Checking the temperatures in Tuscaloosa as Alabama heads into its open date.

SCORCHED EARTH

Amari Cooper. Aside from a little blip against Arkansas, the Crimson Tide’s star wide receiver has been lighting it up all season. He went to another level against Tennessee, setting a single-game school receiving record with 224 yards on 9 catches, tacking on 2 touchdowns as well. The junior put the game firmly in Alabama’s grasp early, with 155 yards and both of his scores on the Tide’s first two drives of the game. Cooper has half of the four 200-plus yard games in Alabama history this season alone.

DROPPING BOMBS

Punters tend to not get much recognition, but J. Scott deserves some love. The freshman punter is a weapon on special teams for Alabama, regularly flipping field position. He leads the NCAA in punting average, at 46.6 yards per boot, and he had another stellar day against the Volunteers. Three of Scott’s four attempts were downed inside the Tennessee 20-yard line, and he boomed a long punt of 60 yards that pinned Tennessee at their own 12-yard line early in the game.

FIRED UP

Lane Kiffin. Can you blame him? After all the hate the Alabama offensive coordinator got from Tennessee fans, having Amari Cooper break an 80-yard score on the opening play of the game had to feel good for the visor-wearing coach. There was Kiffin sprinting down the sideline alongside Cooper, although he tried to hold in a smile on the sidelines afterwards. In his first season, Kiffin has Alabama third in the SEC with more than 500 yards of total offense per game.

COLD FACTS

The Crimson Tide probably spent much of their week preparing for Justin Worley and backup Nathan Peterman leading up to the Tennessee game, so it’s likely they weren’t prepared for inexperienced sophomore Joshua Dobbs to play much. He took advantage of that running 19 times for 75 yards, including one 30 yard scamper. That’s good preparation for when Alabama has to face Heisman candidate Dak Prescott in his deadly wheels in a few weeks, but also a reminder that the Tide aren’t ready for that challenge yet.