Amari Cooper celebrates after scoring on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Blake Sims in the third quarter Saturday night against Auburn. (Getty)
Amari Cooper has looked like a man playing against boys all season. The Alabama wideout is the biggest offensive weapon for the top-ranked Crimson Tide and is a shoo-in to be one of the first players taken in next spring’s NFL Draft.
Most impressive of all, though, is that Cooper saved the best performance of his career for Bama’s biggest game of the season, torching the Auburn defense Saturday night in the Iron Bowl, in which the Tide rallied from a halftime deficit for a 55-44 win.
Cooper, who finished with 13 catches for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns, set a handful of records as the Crimson Tide lit up the scoreboard while also moving into second place on the single-season SEC receiving yards list.
Amari Cooper has 201 receiving yards today, the most by any player in Iron Bowl history.
Amari Cooper ties his own school record for receiving yards in a game with 224 after his last catch of nine yards #AUBvsBAMA #Coooop
On one of Cooper’s three touchdown catches, he was so wide open that offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin raised his arms in celebration before quarterback Blake Sims even released the ball.
When Cooper wasn’t burning defensive backs in the open field, he was busy making spectacular catches in the end zone like this one:
Cooper’s heroics took what looked like a dicy performance by the Crimson Tide and turned it into a blowout that will send Bama into next week’s SEC Championship game with a ton of momentum and with its status as the top-ranked team in the country unquestioned.
