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Alabama runs over Western Kentucky

Sep 14, 2008 - 4:00 AM TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (Ticker) -- Alabama appears ready to start its Southeastern Conference schedule.

John Parker Wilson threw two touchdowns and 16th-ranked Alabama ran all over Western Kentucky, cruising to a 41-7 triumph on Saturday.

Glen Coffee ran for 98 yards and Mark Ingram scored a pair of touchdowns for the Crimson Tide, who outgained the Hilltoppers, 281-42, on the ground.

"We dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "We made some plays. We played a lot of players and gave some guys some experience. There were a lot of positives from this game."

Alabama, which opened the season with a 34-10 thrashing of then-No. 9 Clemson before defeating Tulane a week ago, opens SEC play next week at Arkansas. It is the fifth straight year that the Crimson Tide have started 3-0.

"We talk about playing 60 minutes and we did that," Saban said. "Everything we have done to this point is getting us ready for the SEC. Hopefully, this will carry over to next week.

Wilson completed 17-of-27 passes for 215 yards with one interception and was backed by a dominant rushing attack, which accounted for 184 yards in the first half.

Alabama scored on its first four possessions to take a 24-0 lead early in the second quarter and never looked back.

Ingram opened the scoring with a 7-yard run and, after a 22-yard field goal by Leigh Tiffin, the freshman gave the home team a 17-0 bulge with a 5-yard run late in the opening quarter.

Terry Grant pushed the advantage to 24-0 with an 8-yard run with 9:51 left in the second before Wilson hit Nick Walker for a 2-yard touchdown with under two minutes left in the half after the Hilltoppers had gotten on the board.

"A bunch of guys caught the ball which is good," Wilson said. "It makes it hard on the defense when you can spread it around like that. You don't have to rely on one person. The more guys that get touches, the better we are going to do as a team."

Tiffin added his second field goal, this one from 25 yards, on the first possession of the second half and Wilson later threw a 12-yard touchdown to Julio Jones to make the score 41-7 with 4:57 remaining in the third.

The 557 total yards was the most Alabama gained since it totaled 644 against LSU in 1989.

David Wolke threw for 116 yards, completing 14-of-25 passes with one touchdown and one interception to lead Western Kentucky (1-2).