TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- Coming off an upset loss to Vanderbilt, No. 7 Alabama returned home to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks, looking to get back in the win column.
The Alabama offense got off to a fast start, driving 75 yards down the field that ended in a Jalen Milroe rushing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead early.
However, the offense quickly stalled out. The Alabama offense punted on its next two drives and yielded just 32 yards of offense.
Meanwhile, the Alabama defense started to bounce back after allowing 67 points over the previous six quarters of game play. The defense forced South Carolina into two punts and a failed fourth down conversion.
Alabama’s offense struck again in the second quarter off a Justice Haynes rushing touchdown that put Alabama up 14-0.
But South Carolina fought back.
With 1:43 left in the second quarter, South Carolina went for it on 4th and 9. Gamecock quarterback LaNorris Sellers found a receiver wide open in the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown to bring the deficit to 14-7.
On the ensuing Alabama drive, Jalen Milroe was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, which resulted in two points for South Carolina to bring the Alabama lead down to five.
South Carolina was not done scoring. With 11 seconds left in the first half, Milroe threw an interception and that was returned to the Alabama 19-yard line with a second left.
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer talked about the decision to run a play rather than going to halftime.
“We try to weigh the risk and reward and put trust in the guys,” DeBoer said, “I’m looking for anything like a pass interference to give us another play.”
The turnover put the Gamecocks in prime position to kick a field and cut Alabama’s lead down to 14-12 at halftime.
South Carolina started the second half where they left off. The Gamecocks started off the third quarter with a touchdown drive that lasted almost nine minutes and took a 19-14 lead. The touchdown drive was helped by multiple third down conversions, including converting a third and 15.
During the long drive, South Carolina converted all five third down attempts. In the post game press conference, DeBoer talked about South Carolina’s ability to convert five consecutive third downs.
“We can’t have that right? There’s a desire to find a way to make the play and we’ll all understand what happened on a lot of those,” DeBoer said.
But the game was far from over.
Both teams traded punts and turnovers until early in the fourth quarter when Alabama struck back. Jalen Milroe used his legs again and found the end zone to retake a 20-19 lead.
South Carolina drove down the field and threatened to score again, but missed a 51-yard field goal that gave the Crimson Tide the ball back.
Alabama took advantage of the missed field goal by extending its lead with a touchdown. On third and 10 with two minutes left in the game, Milroe hit wide receiver Germie Bernard for a 34-yard touchdown to pull out to a 27-19 lead.
However, South Carolina punched back.
Driving down the field with 48 seconds left in the game, Sellers stepped back and found South Carolina wide receiver Nyck Harbor for a 31-yard touchdown to pull within two points.
But the Alabama defense came up with one of the biggest plays of the game by holding off the Gamecocks two-point conversion attempt to keep a 27-25 lead.
On the following onside kick attempt, South Carolina managed to recover and gave themselves an opportunity to win the game.
But the Alabama defense rose to occasion on the final play. Alabama defensive back Domani Jackson picked off Sellers in the end zone to end the game.
With Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe on the sidelines during the final seconds, Milroe said that this game was a great example of the team coming together.
“It’s definitely hard when you have something like that take place, but refocusing and understanding the goal was good for us as a group,” Milroe said.
Jackson exited the game early with a right leg injury, but returned to the game later on and made the game-sealing interception. Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell praised Jackson’s ability to come back and make a big play.
“Domani [Jackson] plays with grit, he plays with toughness and he plays with great eye discipline,” Campbell said.
The Crimson Tide moved to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Next week, Alabama will travel to Knoxville to take on the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers.
