alabama. Nobody’s really done much on them.”
Bray completed 13 of 27 passes for 184 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Saban improved to 3-0 against Dooley but praised the work his counterpart is doing with the
Vols.
“I think that Derek is doing a fantastic job,” Saban said. “They have been better and better
every year that we’ve played them. We were fortunate today that our defense played well enough to keep their high-powered offense to just 13 points.”
McCarron was 17 of 22 for 306 yards and the four touchdowns as the Crimson Tide shredded
Tennessee’s defense for 539 yards.
The Volunteers, missing injured starting running back Rajion Neal, finished with 79 yards
rushing, an average of 2.9 yards on 27 carries.
The Tide’s star-studded offensive line didn’t let anyone near McCarron, who showed no ill
effects of the bruised knee he suffered against Missouri last week. Meanwhile, Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon were consistently making Volunteers miss tackles. Yeldon and Lacy combined for 208 yards rushing.
Alabama outgained the Vols by more than 100 yards and had the ball for five more minutes in the first half.
But somehow Tennessee stayed in the game.
McCarron threw two touchdowns in the first half. He took advantage of a busted coverage in the Tennessee secondary and found a wide-open Cooper for a 23-yard touchdown to put Alabama up 7-0 early.
Tennessee got a 32-yard field goal from Michael Palardy in the first quarter, the first points
Alabama has allowed in the first quarter this season.
C.J. Mosley’s diving interception of a poorly thrown ball by Bray set up the Tide’s second
touchdown, a 1-yard run by Yeldon.
McCarron’s second touchdown pass went to tight end Michael Williams and put the Tide up 20-3 with 6:55 left before half.
Tennessee answered with a desperately needed scoring drive, highlighted by a 43-yard catch and run by Mychal Rivera and capped by A.J. Johnson’s short touchdown run.
The Tide responded with a Jeremy Shelley field goal to put Alabama up 23-10 at the half.
The win sets up a showdown against unbeaten and 12th-ranked Mississippi State next week in
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
NOTES: It was the 95th meeting between the SEC rivals. … An official from the Gator Bowl made the rounds in the press box before the game, noting that traditional New Year’s Day bowl have a noon kickoff this season. … Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was honored before the game for his upcoming induction into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. … Alabama safety Vinnie Sunseri’s father is Tennessee defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri.
