5 reasons why Alabama needs to be careful with South Carolina
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The phrase “trap game” is thrown around a lot in football, NFL or college, early season, midseason or late season, because in this once-per-week sport there are so few games in a season that all of them must be cradled, protected and treated with the utmost seriousness.
With the exception of some first-half hiccups against Kentucky and Florida State that have put Alabama in early holes, the Crimson Tide have more or less taken care of business through 3 rounds of a 12-game-long fight. The 3-0 start has inched Bama up to No. 8 in the latest AP Poll and, for now at least, Kalen DeBoer‘s loud legion of doubters have been silenced.
But there are 9 more of these to go, and so much could still go wrong. Potential landmines will be arriving with a vengeance and surviving the savage SEC gauntlet won’t be easy. That brings us back to this Saturday night, a Week 4 home matchup against a South Carolina team still dazed and confused from last week’s home loss to Mississippi State.
Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer is facing big-time backlash and it’s seeping into his quarterback room, where Beamer has had to defend starter LaNorris Sellers amid calls to bench him. Now, South Carolina has to get off the canvas and try to win a night game at Bryant-Denny Stadium? It’s a tall task that hardly seems doable.
But Bama needs to look at the fine print this week, because this is indeed the prototypical “trap game,” at home, at night and against an inferior opponent with those landmines looming in the weeks ahead. The Tide are a sizable favorite, by almost 2 touchdowns, but not enough to assume anything. There’s too much on the line for DeBoer in Year 3 and too few games in a season, so Saturday evening must be handled with care.
And here are the 5 reasons why Alabama needs to be really careful with a battered but not yet broken South Carolina team in the 7 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN:
1. South Carolina can score, and did you see Bama’s defense in Week 3?
The Gamecocks might have issues, on the sidelines, behind center and elsewhere. But putting up points doesn’t appear to be one of their problems. In fact, through 2 games, albeit against the likes of Kent State and Towson, South Carolina combined for 102 points, which was the most by the Gamecocks in the first 2 games of a season since 1980.
That South Carolina team 46 years ago scored 110 points in its first 2 contests, so this team was just off that pace going into Week 3. The Gamecocks put up 57 against Kent State and followed it up with 45 against Towson. Yes, they stubbed their toes last week against Mississippi State, but South Carolina still scored 34 points and piled up 431 yards of total offense even in defeat, so that’s 136 points in 3 games.
Will this offensive pace translate to a road environment at night against a top 10 team? Normally, you would say heck no. But look what happened to Kane Wommack’s defense last Saturday against Florida State. Sure, Bama won, but not at all because of that defense, which was shredded for 471 yards of total offense, including 377 through the air. That porous D helped put the Tide in a 21-6 2nd-quarter hole, and it was bailed out severely by an offense that had to score 50 points and roll up 567 total yards to cover up all the warts.
Wommack talked earlier this week about his unit being, well, very upset about its performance in Week 3. “They’re pissed, and they should be pissed,” he told reporters on Monday. He also said his players “did not do their job at a high enough level,” and there’s no doubt a potent South Carolina team will try to take advantage of a defense that might suddenly be searching for answers a little bit.
Something will have to give on Saturday night. Alabama and that secondary that was supposed to be elite in 2026 has its first real set of challenges to deal with. One part of the challenge will be in practice and in the film room this week. Then the real test will come under the lights in T-Town against a South Carolina offense that can light up the scoreboard.
If that Bama D isn’t careful (and forceful) enough, don’t just expect Ryan Grubb’s offense to score half a hundred again. We’re going to find out if being “pissed” translates into simply being a whole lot better.
2. South Carolina will be a desperate team coming to Tuscaloosa
This isn’t to say that Alabama won’t also be desperate come Saturday night, with so much on the line. But there’s something about losing that 1st game of the season in the month of September, as South Carolina just did in Week 3, that makes a team dig a little deeper so that 2nd loss doesn’t arrive on top of it.
Throw in the pressure that’s on Shane Beamer from media and fans, and while you’re at it toss in all the noise about the Gamecocks’ quarterback position, and you have a team in South Carolina that knows its season could unravel quickly. Beating a top 10 Tide team on the road in primetime would be just the cure for all that desperation, and Alabama needs to be ready from the jump this time.
No falling behind early for the 3rd straight week. No easing into the game. No sloppiness.
Because the guys on the South Carolina sideline know this is a potential fork in the road game for this season, for the program. Bama needs to forget the double-digit spread and be willing to get its hands dirty in this one, because a desperate opponent is a dangerous opponent. The Tide need to act a little desperate, too.
3. South Carolina has LaNorris Sellers, who is the ultimate wild card
When Sellers is on, he can be one of the better quarterbacks in college football. There are reasons why he’s thought of as a potential top draft pick next spring. The raw talent is there, and Sellers has had flashes of brilliance during his first 2 seasons at the helm at South Carolina. Just ask bitter rival Clemson.
But Sellers’ performance in 2026 has been called into question by media and fans, and Shane Beamer had to defend his starting quarterback at the beginning of Alabama Week, which isn’t ideal. Beamer doesn’t want to have to bench Sellers, because he still believes in him. But Sellers also knows if things continue down this path, he could end up watching redshirt freshman Cutter Woods play in his place.
This could be a defining night in Sellers’ collegiate career and by extension in his football life, considering that his NFL Draft stock is being affected by each interception, by each poor decision. Sellers can reverse the current narrative and author a different one with a masterclass performance on national TV against arguably the biggest brand name in college football.
Be careful, Bama. Don’t let that crummy 50.5 QBR that Sellers drags into T-Town allow you to convince yourself that he’s not capable of a whole lot more.
4. Shane Beamer has almost beaten Kalen DeBoer the past 2 years
It’s true. Look it up.
DeBoer (and Alabama) have had the hardest time getting separation from South Carolina (and Beamer) during the past 2 meetings. The Gamecocks didn’t blink at Bryant-Denny Stadium 2 years ago, taking a lead into the 4th quarter against a Bama team that was ranked 7th and being a 2-point conversion attempt away from tying it.
LaNorris Sellers’ 31-yard touchdown pass to Nyck Harbor — 2 weapons the Tide will have to deal with on Saturday night — with 43 seconds left preceded the failed 2-point pass that could’ve changed everything in the 27-25 loss. The point is, Sellers and Beamer weren’t the slightest bit intimidated as an unranked team in T-Town and, ironically, Bama has nearly the same ranking this time around.
Beamer had DeBoer on the ropes again last season in Columbia, turning a 14-6 Alabama lead at halftime into a shocking 22-14 South Carolina lead with 10 minutes left. Only a dizzying 15-point flourish in the final few minutes by the Tide saved DeBoer and Bama from defeat at Williams-Brice Stadium.
An Alabama team that was ranked 4th at the time escaped disaster once more against South Carolina, prevailing 29-22, so this Tide team would be wise not to tempt fate against Beamer for a 3rd straight year.
5. Alabama can’t take its eye off the ball with October gauntlet looming
At this very moment, Bama’s 4 games in the month of October are all against ranked teams. No longer does the Week 5 road game against Mississippi State feel safe, not with the Bulldogs’ 3-0 start led by budding star quarterback Kamario Taylor.
After those suddenly dangerous Bulldogs come the always dangerous Bulldogs from Georgia to Tuscaloosa, followed by the Third Saturday in October game at Tennessee, followed by a home showdown with Texas A&M.
It’s a delicate, ridiculous month-long gauntlet only the SEC could cook up, so being extra, extra careful and taking care of dangerous but unranked South Carolina on Saturday night isn’t just encouraged — it’s an absolute necessity.
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Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
