Alabama's Xzavier Dickson (47) pressures Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) as he passes on Oct. 25, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in SEC action.KNOXVILLE - Alabama can take its act on the road.
The No. 4 Crimson Tide, who had been so explosive offensively this season inside Bryant-Denny Stadium but so cautious and mediocre away from it, were ablaze in the early going Saturday night in their 34-20 win at Tennessee. The 1-2 punch of fifth-year senior quarterback Blake Sims and junior receiver Amari Cooper had another stellar showing, with Sims completing 14 of 24 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns.
Sims had 210 yards and the two scores in the first quarter.
"I really thought our guys were ready to go at the beginning of this game," Tide coach Nick Saban said. "We played great in the first quarter and a half and got up 27-0, and when we did, I think we relaxed a little bit. You've got to give Tennessee's guys a whole lot of credit, because they didn't flinch."
Cooper, who had 10 receptions for 201 yards in last week's 59-0 trouncing of Texas A&M, had nine catches for 224 yards against the Volunteers. The yardage set an Alabama single-game record.
The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder from Miami had five receptions for 185 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter.
Alabama racked up 253 yards in the opening quarter and finished with a healthy 469. In its most recent road game, a 14-13 escape of Arkansas on Oct. 11, Alabama managed just 227 yards.
"Our communication was better tonight," Sims said, "and we were very confident when we came into this game. We had a lot of momentum, and we wanted to prove a lot of people wrong."
The Tide stalled for much of the second quarter and had two second-half turnovers, but they were effective for much of the night on third-down opportunities. Alabama entered the game having converted 53 of 100 third downs this season and went 11-of-15 against the Vols.
Tennessee entered the game eighth in the NCAA and first in the SEC in third-down-conversion defense with a .280 percentage (30 of 107).
Alabama struck on its first play from scrimmage, when Cooper went in motion and caught a short play-action pass from Sims and raced 80 yards down the right sideline to stun the Neyland Stadium crowd of 102,455.
"I knew we were going to run that play on the first play, and when I ran out, I saw the linebacker blitz," Cooper said. "I knew it was going to be a big gain, but I didn't know that I would score."
The Tide had a couple of third downs to convert on their second possession and did so with ease, getting 13- and 21-yard over-the-middle connections from Sims to Cooper before the two hooked up for a 41-yard touchdown down the left sideline that made it 13-0.
Sims and Cooper connected for a 30-yard gain to Tennessee's 1-yard line on Alabama's third possession, which was capped by T.J. Yeldon's 1-yard run.
Alabama's second-quarter struggles carried over to the early stages of the third quarter, when freshman left tackle Cam Robinson suffered a high-ankle sprain. Robinson spent the rest of the game on crutches and was replaced by Leon Brown.
"Leon has been a good guard-tackle switch guy since he's been here," center Ryan Kelly said. "For him to go in there and for Bradley Bozeman to come in and play right guard after playing center the past two weeks -- they both did a great job for us."
Said Saban: "We think Leon is the next best left tackle, and it's always been our plan that he would be our next left tackle if something happened to Cam. He practices there each and every week."
Alabama will have its last open date of the season this week before venturing to LSU for a Nov. 8 showdown that skyrocketed in value Saturday night with No. 24 LSU's 10-7 upset of No. 3 Ole Miss inside Tiger Stadium.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.