Alabama quarterback Blake Sims (6) throws under pressure from West Virginia safety Karl Joseph (8) during the first half of the season opener in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Sims and the Tide will be playing there again Saturday in the SEC championship game.Tide, take three• 1. Alabama junior receiver Amari Cooper has 103 catches for 1,573 yards and 14 touchdowns, and he needs just 10 receptions to break the SEC single-season mark of 112 set last season by Vanderbilt's Jordan Matthews.• 2. Cooper also needs 168 yards to break the league mark of 1,740 yards set in 2001 by LSU's Josh Reed, who also was coached by Nick Saban.• 3. The Crimson Tide's chances of leading the SEC in total defense for a seventh straight season took a hit with Auburn's 630 yards last Saturday, but their average of 312.3 yards allowed per game is within reach of LSU (305.8) and Florida (311.0).
The last time the Alabama Crimson Tide played inside the Georgia Dome, they had a new offensive coordinator, a quarterback competition and a deliberate offense.
It's a much different team that will suit up Saturday afternoon against Missouri in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Alabama opened its 2014 football season in the Chick-fil-A Classic against West Virginia on Aug. 30. It was the debut for Lane Kiffin as the Crimson Tide play-caller, and he had Blake Sims making his first career start at quarterback with Jacob Coker waiting in the wings in case Sims struggled.
"That was the first game of the season, and at that point, it's your first live opponent with a new team and new guys," Alabama center Ryan Kelly said Monday. "From then on, you can see with the offense just how we communicate and finish our blocks and all those kinds of things. Playing in Atlanta is a great venue, and we're happy to go back there, but you're going to see a different offense than what you saw against West Virginia."
Alabama did not dominate the Mountaineers, prevailing 33-23 largely due to four Adam Griffith field goals, but the Crimson Tide did start to set the tone for a record-setting offensive year. Sims completed 24 of 33 passes for 250 yards, with Amari Cooper immediately becoming his favorite target with 12 receptions for 130 yards.
Starting tailback T.J. Yeldon had 126 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, while backup Derrick Henry added 113 yards and a score on 17 rushes.
"I knew I had a lot of guys behind me who were willing to play for me," Sims said about his starting debut. "My confidence has gotten better since the West Virginia game, and now I know I need to go out there and play my game and get the ball to the playmakers and let them make plays."
The Crimson Tide had been decent but not spectacular midway through the second quarter of their opener, and that's when Kiffin decided to go with the no-huddle offense. There had been communication issues between Kiffin and Sims during the early stages of that game, and head coach Nick Saban could see that Sims needed to settle down.
By using code words and shorter words to call plays, Sims quickly became comfortable, and the quicker-paced Crimson Tide have been productive ever since.
"That's one of the biggest things that Coach Kiffin has brought to our offense," Kelly said. "Any time you can get up to the ball and get set a little faster, it gives the quarterback more options to check out of things if he doesn't like what he sees on defense. It forces the defense you're going against to play more basic fronts, and it doesn't give them a lot of time to check out of things.
"It was a little bit of an adjustment for everybody this spring, just because it was a little uncommon for us."
Alabama has amassed 5,872 yards and is averaging 489.3 yards per game, which are program records through 12 contests. The Tide capped their regular season by racking up 539 yards in Saturday night's 55-44 comeback win over Auburn.
Saban believes his team has evolved since its first trip to Atlanta, but not always in the right direction.
"I think offensively we've probably been a little more consistent in the last few ballgames," Saban said, "but defensively we haven't been quite as consistent. We would like to get back to playing a little better defensively while continuing to build on what we've been able to accomplish offensively here in the last few weeks."
The Crimson Tide were torched out of the gate for 365 passing yards by West Virginia's Clint Trickett. Some of that was due to inexperience and a lack of communication with the absence of senior inside linebacker Trey DePriest, who was suspended for the opener, but those problems subsided for most of the season.
They returned this past Saturday night, when Alabama survived a 456-yard passing performance by Auburn's Nick Marshall.
"I think we're playing more together than we were in the first game," Tide safety Nick Perry said. "We had a lot of new guys on the defense, and we definitely improved throughout the season. We know this past Saturday wasn't our best game as a unit, and we know that in order to win this game, we've got to make a lot of improvements.
"It's really all on the secondary this weekend, and we're going to practice hard."
Tide tidbits
Kiffin was named Monday among the five finalists for the Broyles Award, given annually to college football's top assistant coach, but so was Missouri defensive coordinator Dave Steckel. ... Freshman left tackle Cam Robinson (shoulder) was practicing with the first team in the portion of practice that was open to the media. ... Alabama has allowed just 11 sacks in 12 games, which leads the SEC and ranks sixth nationally.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.