At first glance of the box score, it would appear that Alabama gave up far too many yards to South Carolina and probably found itself in a close contest with the Gamecocks for the third year in a row.
However, most of South Carolina’s yardage was accumulated while traveling up and down the field, yet never finding paydirt. And most importantly, the Gamecocks’ first two drives yielded a missed field goal attempt that hit the right upright, and then a fourth-down trick play that fooled absolutely no one on its way to getting stuffed. If you thought running a tight end on 4th-and-2 from under center was the right call … well, you’re probably Shane Beamer.
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South Carolina came into this game in a fragile state, anyway. South Carolina started off last week’s home game against Mississippi State by building a 16-0 lead, only to be outscored 48-18 over the final three quarters. In the week that followed, head coach Shane Beamer went from being a coach that might have been a candidate for a promotion to a larger program in the upcoming offseason, to maybe going back to being someone’s special teams coordinator once his inevitable firing takes place.
Getting off to a quick start against Alabama thus became paramount, but after Malik Orsan missed his field goal attempt by literally two or three inches, and then Beamer outsmarted himself on the next drive, it was over. Alabama jumped out to a 35-3 lead, and after yielding a couple of South Carolina touchdowns in the middle of the game, finished up by scoring twice in the last 7 minutes to make a statistically even game look like a blowout – and it probably was.
For South Carolina to be outscored 83-28 over the last three quarters of the Mississippi State game and the first two of this game, that’s the kind of blitzkrieg that leaves teams vulnerable the rest of the way in. The Gamecocks host a surging Kentucky team next week before going through a four-week gauntlet where Oklahoma is the weakest team on the list, and for all the Sooners’ struggles, they still know how to play stifling defense.
Alabama, on the other hand, was all about efficiency. Where South Carolina had none, Alabama had all. After being forced to punt on its opening drive, Alabama scored touchdowns the next five times it touched the ball. The last two – a one-handed miracle grab from TE Josh Ford in the end zone, followed up by Red Morgan pick-sixing LaNorris Sellers (and it’s probably time to cue up the Leo DiCaprio “Hey, I’ve seen that one before” meme, given DaShawn Jones did the same thing to Sellers last year in Columbia) – basically snuffed out whatever fight South Carolina still had left in it. With the exception of the never-quit Sellers, who is apparently trying to set some kind of record for almost getting sacked before breaking away, the rest of the Gamecocks looked shellshocked for the majority of this game.
Alabama’s defense may have yielded 419 total yards of offense, but it gave up just 18 points, and it went back to wielding its third-down mastery, holding South Carolina to 3 successful conversions in 14 tries. Alabama also held South Carolina to below its season averages in both rushing and passing. This is what coaches call a perfect storm of performance, because there’s enough on the tape to both feel good about, and give coaches something to correct going forward.
Alabama now moves on to face the same Mississippi State team that beat South Carolina last week, except the game is in Starkville at 11 a.m. There will be cowbells galore and a kind of optimism around the Bulldog program that has been absent since at least the first couple of years under former coach Mike Leach. But if Alabama continues to attack teams as it has so far this year – offensive output of 48, 45, 50 and 49 points in successive weeks is otherworldly – and the defense can continue to minimize damage, Alabama has the chance for a very special season.
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Here’s the Five-Point Breakdown for Alabama-South Carolina:
1. Keelon Russell is fast approaching Tua territory. Having watched the arc of Russell’s first four starts in 2026, one has to wonder where the ceiling actually is. Russell was solid but green in the opener; by the time Alabama got to this game, Russell has found himself understanding the nuances of the offense and anticipating things before they actually emerge. That’s a very dangerous place for Alabama’s opponents to find themselves. For whatever fans may have complained about regarding Alabama’s running game and its effect on total offensive performance, the one thing that never should have been doubted – nor ever doubted again – is the Kalen DeBoer staff’s ability to develop quarterbacks.
Russell doesn’t look like a redshirt freshman; he made throws in this game that fifth-year seniors make, or even NFL pros. His ability to start layering his passes has led to huge plays the last two weeks, especially when throwing to tight ends. The touchdown pass last week to Kaleb Edwards, and the fourth-quarter drop in a bucket to Marshall Pritchett that set up another score were truly next-level plays.
The Pritchett pass may have been the most technically advanced pass we’ve seen from an Alabama since Tua Tagovailoa was under center, and that’s not even the biggest “wow” play from Russell on the night. That may have been the opening score to Lotzeir Brooks, a pass that almost looked like a sideline throwaway but in actuality was a 75-yard sideline crossing route that went the distance for a touchdown. Getting to this point in only four starts borders on the unbelievable.
