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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. _ God threw in the towel Saturday.
After the University of Alabama spent nearly three hours of gashing Florida Atlantic with both its vertical passing game led by senior Blake Sims, and its horizontal air assault with junior Jacob Coker, the season opener at Bryant-Denny Stadium was called after being suspended with 7 minutes and 53 seconds remaining due to inclement weather.
It went down as a 41-0 victory for the No. 2 Crimson Tide, although it could have been even more lopsided as Alabama (2-0) only scored three touchdowns and two field goals in eight trips to the red zone.
“I thought we went out and improved some as a team,” Coach Nick Saban said. “I think we played fast. I liked the intensity that we played with. I think that there are a lot of things that we did well, but I also think that mistakes that we made were critical.”
While most of those were on the offensive side, Alabama’s defense recorded its first shutout of the season. Benefitting from the return of senior linebacker Trey DePriest (suspension) and sophomore cornerback Eddie Jackson (knee), it allowed just 145 total yards (averaging 3.4 per play).
Without starting quarterback Jaquez Johnson (shoulder), the Owls converted just 2 of 10 third-down opportunities and they never got inside the Alabama 20. Consequently, freshman punter JK Scott never did anything more than warm up.
Meanwhile, in terms of offensive prowess the Crimson Tide was about as powerful as some of the lightning in the area. Led by junior wide receiver Amari Cooper’s 13 catches for 189 yards, which tied the program record for receptions in a single game and was fourth in yardage, Alabama had 620 total yards.
That’s the eighth-most of any game in Alabama history, and third straight 500-yard showing. Sims and Coker also combined for 416 passing yards, the second most in Crimson Tide lore behind the 484 against Auburn in 1969.
“I thought we came out and dominated,” Cooper said. “We were more consistent with everything that we did.”
With Sims starting, Alabama went sideline-to-sideline with the passing game and averaged 15 yards per play during its first 10 snaps en route to two fast touchdowns.
Sims opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run that was quickly followed by a 52-yard catch-and-go touchdown by Cooper. Alabama slowed down a little on its third possession but the result was the same, a 39-yard touchdown reception by junior running back Kenyan Drake.
“They loaded the box on us so we were (throwing) smoke screens out there and letting the receivers do their job,” senior right tackle Austin Shepherd said. “Both quarterbacks did a great job, and I was really proud of both of them.”
Coker’s debut wasn’t as smooth, but with the passing game going from vertical to horizontal he was on the field for the other 20 points, including his first touchdown pass at Alabama – 3 yards to fullback Jalston Fowler.
After overthrowing a couple of receivers the transfer from Florida State completed 15 of 24 passes for 202 yards, while Sims was 11 of 13 for 214. Both had a serious red-zone mishap that cost points, but neither had a turnover.
“It’s nice that we have the guys who can go down field and make those plays,” Coker said about throwing downfield. “Obviously today I made a few throws that weren’t very good throws down field that were still caught. It’s niece to be able to count on those guys and it was real fun being out there and sling it around a little bit. It’s been too long.”
While nine different players had receptions the top target for both was Cooper as he had half of Alabama’s 26 catches, and none of the running backs got enough handoffs to get into a groove despite collectively averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
“I feel like I played ok,” Cooper said despite having more receiving yards and total yards (209) than the entire Florida Atlantic team. “I think I could have gotten more out of my catches, you know the moves that I can make, making that guy miss.”
Actually, one position group for the Owls did have more yards, the punters, with 299 on seven attempts.
“They’re a pretty simple scheme team,” FAU safety Christian Milstead said. “They’re pretty much based off of ‘Our players are better than yours. You know what we’re going to run. Let’s see if you can stop it.’”
“They’re a great team. They do what they do on offense and there’s a reason why they win the way they do.”
After losing 55-7 last week at No. 22 Nebraska, Florida Atlantic (0-2) opened its season by traveling approximately 2,350 miles only to give up a combined 1,404 total yards and 96 points.
At least the Owls got a $1 million payday from both host schools.
“I would have liked to go back out there and finish the game, and I know our players would have liked the same thing,” Saban said. “More players probably would have had the opportunity to play. Some of the guys who were getting to play, and certainly need to play to gain experience, would have been able to finish the game.
“I think the circumstances were such that we would have had to wait a significant amount of time to be able to go back out there because of the lightning and storms. I think everybody made a good decision to just end the game.”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
