Alabama needed a rebound after last week’s loss to Vanderbilt. They secured a 27-25 victory, but whether this marks a recovery is up for debate.

The game started quite well. Alabama got the ball first and marched quite easily to take a 7-0 lead on a Jalen Milroe TD run. The defense was bending but not breaking, and the offense continued to struggle against a tough South Carolina front led by DE Kyle Kennard, who lived in the backfield. Alabama managed to put together a second drive to go up 14-0, and all seemed well.

Unfortunately, the last few minutes of the first half were an unmitigated disaster.

Domani Jackson had left the game with a leg injury and it took a few series for his absence to be felt, but it was in a big way when freshman replacement Zay Mincey broke up his deep third assignment on 4th-and-9 with 1:37 to play. , allowing South Carolina to pull within 14-7 on a wide-open 36-yard TD pass.

Jalen Milroe then made perhaps the stupidest decision of his career on the very first play. Caleb Odom was flagged for a personal foul putting the ball on the Alabama 12. Milroe dropped back to pass and, seeing Kennard in his face, ran backward into the end zone before knocking the ball to the ground for a safety.

Alabama’s defense was able to hold on by forcing a fumble at midfield, but Milroe was immediately sacked twice and set up on third and 19 at the Alabama 38. This is where Kalen DeBoer makes the most stupid call his Alabama career to this point, inexplicably calling a timeout. with 11 seconds left when South Carolina was content to let the clock run out.

Milroe aggravated the situation by attempting to throw the ball through a zone on a play that essentially would not have provided an advantage had it been caught. It was picked off and a long return allowed South Carolina to kick a field goal and get within two at the half.

The Gamecocks got the ball first to start the second half, and Alabama’s defensive problems continued. A 22-yard completion on 3rd and 15 was the key play in a long touchdown drive that consumed half the quarter before Alabama ever saw the ball, and suddenly Alabama trailed 19-14.

After a point exchange, Alabama put together a solid drive and had the ball in the red zone to open the fourth. Unfortunately, Milroe made another poor decision by floating a pass into a zone for an interception in the end zone. South Carolina couldn’t handle the prosperity and immediately laid the ball casually on the turf to give the ball right back to the Tide in plus territory.

Alabama finally broke through, as Milroe followed up a dart to Ryan Wiliams between two defenders with a touchdown run on a designed drive. The two-point attempt failed and Alabama had a tenuous one-point lead at 20-19. South Carolina marched down the field again, but was mercifully flagged for holding their ground as they crossed midfield. Alabama’s defense took advantage with a stop and forced a 51-yard field goal that the South Carolina kicker pushed well wide right with just over six minutes to play.

Alabama went into clock mode by charging the entire play clock before running the ball, which they failed to do against Georgia two weeks ago. Maybe they felt better about their ability to run the ball this week, or maybe it was the fact that South Carolina only had one timeout left. At least they managed to get the clock down to two minutes before Milroe found Germie Bernard for a touchdown and a 27-19 lead.

South Carolina immediately showed why it is critical to maintain a lead rather than trying to sit on a one-score lead. An Alabama penalty (have you heard this before) on Qua Russaw for pulling a face mask brought the Gamecocks within striking distance, and 6’5” Nyck Harbor made a phenomenal catch at the front pylon to pull South Carolina within two and a half meters.

South Carolina failed to complete the two-point conversion, but the drama simply couldn’t end there. The onside kick bounced around and was eventually recovered by the Gamecocks. QB Lanorris Sellers threw up a desperation throw under duress that was picked up by Jackson, who was able to return after halftime.

The bottom line is this is just not a very good football team right now. There is talent on the squad, but also youth in some key places, and the implementation of new systems on both sides of the football has been uneven, to say the least. The pass protection had been a strong point to this day, but the Gamecocks front poorly exposed them to something else that needs to be fixed.

The team that dominated Wisconsin and the first twenty minutes of the game against Georgia is still around, but we haven’t seen them in about ten quarters now. The 3rd/4th down defense is simply baffling and the offense, Milroe in particular, needs to stop turning the football over.

Fix these two areas and we’ll be in pretty good shape, assuming pass protection gets back on track. Can they?

I guess we’ll see.

You didn’t get a lot of good football from the Tide, but there’s a lot more to see today.

Roll tide.