TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – There are SEC teams that pride themselves on their calm, relentless march to victory, and there are teams that live in chaos, with every game an adventure where victories are not assured, but madness is. Alabama was one of the former teams. Now, in the Kalen DeBoer-Jalen Milroe era, it’s mostly the latter.

You’d never get anyone within a hundred miles of Tuscaloosa to admit it, but last week’s loss to Vanderbilt roiled the Tide to its core. You could see it in the secondary ticket market, which collapsed in the hours after last week. You could see it Saturday in the empty seats all over the upper reaches of Bryant-Denny Stadium. And you could see it in the final 97 seconds of the first half, where the Tide defense completely fell apart, allowing 12 points – on three separate possessions – to the visiting South Carolina Gamecocks.

Yes, Alabama won, in a very unconvincing 27-25 victory after intercepting South Carolina in the final seconds on a potential game-winning drive.

The Gamecocks were stopped in the final minute on a potential two-point tying goal, and they got another shot in when they recovered the ensuing onside kick. But Domani Jackson picked off South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers in the final seconds to save the day for the Tide.

And wow, is there trouble in T-Town?

It makes sense, the Tide’s now shaken self-image. When you establish your identity based on generational expectations of excellence, you’re not exactly built to handle the sledgehammer to the heart of a loss to Vanderbilt. If the sun rose blue in the west, that would also be quite disturbing.

The Tide met last Sunday to discuss what DeBoer called “the truth” of what happened against Vanderbilt. But whatever Alabama learned from that meeting, it still wasn’t good enough to beat South Carolina, a 21.5-point underdog entering Saturday.

Given the chance to redeem themselves for that Vanderbilt faceplant with a home game against SC, Alabama, again inexplicably, maddeningly fell far short of expectations. Instead, the Tide did a ton to cement the idea that the crew that hung straight on Georgia was the aberration, and the team that ran against the Commodores is a lot closer to the real Tide of 2024.

Alabama took the opening kickoff Saturday and marched 75 yards into the end zone in four minutes, and for a moment the Crimson Tide’s fortunes seemed to have returned in the expected direction. When the Tide took a 14-0 lead with 4:38 to go in the first half, it wasn’t pretty, but hey, at least it was a two-possession lead, something the Tide never managed against Vanderbilt.

But then came the final 1:37 of the half, 97 seconds that defined this year’s Tide program and likely exploded Alabama QB Jalen Milroe’s Heisman hopes. First, Alabama’s defense suffered another stunning defensive error, allowing Gamecock receiver Mazeo Bennett Jr. was able to get wide open in the end zone on a fourth and nine. That brought the lead back to 14-7.

On the ensuing possession, Milroe, under pressure, intentionally hit the ball on the ground, resulting in a safety. Alabama forced South Carolina to punt, but Milroe then threw the first of his two interceptions. The clock appeared to be running, but officials put back a second on the timer … and that’s never good news for Alabama. South Carolina kicked a field goal to close out the half and draw within 14-12.

The Gamecocks kept the rhythm going in the third, putting together a monstrous 16-play, 85-yard, 8.5-minute drive that ended in a go-ahead touchdown. The stunned look of what the hell is going on hung thick over Bryant-Denny Stadium, and when Milroe threw an interception in the end zone on the Tide’s next possession, disbelief turned to fatalism.

But this is the Alabama of 2024, where nothing goes as expected. On the next play, South Carolina’s Sellers fumbled the ball away, and Alabama turned it into a touchdown to regain the lead, 20-19, in just 1:23.

Milroe found some redemption by running for that go-ahead 7-yard TD, and later throwing a late, crucial 34-yard score to Germie Bernard on third-and-10 with less than two minutes left in the game to erase the lead expand to 27 meters. 19.

After the game, Bernard said there was no stopping at the goal line even though Alabama could have kneeled the game. “We just named the piece and performed the piece,” Bernard said. “They (the coaches) didn’t say anything about coming at me.”

In the event of a bad act, Bernard’s touchdown goes unpunished still wasn’t enough to salt away the game; South Carolina marched down the field in 1:11 and scored again on a toe-tap touchdown in Nyck Harbor:

…but unfortunately for South Carolina, Sellers’ two-point conversion attempt floated well above the hands of his receivers. With Alabama tied at 27-25, South Carolina attempted an onside kick (and recovered), but that final act of desperation ended up in Jackson’s hands.

Alabama finished the game with 104 rushing yards on 38 carries. Milroe threw for one touchdown and rushed for two more, but also threw two momentum-killing interceptions. Sellers had the better statistical game for SC, going 23 of 31 for 238 yards, two touchdowns and that one final interception. Both teams were sloppy, with South Carolina turning the ball over four times and Alabama twice, but the mistakes only led to six and three points, respectively.

“We always talk about finding a way to win, and no matter how many times it looked like we weren’t, we did it,” DeBoer said. “A very united group that understands there is so much more we can get better at.”

“Survive and advance” is not a phrase you would often associate with the Crimson Tide, but here we are. Alabama fans can exhale for now. But they won’t breathe quickly.