Going into the game, many fans believed that this game would end up being one of the easier ones for the Alabama Tide, but they were in for a very rude awakening. The Tide barely escaped Williams-Brice Stadium with the victory. The Gamecocks started off on offense and drove down the field on a drive that consisted of 15-plays to get a field goal.
Bama’s offense would then go three and out, and the defense decided to take scoring the team’s first points into their own hands. After LaNorris Sellers’s pass is bobbled and picked off by DaShawn Jones who would then return it for a pick six. Both teams would proceed to go three and out. South Carolina would attempt a 47-yard field goal but would end up missing it.
Photo Cred: Alabama
Bama’s offensive struggles would continue as Ty Simpson would end up getting stripped on a sack by Vicari Swain that would be recovered by the Gamecocks and turn into a field goal on the other end, bringing the score to 7-6. Bama’s offense would then put together a drive that saw running back Daniel Hill catch a pass along the sideline that was good for 41 yards. Bama would finish the drive with a touchdown after Simpson hit tight end Josh Cuevas with a pass on 4th down. The half would end with the Tide winning 14-6.
Coming out of halftime, the tide changed drastically for Alabama. On their first drive they would turn the ball over after Ryan Williams dropped a pass on 4th down, leading directly to a one play 54-yard passing touchdown from the Gamecock’s offense after Sellers found receiver Nyck Harbor behind the Tide’s coverage. Bama’s offense would continue to struggle after the Gamecocks would continue to force three and outs. South Carolina would then put together an 11-play drive that would end in a field goal and result in them taking the lead 15-14.
Bama would go on to punt again, and their misfortunes would continue to the special teams after South Carolina is forced to punt on their next drive. The punt takes an odd bounce and hits a Bama player on the leg and would be recovered by the Gamecocks. This mistake would lead to a touchdown for the Gamecocks after Sellers would run in for a touchdown, making it an 8-point game.
At this point ESPN gave the Tide an 18% chance of winning the game, the same percentage that South Carolina had to win going into the game. The Bama offense would then put together an eight-minute drive that would end after Simpson threw a pass to Germie Bernard for the touchdown and would run a trick play that freed up Cuevas for the two-point conversion, this tied the score at 22-22.
South Carolina would receive the ball with about two minutes left on the clock looking to drive down the field and score a late game score to take the lead and upset the Tide, but the Tide defense had other plans. On a designed QB run, Sellers is wrapped up by Tim Keenan III and Deontae Lawson would make the heads up play and strip Sellers of the football, and it would end up being recovered by the Tide. Bama would then drain some of the clock and find themselves facing a 3rd and 10, they would then run a direct snap to Bernard who would run past the defense for a late touchdown bringing the lead up to 29-22 and ending the game.
During Kalen DeBoer’s opening statement in the post-game interview, he brought up what it took his team to win this game when he said, “the story of the game is resiliency, doesn’t matter how you win and it ain’t going to be pretty all the time, especially when you go on the road in a SEC game.”
The Tide will have a bye next week and prepare to take on the LSU Tigers at home. They hope to have a game like the matchup that took place last year when the Tide went into Death Valley and slayed the Tigers in front of their home crowd in a game that ended with a score of 42-13.
