No. 7 Alabama needs 4th-quarter rally, defensive stand to hold off South Carolina, avoid disaster

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe mostly struggled, but did just enough in Alabama’s win over South Carolina Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — There are SEC teams who pride themselves on their calm, relentless march to victory, and there are teams who live in chaos, every game an adventure where wins aren’t assured but madness is. Alabama used to be one of the former teams. Now, in the Kalen DeBoer-Jalen Milroe era, it’s very much the latter.

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

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

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

But wow, are there problems in T-Town.

It makes sense, the Tide’s shaken self-image. When you establish your identity on a generational expectation 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’d be pretty upsetting too.

Given a chance to redeem itself for that Vanderbilt faceplant with a home…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-12 19:24:17

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