TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 3 Alabama held serve at home with a 52-12 drubbing of Southern Mississippi on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The rout of the Golden Eagles served as a tune-up for next week when the Crimson Tide welcome the Florida Gators to Tuscaloosa in the teams’ SEC opener.

Blake Sims got the start at quarterback for the third straight game, and once again, coach Nick Saban’s decision paid off. Sims completed 12 of 17 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. He added 46 rushing yards and another score.

“I’m very proud of the way the team executed and communicated today,” Sims said. “We came on the sideline and let coach (Lane) Kiffin know what we saw so he could let us know what we could do better.”

Sims’ favorite receiver, Amari Cooper, hauled in eight receptions for 135 yards and one score. Coming into the game, Cooper led the nation in receiving.

Sophomore running back Derrick Henry led the Crimson Tide (3-0) in rushing with 11 carries for 79 yards. Running back Kenyan Drake scored three times for Alabama and rushed for 59 yards on nine carries.

Southern Miss (1-2) compiled 260 total yards with 207 coming through the air and just 53 on the ground.

“We asked our guys to play physical,” Southern Miss coach Todd Monken said. “That’s a physical team. It always has been. They’re big and physical. We asked our guys to play physical, and I thought we did that.”

Southern Miss’ offense showed promise at the start of the game. The Golden Eagles moved the ball on their opening drive and scored on a field goal for a 3-0 lead.

“I thought we got off to a really slow start today,” Saban said. “We didn’t have very much intensity to start the game. Don’t quite know why. We had a tough, good week of practice. But it just seemed like the longer we waited to play today, the more casual everybody got.”

On Alabama’s first drive, Sims set the tone for the day and connected with Cooper for a 22-yard touchdown.

The Eagles added another field goal late in the second quarter after a special teams mishap by Alabama gave the Golden Eagles good field position. Southern Miss kicker Corey Acosta connected from 43 yards for the half’s final score.

“This doesn’t happen in Conference USA. I can tell you that,” Monken said. “I’m proud of our guys. In the 15 years I’ve been a head coach, our guys have fought. A loss is a loss — I don’t care how you slice it. We kicked too many field goals.

Alabama took a 21-6 lead into halftime and came out for the third period and struck quickly when Sims found tight end Brian Vogler in the back of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown.

The Golden Eagles were able to move the ball, but each time the Tide’s defense grew stingy when backed into its own territory and didn’t allow a touchdown.

Alabama has now gone 10 straight quarters without allowing a touchdown.

“Defensively, I thought we played well in the game,” Saban said. “I just thought we gave up a few plays that … those are the types of plays we’re going to need to make in the future that turn out to be explosive plays that we were in position on. We need to try to make some of those plays.”

Tide backup quarterback Jake Coker led a 99-yard scoring drive early in the fourth quarter with the chunk of the yardage coming on runs.

NOTES: Coming into the game, Alabama WR Amari Cooper led the nation in receptions (25) and receiving yards (319). Cooper pushed that total to 30 catches and 391 yards in the first half. … Southern Miss OL Jerry Harris was helped off the field late in the second quarter. Harris did not return. … When leading at halftime, Alabama is 75-4 under head coach Nick Saban. …… Alabama safety Nick Perry was ejected in the third quarter for targeting. The referees reviewed the play and the call was upheld. Perry, Alabama’s starting free safety, will miss the first half against Florida.