It was not pretty, but the Alabama Crimson Tide moved to 2-1 in the SEC and 5-1 on the year after knocking off South Carolina. The Tide were able to secure the win and that’s all that will matter in the eyes of the committee, but this Alabama team has a lot of stuff to clean up before traveling to Knoxville next weekend.
Fortunately, QB Jalen Milroe played his best when it mattered, as he accounted for three total scores on the day. With two interceptions, it wasn’t his best game either, but he’s still in the middle of the Heisman race. But my biggest takeaways from today’s game was:
Penalties are still a problem
Things looked a little bit better in the second half, but the Crimson Tide still finished the day with seven penalties for 66 yards. The biggest issue with the penalties is how untimely they are, such as a roughing the passer flag on a third-down incompletion.
Jalen Milroe reliant
Milroe carried the ball 18 times, passed another 23 times and was responsible for three of four scores today. At some point, the Tide are going to need someone other than Milroe and Williams to step up. Although, the running backs were both quite good today.
South Carolina’s front seven was really good
The Gamecocks had four sacks in the first half and wreaked havoc on Milroe all day long. It felt like Miller and Haynes were able to convert when they needed to, but Alabama only averaged 2.7 yards per carry and no receiver for Alabama had more than four catches.
The secondary will be a weakness all year long
The Alabama secondary struggled again today allowing Sellers to complete 23/31 passes for 238 yards and two scores. But it just feels like anytime the Alabama defense needs to make a big third-down stop they can’t quite do it. However, an interception on the last play of the game got the Tide out alive.
Outside of Mercer, Alabama has no guaranteed wins
The SEC is the deepest conference in the country, and as we’ve seen for three weeks straight, no game is a give me. Alabama has glaring errors to fix with several ranked matchups still on the schedule, even Auburn won’t be an easy win.
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