This may sound a little crazy, but if the University of Alabama football team somehow survives the next month and gets invited to play in the inaugural playoff it may want to send Tennessee a thank-you note.

Granted, Saturday’s 34-20 victory was physical and the Volunteers served notice that they won’t be easy to beat down the road, but they also did the Crimson Tide a huge favor by playing quarterback Joshua Dobbs.

Going into the game no one knew for sure if senior quarterback Justin Worley would play due to a shoulder injury. Redshirt Nathan Peterman started and only played a couple of series, but then Dobbs came in and gave the Crimson Tide some trouble.

In his first game action of the season, as UT coaches were hoping to redshirt the second-year quarterback, Dobbs completed 19 of 32 passes for 192 yards with two touchdowns and tallied 75 rushing yards.

“(He) really did a good job in the game,” Coach Nick Saban said. “His athleticism gave us some problems, had trouble containing him a few times. They did a nice job with some of the quarterback runs they had built into their offense which were a problem for us.”

So how did UT do Alabama favor? Simple, Dobbs is exactly the kind of quarterback the Crimson Tide will see the rest of the regular season and now coaches and players have the bye week to make adjustments.

Additionally, considering that Tennessee outgained Alabama 336-216 over the final three quarters (when the Tide nearly had a 3-to-1 run-to-pass ratio), Saban should have no trouble getting his players’ attention this week.

“We didn’t play a complete game,” he said.

“We didn’t sustain it throughout the game and that’s something that we really, really want to do. If you’re going to be a dangerous team, if you’re going to be a dominant team, you’ve got to be able to sustain for 60 minutes in the game and we were not able to do that.”

  • Play of the game: Alabama’s first offensive snap resulted in an 80-yard run-and-catch touchdown for junior wide receiver Amari Cooper. Honorable mention, though, goes to senior quarterback Blake Sims for his gutsy 9-yard carry on third down to help set up Alabama’s final touchdown.
  • Player of the game: Cooper’s 224 receiving yards set the Alabama’s single-game record.
  • Hit of the game: On second-and-16 junior linebacker Reggie Ragland didn’t just drill Dobbs in the open field, but sent the ball flying with sophomore cornerback Eddie Jackson recovering the fumble. It set up Alabama’s third touchdown.
  • Statistic of the game: Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin told ESPN’s announcers that he scripts the first 16 plays. If you don’t count the three plays near the goal line that’s Alabama’s first five possessions when it tallied 297 total yards and took a 27-0 lead.
  • Did you notice? Saban slam his headset to the ground on the delay of game penalty? Also, Cooper was in the backfield on third-and-1 when senior fullback Jalston Fowler took the handoff and got the first down. Don’t be surprised if you see that again.

Here are 10 other notable things from Saturday’s game at Neyland Stadium:

1. Explosive plays: Alabama’s goal is nine per game. It had 10, although that includes Fowler’s fumble while trying to run in a touchdown.

Game leaders
Amari Cooper 4
DeAndrew White 2
Jalston Fowler 1
Derrick Henry 1
Blake Sims 1
T.J. Yeldon 1

Season leaders
Amari Cooper 24
T.J. Yeldon 16
Derrick Henry 11
DeAndrew White 7
Blake Sims 5

Game-by-game
West Virginia 12
Florida Atlantic 14
Southern Miss 14
Florida 11
Ole Miss 7
Arkansas 3
Texas A&M 13
Alabama 10

Game-by-game opponents
West Virginia 8
Florida Atlantic 1
Southern Miss 5
Florida 5
Ole Miss 4
Arkansas 7
Texas A&M 1
Tennessee 7

Season totals
Alabama: 84
Opponents: 38

2. What happened to Yeldon? The running back didn’t play in the fourth quarter, leading to speculation that he sustained an injury, but Saban didn’t mention him after the game. The last time Yeldon touched the ball was his 3-yard completion late in the third quarter, but he stayed on for another play before pulling himself. The subsequent snap sophomore Derrick Henry ran in his 28-yard touchdown (which had a nice block freshman wide receiver Cam Sims). The guess here is that Yeldon tweaked his hamstring a little on the play he fell down while trying to make a cut and coaches opted for caution. He appeared to be fine on the sideline.

3. Mistakes index: Basically, it’s a measure of miscues, but it could arguably also be an indirect indicator of maturity and discipline. The mistakes index is fumbles lost + interceptions + penalties + sacks.

