Florida Gators vs Alabama Crimson Tide Box Score on Sep 20, 2014

No. 2 Alabama 42, Florida 21: Blake Sims passed set career highs with 445 yards and four touchdowns as the host Crimson Tide overcame four turnovers to win their SEC opener.

Sims completed 23-of-33 passes and finished with the second-highest single-game passing total in school history while Amari Cooper caught 10 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns for Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC). Derrick Henry added 111 yards and a touchdown as the Crimson Tide finished with 645 yards of total offense.

Jeff Driskel threw for 93 yards on 9-of-28 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions for Florida (2-1, 1-1). The Gators finished with three turnovers and gave up the most yards in school history.

Driskel’s 14-yard touchdown run up the middle tied the game at 21 early in the third quarter before the Crimson Tide scored twice in a 5:06 span late in the period – on Henry’s 3-yard run and Jake Coker’s 4-yard pass to Cooper – after Sims left for six plays following a hard tackle on a 24-yard run. Landon Collins intercepted Driskel on the ensuing possession and Sims returned, hitting Cooper on a 6-yard TD with 10:10 to play.

Sims passed for 335 yards and three touchdowns during a wild first half featuring five turnovers, hitting Kenyan Drake for an 87-yard score on the Crimson Tide’s first snap, Cooper on a 79-yard score late in the first quarter and a 2-yard TD to Jalston Fowler with 7:19 left in the half. But Alabama lost three fumbles and two of them led to Florida touchdowns – Driskel’s 28-yarder to Valdez Showers and Keanu Neal’s 49-yard return – that put the Gators ahead 14-7 just over 5 ½ minutes into the contest.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Sims fell 39 yards short of Scott Hunter’s record of 484 passing yards (against Auburn in 1969), but Alabama featured a 400-yard passer, a 200-yard receiver and a 100-yard receiver in a single game for the first time in school history. … The Gators, who allowed 369 passing yards to Kentucky last week, have surrendered 818 yards through the air the past two weeks. … Cooper finished with the third-highest receiving-yard total in Alabama history (Julio Jones – 221 against Tennessee in 2010; David Palmer – 217 against Vanderbilt in 1993).