2. The tight end group has enabled Alabama’s playcalling to go places other teams simply cannot. Alabama uses five tight ends with regularity: Josh Ford, Kaleb Edwards, Marshall Pritchett, Danny Lewis Jr. and Jay Lindsey. Of those five, three of them, maybe even four, probably find themselves on a list of the best 10-15 tight ends in the SEC. That kind of depth is ridiculous on its face, and Alabama is making full use of it. The linchpin in the group is probably Kaleb Edwards, who was a decent-but-not-special receiver in 2025 and struggled with run blocking at times. Of the current group, he’s the one guy that can stay on the field no matter what the playcall is. Alabama primarily uses Ford as a blocker, but when it goes to Ace personnel – which is more often than not lately – Ford is paired typically with Lewis if Alabama wants to go smashmouth.
Edwards and Pritchett are viewed more as downfield options, but Edwards’ run blocking has advanced to the point where he’s not only no longer a liability in the running game, but actually brings value as a blocker. We’ll see whether this continues to the extent that it has up to this point, because with Noah Rogers returning to the mix at receiver, the temptation is going to be there to use three wideouts together on more downs. Against South Carolina, the tight ends combined for 7 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. And you can ask Dylan Stewart and others how much they enjoyed being blocked by this group; Stewart bought himself a 15-yard penalty for hitting Ford in the face following an Alabama touchdown where Ford and friends planted Stewart on his butt in the end zone.
At the moment, Ryan Grubb has almost unlimited options with this group, and opponents can no longer really key on the playcall based on the personnel grouping.
3. While Alabama didn’t run the ball quite as well in this one, the OL gave Russell a clean pocket and continues to improve. First off, we’ll see how Will Sanders and Jayvin James come out of their medical evaluations Sunday, because losing either one – James, in particular – would create some uncertainty going forward. But for now, let’s discuss the fact that Alabama yielded only 2 sacks and 3 QB pressures Saturday despite the whole game plan pretty much flowing through Keelon Russell. Alabama ran effectively enough; the Crimson Tide finished with 124 yards on 30 carries and scored twice on the ground. But it was the pass protection, where Russell not only had time to work downfield, but also was afforded open scrambling lanes, that truly made the difference.
Going forward, if Sanders is out for any length of time, Mal Waldrep ought to be able to step right in, as the left guard position was mostly split between the two of them anyway. It’s interesting that JUCO signee Tyrell Miller, and not Texas transfer Nick Brooks, was tapped to replace James at right tackle after he appeared to suffer a leg injury. Miller did a nice job finishing up the game but the task will get much bigger for him next week of James can’t go. After four weeks, we can say we have a relevant amount of data to back up the notion that last year’s struggles may really have been related specifically to personnel and position coaching, rather than offensive coordination.
4. ILB Luke Metz stole the show and has proved that developing from within can work. Metz had a sequence of plays in the second half where he made highlight-reel tackles on a handful of plays, some of them consecutive, then finished it all off by recovering a fumble that killed South Carolina’s last legitimate attempt at a scoring drive. We want to focus on something else here, and that’s the preseason notion among many concerned fans that Alabama had “failed” by not signing a second potential starter at inside linebacker to go with Caleb Woodson. Sometimes, you have to trust your recruiting and development strategies, and this was one of those cases.
Alabama also has plenty of young talent behind Metz and Woodson – think Q.B. Reese, Xavier Griffin, Abduall Sanders, Duke Johnson, and the injured Cayden Jones – and while the transfer portal has made high school recruiting a bit less important, the portal hasn’t consigned it to the dustbin of history. Metz drew raves in fall camp for his aggressiveness and knowledge of the defense, and going with the young guy has apparently paid off.
5. DB is still a concern, and it’s mostly a problem at cornerback. Alabama gave up 203 passing yards – 185 of them to LaNorris Sellers – which looks pretty solid from here. But there was still the bust that allowed Nyck Harbor to score on a 41-yard pass up the sideline, although the player responsible, Dijon Lee, came back later to force the game-clenching fumble.
We’ll have to go back to the tape to see if Alabama has started to get away from playing so much man coverage, which has been blamed for some of the difficulties early in the season as Alabama’s coaches attempted to leverage the size of the Tide’s corners against smaller receivers. While it has allowed some complex coverages underneath – and may be the reason Red Morgan, in particular, has thrived – Lee, and to a much lesser extent Zabien Brown, have had issues at times getting outside receivers locked down.
At the very least, Alabama is out of the woods somewhat in regard to facing large, physical receivers like Florida State’s Duce Robinson and South Carolina’s Nyck Harbor. Mississippi State will bring some size in the form of Sanfrisco Magee, but Magee tops out at 6’2”. Tonight was improvement, but more improvement is needed.
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