Game-by-game
West Virginia 0+1+7+0 = 8
Florida Atlantic 0+0+6+1=7
Southern Miss 1+0+3+1=5
Florida 3+1+11+1=16
Ole Miss 1+1+8+1=11
Arkansas 2+0+4+2=8
Texas A&M 0+0+0+1=1
Tennessee 2+0+6+1=9

Game-by-game opponents
West Virginia 0+0+6+3 = 9
Florida Atlantic 1+0+3+3=7
Southern Miss 0+0+6+1=7
Florida 1+2+5+0=8
Ole Miss 1+0+3+2+7
Arkansas 2+1+4+4=11
Texas A&M 0+1+2+6=9
Tennessee 1+1+4+2=8

4. Injuries: Cam Robinson’s ankle injury occurred when Yeldon got stood up at the end of a 9-ayrd run and the freshman left tackle tried to help only to have Tennessee players land on the back of his leg. Sophomore cornerback Eddie Jackson took sort of a strange hit on the end of a 9-yard Tennessee run and wasn’t on the field for the rest of the Vols’ first touchdown drive. He was replaced by true freshman Tony Banks, but returned for the next series. Junior safety Landon Collins (cramp) wasn’t on the field for UT’s second touchdown drive. It wasn’t obvious when Brian Vogler sprained his knee, but one play after Henry sort of ran into him while engaged in a block the senior tight end tried to run a route only to start hopping to stay off one leg.

5. Yards after the catch: Cooper had 80 on the first play and finished, unofficially, with 125. Overall, Alabama had its best average per reception this season.

Game leaders
Amari Cooper 125
DeAndrew White 32
T.J. Yeldon 10
Total: 167

Season leaders
Amari Cooper 557
T.J. Yeldon 155
DeAndrew White 124
Kenyan Drake 102
O.J. Howard 81
Christion Jones 75
Derrick Henry 74
Chris Black 30
Jalston Fowler 30
Cam Sims 19
ArDarius Stewart 11
Robert Foster 8
Michael Nysewander 6
Ty Flournoy-Smith 2
Total: 1,267 of 2,322 (54.6 percent)

Per game
Opponent, YAC, Receptions, Average
West Virginia 116/24 = 4.83
Florida Atlantic 246/26= 9.46
Southern Miss 101/17= 5.94
Florida 246/24 =10.3
Ole Miss 117/18 = 6.5
Arkansas 101/11 = 9.2
Texas A&M 173/21 = 8.23
Tennessee 167/14 = 11.9

6. Who played: Although senior wide receiver Christion Jones was considered a scratch due to a hamstring tweak while warming up, he actually got into the game. On one of the direct snaps to Yeldon he was the wide receiver in motion for the fake handoff. Redshirt freshman Bradley Bozeman at right guard when senior Leon Brown slid over the left tackle was a little bit of a surprise, but Bozeman did warm up at both guard and center. Sophomore linebacker Reuben Foster (shoulder) made the trip but did not play.

7. Most around the ball: Defensive “touches” is found by adding together tackles, assists, sacks, passes broken up (interceptions are included in that statistic), hurries, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. After another strong showing this week, Alabama has a new season leader.

Game leaders
Reggie Ragland 12.5
Nick Perry 8
A’Shawn Robinson 7.5
Trey DePriest 6.5
Eddie Jackson 5
Cyrus Jones 5
Jarrick Williams 5
Xzavier Dickson 5

Season leaders
Reggie Ragland 70.5
Landon Collins 65
Trey DePriest 47.5
Nick Perry 41
Xzavier Dickson 39
Cyrus Jones 37

8. Third-down passing: Alabama converted 11 of 15 opportunities, but most of those were on the ground. Sims only attempted five passes on third down, completing three for 42 yards. For the season he’s 36-for-49 (73.5 percent), with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Overall, the Crimson Tide is third nationally in third-down conversions at .557 percent.

9. By the numbers: Saban is 50-0 at Alabama when the Crimson Tide is ranked in the top 10 and facing an unranked opponent. What makes that even more telling is that his overall record is 81-16 (86-16 before five wins were vacated). … Alabama had 253 total yards in the first quarter after just 277 the entire game at Arkansas. … The interception by junior Cyrus Jones was the first by an Alabama cornerback this season. … Sims leads the SEC in passer efficiency and is fourth in the nation.

10. Records chase: For the season Cooper has 71 receptions for 1,132 yards and nine touchdown catches. The Alabama single-season records are 78 and 1,133 (Julio Jones in 2010) and 11 (Cooper in 2012). Cooper’s on pace to finish the regular season with 106.5 catches, 1,698 yards and 13.5 TDs.

With 2,868 career receiving yards he needs 56 to break the Alabama record held by DJ Hall 2,923. He needs 20 more receptions to break Hall’s career mark of 194.

With his 52 rushing yards Yeldon has 2,961 career yards. He needs 605 to break Shaun Alexander career record of 3,565.