Give South Carolina credit. I had wondered coming into the game how much juice they’d have left, having lost two straight and four overall. There isn’t much left for them to play for other than pride,
but they showed some last night and had Alabama squarely on the ropes. It was their Homecoming game so perhaps that helped, but in any case they put up a fight.
Alabama did as well, and ended up pulling out a victory with some late game heroics. A few impressions:
Failure to put South Carolina away in the Middle Eight almost cost them.
Before South Carolina had Alabama on the ropes, the Tide had a chance to put the Gamecocks away. Up 14-6, Justin Jefferson sacked QB LaNorris Sellers on first down to get South Carolina behind the chains deep in their own end, Kalen DeBoer used his timeouts, and Alabama got the ball on their own 35 with about 90 seconds left. They moved the ball into South Carolina territory, but fizzled out. Ty Simpson, for the second straight week, allowed precious seconds to tick off the clock just before the half by throwing a rainbow pass. Against Tennessee it was a throwaway, this time a first down deep shot with 20 seconds left from the Gamecocks’ 41 yard line. Fourteen seconds elapsed, and the half expired two plays later. Alabama was set to get the ball first after the half, so a field goal there to go up two scores would have been huge.
After the half, Alabama again advanced the ball across midfield but turned the ball over on downs thanks to a Ryan Williams drop. Had that ball been caught, it’s very likely that the Tide would have found points on that possession as well. As a result, what could have been a commanding lead left Alabama up by only eight and South Carolina in good field position. Sellers took advantage, immediately finding Nyck Harbor for a 54 yard touchdown on his first snap of the half. This Alabama team is resilient, but this isn’t the first time that a killer instinct seemed to be lacking.
Road Bama showed up again, but it looked a bit different this time.
Last night’s game isn’t going to assuage any fears that Road Bama is still hiding in the shadows, but it looked a bit different. The team was focused and hustling from the jump, there were just a few lapses in execution. Ty was legitimately bad for much of the game. He averaged only 5.9 yards per pass and, while South Carolina was certainly active in putting some pressure on him, he’d have been in the 9-10 range with just a bit more accuracy on a couple of throws. He missed Germie Bernard on a deep over that would have almost assuredly been a touchdown, and committed a Cardinal sin in overthrewing two deep balls with single coverage. There were some great plays to be sure, but the bad outweighed the good until the very end.
There was the aforementioned drop by Williams, the late hit by Yhonzae Pierre, the brain fart on the muffed punt. Frankly, the fact that they still won the game despite giving the home team so many additional opportunities says something about them. Fortunately South Carolina has been mistake prone all season and committed two critical turnovers of their own that led to 14 of Alabama’s points.
This team continues to be resilient, and leadership is the key.
The veteran leadership showed out last night. Ty was able to put the struggles for most of the game out of his mind, and put on yet another clinic with the game on the line. The third down dart to Germie Bernard to open the game tying drive was huge, and he finished off that drive with six consecutive completions including the TD to Bernard. He then hit Josh Cuevas for the two point conversion.
This is Ty’s team and his attitude is contagious, but the other senior leadership showed out as well. Bernard scored the tying and winning touchdowns after converting the critical third down mentioned above. Justin Jefferson played with his hair on fire. Deontae Lawson and Tim Keenan III combined for the game changing turnover that set up the clincher. This team doesn’t wilt because the leadership won’t allow it, and that’s refreshing to see.
As the run game continues to struggle, Daniel Hill’s role is likely to grow.
Alabama still can’t get any sort of consistent run game going. They had a couple of decent gains last night, but running backs managed only 36 yards on 13 carries in the game. In an interesting development, Kevin Riley didn’t get a single touch as Daniel Hill ran 1A to Jam Miller. Hill did a smidge better running the ball than Miller, but 3.3 a carry isn’t going to move the needle. He did, however, lead Alabama in receiving yards with 76 on four catches.
Hill’s prowess in the passing game and ability to shake off tackles should lead to even more playing time. His skillset seems to be just what this team needs from the position. He is a load to bring down in the open field.
The run defense was much better overall, but South Carolina isn’t a great barometer.
South Carolina has run the ball this season about as well as Alabama has, so limiting them isn’t necessarily a huge accomplishment. LaNorris Sellers found more success on the ground last night than he has in most games this season. Still, the Tide held Gamecocks’ running backs to only 44 yards on 19 carries, and allowed only three yards a carry with Sellers included. There will be much tougher assignments as the season goes along, but there is some reason to be encouraged.
The bye week comes at a good time for an Alabama team that has managed to navigate a brutal schedule. Next up is LSU, who seemingly quit on Brian Kelly last night. If Alabama is able to come out firing on all cylinders after the week off, that game could get ugly. The next step in their progression is finding that killer instinct to bury teams when they’re down. Hopefully we see some of that in two weeks.
Roll Tide.
