Heartbreak! South Carolina pushes Alabama to the limit, falls in wild battle in Tuscaloosa

South Carolina headed into Saturday’s game against Alabama entering a “Groundhog Day”-like scenario.

The week before, the Gamecocks took on an Ole Miss squad that fell to an unranked opponent in its previous matchup. The same could be said for the Crimson Tide, which lost to Vanderbilt last weekend.

South Carolina’s Week 7 contest bore some resemblance to its game against Ole Miss, but those similarities stopped when the Gamecocks fell behind 14-0. The Gamecocks would eventually gain the lead in what would end up being one of the team’s wildest finishes in recent memory.

But that re-written history would not lead South Carolina to a different result – in the win-loss column, at least. After suffering a 24-point loss to the Rebels one week ago, the Gamecocks met a similar fate in a 27-25 defeat to the Crimson Tide.

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“We competed our butts off, all three phases. We expected to win this game (but) came up a little bit short in the end,” Shane Beamer said. “Going to halftime, we had momentum. Then, they came back out and made more plays than we did in the second half.”

Alabama (5-1, 2-1 SEC) could not have asked for a better start to its game, as the Crimson Tide marched 75 down the field and scored a touchdown within four minutes. Much of that production came from Jalen Milroe, who showcased his arm (3-of-3 passing for 63 yards) and legs on Alabama’s opening possession. His first rushing attempt converted an early fourth-down play, and his second was a one-yard touchdown run.

After the Crimson Tide’s scoring drive, South Carolina (3-3, 1-3 SEC) started singing the similar tune it had all season: with self-inflicted mistakes.

The Gamecocks committed theses errors in a number of different ways. LaNorris Sellers forced himself down short of the line to gain on a manageable third-down play on the team’s first offensive drive. Later in the first quarter, Maurice Brown II roughed the punter after a three-and-out, giving Alabama a new set of downs.

South Carolina’s self-inflicted wounds would later prevent it from scoring its first points of the game in the second quarter. After a lengthy drive, Sellers took an eight-yard sack facing third down at the Crimson Tide’s 27-yard line. The Gamecocks would decide to go for it on fourth down, only to fall short of the line to gain.

None of these mistakes ended up costing the Gamecocks, though, as South Carolina’s defense made multiple impressive plays to keep Alabama’s offense at bay. Both Kyle Kennard and Demetrius Knight came up with third-down sacks before the Crimson Tide added points to the scoreboard.

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“We talked about when Milroe scrambles, we’ve got to stay locked onto our guys,” Beamer said. “One of the keys of the game for us was to affect the quarterback. And we were.”

Alabama’s offense would not stay silent for long. The Crimson Tide’s lead eventually grew to 14 points on a two-yard touchdown run from Justice Haynes.

But shortly before both teams reached the halftime break, momentum would drastically shift in South Carolina’s favor. And that momentum would stay with the Gamecocks until it gained control of the lead.

With less than two minutes remaining in the half, South Carolina faced yet another fourth down. The Gamecocks lined up 36 yards from Alabama’s end zone looking to gain at least nine. Mazeo Bennett, however, had other plans. Sellers found the freshman wide receiver in the end zone, making the score 14-7.

South Carolina’s defense would come up with another big play after the ensuing punt. Kennard forced Milroe into committing an intentional grounding penalty in his own end zone, resulting in a safety.

A LaNorris Sellers fumble wasn’t even enough for Alabama to rip control of the game from the Gamecocks’ grasp. Three plays later, Jalon Kilgore intercepted a pass from Milroe and returned it 31 yards. The turnover would result in points for South Carolina, as Alex Herrera‘s 37-yard field goal cut the Crimson Tide’s lead to two points as time expired.

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Then came South Carolina’s lengthiest and gutsiest drive of the 2024 season. The Gamecocks kicked off the second half with a 16-play, 85 yard possession that lasted eight minutes and 35 seconds. By the end of that drive, South Carolina gained a 19-14 lead on a one-yard run from Rocket Sanders.

“We use a term in our program – that we are ‘fireproof’ and we can withstand it. We talked about it at the hotel early this morning before we came over here – that we needed to have great poise,” Beamer said. “There was some crazy stuff, but our guys just kept hanging in there.”

The Gamecocks’ defense stopped Alabama from scoring on its next drive, but the home team continued pressing for points. The Crimson Tide eventually found themselves deep in South Carolina territory at the start of the fourth quarter. But Milroe would commit another costly turnover, finding O’Donnell Fortune, instead of one of his own wide receivers, in the end zone.

The Gamecocks could not capitalize on the takeaway, though, as Alabama’s defense forced another shortly afterwards. Crimson Tide defensive lineman LT Overton recovered a fumble from Sellers, giving his team’s offense possession of the ball in plus territory.

Milroe capped off Alabama’s short drive with a seven-yard rushing score to give it a 20-19 advantage. The Crimson Tide elected to go for a two-point conversion, but Vicari Swain batted away Milroe’s attempted pass before it could find an Alabama pass-catcher.

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South Carolina was given an opportunity to re-take the lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks marched from their 25-yard line to Alabama’s 33-yard line. But Herrera failed to convert on a 51-yard field goal attempt.

The Crimson Tide would maintain possession of the ball until they increased their lead to eight points after a 34-yard touchdown pass from Milroe to Germie Bernard, who could have sealed the win by kneeling the ball short of the end zone. In doing so, Bernard provided South Carolina another chance to get back into the game.

And the Gamecocks would take full advantage of Bernard’s miscue. South Carolina marched down the field and found the end zone on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Nyck Harbor. The Gamecocks failed to convert on the ensuing two-point conversion, which prevented them from tying the game.

All hope was not lost for South Carolina though, as it recovered an onside kick. But that hope was short lived – the Gamecocks’ dreams of an upset were dashed after a pass from Sellers was intercepted by Domani Jackson in the end zone.

“Life in this conference is really, really hard. And there’s really good teams you play week in, week out,” Beamer said. “It says that we have a good team that competes their asses off, and that’s what we did today.”

Next up

South Carolina will head back out on the road to take on Oklahoma for the first time in program history on Oct. 19. The kickoff time and television channel for the game is yet to be determined. It could kick off at either noon or 12:45 p.m. and air on either ESPN or the SEC Network.

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