Student fans of the South Carolina Gamecocks thought they were within seconds an upset over Alabama. They almost were. South Carolina held the Tide to one offensive touchdown until just over two minutes before the end of the game. That’s when Alabama made a touchdown, a defensive takeaway, and a second score to chalk up the win.
Alabama's motto this season has been “unbreakable.” The number four Crimson Tide proved to be just that. Ty Simpson threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns and DeShawn Jones returned an interception 18 yards for a score for the Crimson Tide.
“We knew that this was going to be a dogfight coming in, right?” Simpson said. “... But there was not one ounce of nonbelief, right? We knew what we had to do and we made sure that we were going to be unbreakable with everything that we had — and that’s what we did.”
South Carolina held the Tide to one offensive touchdown until just over two minutes before the end of the game. That’s when Alabama made a touchdown, a defensive takeaway, and a second score to beat South Carolina Twenty nine to twenty two. Head coach Kalen DeBoer says the team practices for times like these.
“We've run at a time or two here and there over the last five, six years. And so just guys practice it, and you practice it every Thursday, every Friday, you're talking through it for those moments,” he said.
The Tide trailed 22-14 late in the fourth quarter, but drove 79 yards on 14 plays with Simpson finding Bernard for a 4-yard touchdown pass in the left corner of the end zone with 2:16 to play. Simpson then connected with Josh Cuevas, who caught a TD pass earlier in the game, for the 2-point conversion to tie the game. Head coach Kalen DeBoer talked about that clutch play that was needed just to tie the game
"I just think the investment of time that we put in talking about the big plays and a mindset that you just got to keep swinging. You got to line up defensively and play another play. You got to forget about the last one," DeBoer said.
On the ensuing drive, linebacker Deontae Lawson stripped Sellers, giving Simpson and the offense the ball at the South Carolina 38.
“I had two hands on it because I knew they were trying to strip it,” Sellers said. “I was thinking the ref was going to blow the whistle and that is when I started to fall down. When I was going to catch myself that's when I took my other hand off it and I guess that is when he got under the ball.”
On a third-and-10 play, Bernard took a direct snap and raced around right end and stayed inbounds for a 25-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left. South Carolina tried to let Bernard score after he'd picked up the first down. Bernard could have slid down near the goal line and let the clock run down to set up the go-ahead field goal.
Instead, he happily took the six points.
“Coach gave me the green light to go ahead and score, so that's what I did,” Bernard said.
Alabama took a 7-3 lead in the second quarter after Sellers' pass in the flat bounced off the hands of running back Rahsul Faison and into the arms of Jones, who raced down the left sideline for a score.
Mistakes haunted the Gamecocks in the first half. Along with the mishandled catch by Faison, a holding penalty negated a 15-yard TD run by Sellers. Another holding call ended a potential touchdown drive and the Gamecocks also missed a field goal. Despite the errors, South Carolina only trailed 14-6 at halftime.
The Gamecocks scored the next 16 points. Nyck Harbor got behind the defense and hauled in a 54-yard touchdown strike, William Joyce connected on a 47-yard field goal and Sellers scored on a 10-yard run after the Gamecocks recovered a punt deep in Alabama territory after it hit a Tide player in the back of the leg.
Down by 8 on the road, Alabama never flinched. Coach Kalen DeBoer praised his team's resilience and said this type of a win can pay dividends down the road.
“If you play with confidence, you give yourself a chance,” DeBoer said.
For South Carolina, which started the season ranked No. 13, it was yet another agonizing defeat.
“It’s hard. As the coach, I feel like I’m letting a lot of people down," South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said. “I know today let a lot of people down. I wish I had something to say to make it better.”
The Crimson Tide surprisingly struggled to run the ball against the Gamecocks, gaining 72 yards on 23 carries — most of those coming in the fourth quarter. “It’s hard to win the SEC, hard to win on the road,” Simpson said. “It’s such a great resilient win by the guys, man. Just super proud of the team.”
The Gamecocks had allowed 22 sacks coming into the game, the most in the country. Their offensive line had some costly penalties, but overall played better than in recent games.
