TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Built by Bryant, nearly bested by Beamer.
Within the walls of the football palace known as Bryant-Denny Stadium, South Carolina football almost pulled off a program-defining upset at Alabama in a game that had so many twists and turns you might have felt like you were on a til-a-whirl. The Gamecocks scored 19 unanswered points after falling behind 14-0, taking a 19-14 lead deep into the third quarter against the staggering, shell-shocked Crimson Tide.
But in the end, it was just not quite enough. Alabama roared back with a 4th quarter touchdown, Alex Herrera missed what would have been a career-long field goal, then Bama punctuated it with a TD with under 3 minutes remaining, but South Carolina scored an impossible TD in the final minute when LaNorris Sellers hit Nyckoles Harbor for a big catch.
One play later, Sellers overthrew Vandrevius Jacobs in the end zone, but the Gamecocks weren't quite done. Beamer Ball made on final appearance to keep the dre alive.
The Gamecocks recovered the ensuing onside kick, but three plays later Sellers threw a game-endng end zone interception on a desparation heave, and the Tide escaped with a 27-25 win the natives in Tuscaloosa won’t be satisfied with, but Gamecock fans will feel like they should’ve had.
Most of the first half was business as usual, the expected bounceback from a wounded Alabama (5-1, 2-1 SEC) team coming off its stunning upset loss at Vanderbilt. Jalen Milroe marched the offense down the field for a breezy nine-play touchdown drive to start the game, one he capped off himself. The South Carolina (3-3, 1-3 SEC) offense had no answers for the first 28 minutes of play, again struggling to protect LaNorris Sellers and pick up chunks in the running game.
And after Justice Hanyes scored to make it 14-0, it looked like curtains. And it really did when the Gamecocks fell into a fourth-and-9 situation before halftime, mired in no man’s land and forced to go for it.
But with an upset bid on its last legs, Sellers found a wide-open Mazeo Bennett streaking towards the corner with the South Carolina band and most of the visiting fans. Kyle Kennard continued his stellar first half by flushing Milroe out of the pocket on the first play of the ensuing drive, making him take an intentional grounding penalty in his own end zone.
Safety, 14-9, game on.
Belief grew by the moment, as did the panic from the restless home fans. After a 16-play touchdown drive which took 8:35 off the clock — the longest of the Shane Beamer era — ended in a Rocket Sanders one-yard touchdown, the visitors had the lead. When O’Donnell Fortune intercepted a Milroe pass in the end zone, they had the lead and possession in the final frame.
Was it really going to happen? Two weeks in a row for mighty Alabama, at the hands of unranked conference foes?
Too good to be true for the Gamecocks. Sellers fumbled away the possession two plays later, Milroe capitalized with his second touchdown run, and out came a sigh of relief you could hear from every corner of the state, though the late-game theatrics created a few more hitched breaths before it was over.
Not before a final two minutes which felt like it took two years, from another Alabama touchdown, to the Gamecocks responding with the miracle ball to Harbor and everything in between.
But in the end, it was another loss. Two in a row, and three in four conference games.
Close, but not cose enough.
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