Stop Alabama's Cooper and underdog Mizzou has a real shot at SEC title
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri's defense appears well prepared to stop a traditional Alabama offense, with its stout defensive line and solid run support in the linebacking corps.
Whether the Tigers can stop this year's Crimson Tide in Saturday's SEC championship game may be another question altogether, thanks largely to the best wide receiver in Alabama history.
Amari Cooper holds every major school record and ranks second in the nation with 1,573 yards, behind only Colorado State's Rashard Higgins. Cooper's 103 catches put him 38 ahead of Missouri's Bud Sasser and everyone else in the SEC, a conference with no other 1,000-yard receivers.
"You talk about just a great player, impact player," Tigers coach Gary Pinkel says. "You see all his numbers, his numbers speak for themselves. Clutch player and really impressive to watch him as I've watched him all year long."
He'll get a closer view on Saturday, when the Tigers try to prevent Cooper from getting the 167 receiving yards he needs to break Josh Reed's single-season SEC record, set in 2001 for LSU. Cooper has already topped 200 yards four times against SEC opponents, including 13 catches for 224 yards and three touchdowns in Alabama's win over Auburn a week ago.
Pinkel compares Cooper to Jeremy Maclin, the standout receiver who broke Mizzou's school records with 1,260 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore. Both have explosive speed and the capability to break big plays at any time, along with what Pinkel calls a "very smooth" athleticism.
Missouri's secondary has taken significant steps forward since a shaky start to the season for an inexperienced group. The Tigers rank fifth in the SEC in pass efficiency defense and haven't allowed more than 240 yards passing in a game since a 31-27 loss to Indiana.
The first priority for the defensive backs should be keeping Cooper in front of them, because half of his 14 touchdowns have come from at least 35 yards out. Only Texas A&M's Josh Reynolds has scored on a pass of longer than 35 yards against the Missouri defense all season, though it has given up four touchdown receptions of 20-plus yards in the past three weeks.
"I think it's just going to be a great challenge and it's going to go back to fundamentals, and that's what we're big on here," says Aarion Penton, a sophomore cornerback who probably won't be matched up with Cooper as much as junior Kenya Dennis. "If I go throughout this whole week, just focusing on my steps, my read steps, what I need to do in certain situations, I think I'll be fine."
Asking any of Missouri's defensive backs to cover Cooper man-to-man would be a recipe for disaster, something Pinkel likely knows full well. He didn't go into details of his game plan, but it's clear the 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior will attract plenty of attention.
Even though no other Alabama players have more than 350 yards receiving, quarterback Blake Sims needs just 75 yards to match the single-season school record set by A.J. McCarron last season. Running back T.J. Yeldon can be dangerous behind another dominant offensive line, but coach Nick Saban's offense has changed to recognize Cooper as by far its biggest threat.
"We'll have a game plan, do the best we can, but certainly, they do a great job of finding ways to get him the football," Pinkel says. "... He's produced at a very high level when everybody knows they're going to throw the ball to him."
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That includes middle linebacker Michael Scherer, who says the Tigers need to make sure they're in position to tackle Cooper every time he catches the ball. Safeties Ian Simon and Braylon Webb will undoubtedly be keeping a close watch, and they probably won't mind if Cooper makes the 10 catches he needs to break former Vanderbilt receiver Jordan Matthews' SEC single-season record so long as the yards are kept to a minimum.
As incredible as he's been, Cooper hasn't been unstoppable every Saturday this season. Arkansas held him to just 22 yards on two catches in Alabama's 14-13 win, and he failed to surpass 100 yards -- let alone his average of 131 per game -- four times in conference play.
"You've got to learn from the other mistakes that teams made," Scherer says. "They run so many plays to get him open and do so many different things to get him open."
When Cooper doesn't get his yards, the Crimson Tide offense struggles. Excluding a 48-14 blowout of Football Championship Series opponent Western Carolina, Alabama averages 19 points per game with no more than 25 when Cooper doesn't break 100 yards, compared with an average of 45.1 with no fewer than 33 points when he does.
For Missouri and its middling offense, stopping Cooper will be required to pull off an upset.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
