Alabama at South Carolina

Written by Steve Janus

The No.1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide will face a top 25 school for the third straight week, as they get ready to head to Williams-Brice Stadium to take on the No.19 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. Alabama has 11 of the last 14 against South Carolina, including a 20-6 win at Alabama last year. Despite the fact that South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier has a 2-1 record against Alabama head coach Nick Saban, the oddsmakers are calling for a Crimson Tide win, as the current college football odds have Alabama favored by 7-points over South Carolina on the road.

Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC): If you weren’t convinced that the Crimson Tide were for real, there should be no more doubt after the beating Alabama put on Florida last week at home, as the Tide rolled to a 31-6 win. Alabama didn’t even allow Florida to make a game of it, as they jumped out to a 24-3 halftime lead. The Crimson Tide were very efficient against the Gators, as they only had 273 yards of total offense.Quarterback Greg McElroy had just 84 yards passing, but Alabama got a huge play out of wide out Marquis Maze, as he connected on a 19 yard pass to Michael Williams out of the wildcat formation. Mark Ingram provided just 47 yards, but had two big touchdowns in the win. Trent Richardson led the Tide with 63 yards on 10 carries.

While the defense has looked great this season, allowing just 9 points a game, they did struggle a bit on the road against Arkansas a couple of weeks ago, giving up 20 points. I think if Alabama can hold the Gamecocks under 20 points this week, they will easily win this game, but if the defense struggles and lets South Carolina in the game early, this could end up being a very tough game for the top ranked team.

South Carolina (3-1, 1-1 SEC): One thing is for sure, the Gamecocks stand absolutely no chance of beating the Crimson Tide this week if they play like they did against Auburn. South Carolina turned the ball over four times and allowed 334 yards rushing. Last year they gave up 246 yards to Ingram, and another performance like that and this will turn into a blowout by Alabama.

The Gamecocks are going to need a big time performance out of quarterback Stephen Garcia, as freshman running back Marcus Lattimore is likely going to have a hard time getting much of anything going on the ground against the front seven of Alabama. Garcia played extremely well last week for the Gamecocks, as he completed 15 of 21 passes for 235 yards and three scores. Garcia will be looking early and often for wide out Alshon Jeffery, who caught eight passes for 192 yards and two scores. Jeffery has been a stud for South Carolina all season, as his lowest receiving total all season is 97 yards.

Looking at the Odds: As hard as it is to win on the road in the SEC, I just can’t justify taking South Carolina in this game, as Alabama is simply too good for it to even matter. If Alabama takes away Jeffery, the Gamecocks are going to really struggle to move the football, as the next best receiver has just 12 catches all season. I also don’t see how the Gamecocks stop the Crimson Tide rushing attack in this one, as Ingram and Richardson will likely combine for over 300 yards in this game. My final score prediction is Alabama 31, South Carolina 16.

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