The challenges continue for South Carolina as it travels to Tuscaloosa to take on the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide. Both teams are coming off SEC losses in week five but Alabama has a reputation unlike any other to bounce back.
Saturday’s action will be broadcasted live via the ABC Network at noon ET for kickoff. The ABC Network is available nationwide from every major cable, satellite, and streaming provider.
GC LIVE: Thoughts from what coordinators said and turning page to Alabama
QUICKLY: The South Carolina Gamecocks (3-2, 1-2 SEC) are back on the road for just the second time this season as they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala. for the first time since 2009 to face the No. 7/7 Alabama Crimson Tide (4-1, 1-1 SEC) in an SEC showdown on Saturday, Oct. 12. Game time is set for noon ET (11 am CT) at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium (100,077).
OVER THE AIRWAVES: This week’s contest will be televised nationally on ABC. Joe Tessitore will handle the play-by-play with Jesse Palmer providing the color commentary. Katie George will patrol the sidelines. Gridiron Radio has a national audience as well with Noah Britt serving as the play-by-play voice, Jon Reynolds adding the color commentary and Jason Crowder on the sidelines. The Gamecock Sports Radio Network features a pair of Gamecock Great quarterbacks in play-by-play voice Todd Ellis (33rd season) and analyst Tommy Suggs (52nd season). Chet Tucker returns for his second year as the sideline reporter.
HOW WE GOT HERE: The South Carolina Gamecocks are off to a 3-2 start overall and 1-2 in SEC play. They opened the campaign with a hard-fought 23-19 win over Old Dominion, then dominated Kentucky in the SEC opener, winning by a 31-6 count in Lexington, the largest road win in the Shane Beamer Era at South Carolina. The Gamecocks were unable to hold onto a 17-0 first half lead in a heartbreaking 36-33 setback to No. 16/17 LSU despite rushing for 243 yards, forcing two turnovers and blocking a punt. They bounced back with a convincing 50-7 rout of Akron to improve to 3-1. After enjoying an off week, the Gamecocks came up on the short end of a 27-3 decision to No. 12/11 Ole Miss in Columbia last weekend. The Gamecocks are 3-2 after five games for the third time in the last four years.
A LITTLE HISTORY: 2024 marks year four of the Shane Beamer Era and the 131st season of intercollegiate football at the University of South Carolina, dating back to 1892. It is the 118th-consecutive year in which South Carolina has competed on the gridiron. The University did not field a team in either 1893 or 1906. Carolina owns an all-time record of 637-615-44, a .508 winning percentage. Since the start of the 21st century, the Gamecocks are 171-133, a .563 winning clip. In four seasons under Coach Beamer, the Gamecocks are 23-20, a .535 winning percentage, including wins in six of their last eight games.
IT JUST MEANS MORE: The 2024 season is South Carolina’s 33rd year in the Southeastern Conference. South Carolina and Arkansas joined the SEC prior to the 1992 campaign. The Gamecocks earned the SEC Eastern Division title in the 2010 season. The Gamecocks are 110-150-1 (.423) all-time in SEC regular season play but posted a 42-38 (.525) record in conference action from 2010-19. Under Coach Beamer, the Gamecocks are 11-16 in SEC play, a .407 winning clip.
TOUGH SLATE: South Carolina again has one of the nation’s toughest schedules in 2024, as seven of its 12 regular-season opponents were ranked in the nation’s preseason top-20. The Gamecocks’ 2024 slate includes contests against preseason top-20 teams Alabama (5/5), Ole Miss (6/6), Missouri (11/11), LSU (13/12), Clemson (14/14), Oklahoma (16/16) and Texas A&M (20/20). All seven of those teams remain the top-25 through the first six weeks, with five of those opponents still remaining on the schedule. Carolina’s next three opponents, Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, have a combined 13-3 record.
THE SERIES AT A GLANCE: Alabama holds a 13-3 lead in the all-time series between the two pro- grams, including wins in each of the first 10 meetings between the schools from 1937-2000, but the teams have split the last six meetings evenly. The Crimson Tide hold an 8-1 advantage when the game has been played in Tuscaloosa and have won four of the six meetings in Columbia. Ala- bama also won the 1945 game which was played in Montgomery.
IT’S BEEN A WHILE: This is just the second meeting between South Carolina and Alabama since 2010 and the first in Tuscaloosa since 2009. The teams met six times between 2000 and 2010 but have played just once (2019) since that time.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET: Tua Tagovailoa completed 28-of-36 passes for 444 yards and five touchdowns as the No. 2/2 Alabama Crimson Tide posted a 47-23 win over South Carolina on Sept. 14, 2019, in Columbia. True freshman Ryan Hilinski, making just his second career start, did his best to keep pace with Tagovailoa, completing 36-of-57 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns. The Gamecocks ran 86 plays and rolled up 459 yards against a Bama defense that had nine players make the media’s preseason All-SEC teams, compared to just one offensive player from South Carolina (third-team selection Bryan Edwards).
THE LAST GAMECOCK WIN: Stephen Garcia threw three touchdown passes, two to Alshon Jeffrey, and Marcus Lattimore scored three times as 19th- ranked South Carolina stunned No. 1 Alabama 35- 21 on Oct. 9, 2010, in Columbia. Never before had the Gamecocks beaten a team ranked No. 1 – at least not in football. The defending national cham- pions had won 19-straight games since losing the Sugar Bowl to Utah after the 2008 season. South Carolina shredded the country’s top-rated scoring defense, putting up the most points on Alabama since a 41-34 loss to LSU in 2007. The Gamecocks scored four touchdowns when they got inside the Bama 20 double what the Crimson Tide had allowed coming in. Garcia was a tidy 17-of-20 for 201 yards and the one interception. He also picked up a critical fourth-and-1 on the Gamecocks final scoring drive. Jeffery had seven receptions for 127 yards, including TD catches of 26 and 15 yards.
THE LAST TIME IN T-TOWN: Mark Ingram rushed for a career-high 246 yards and a game-clinching touchdown, powering No. 2 Alabama to a 20-6 victory over No. 22 South Carolina on Oct. 17, 2009, in Tuscaloosa. Ingram’s tackle-breaking, defender-dragging runs and a punishing defense helped the undefeated Crimson Tide overcome four turnovers. The game’s only other touchdown came from a defense that sacked Stephen Garcia five times. Safety Mark Barron stepped in front of Garcia’s first pass attempt in the middle of the field and returned it 77 yards for a touchdown. Garcia wound up 20 of 46 for 214 yards after completing just 4 of 18 passes in the first half. South Carolina managed just 64 yards rushing. Alabama’s Greg McElroy also was shaky against the nation’s No. 6 pass defense. His first pass–and two of his initial four–were picked off after he had gone 135 straight passes without an interception.
SWEET HOME ALABAMA: South Carolina walk-on linebacker Colin Bryant began his career as a walk-on at Alabama, spending his true freshman season of 2021 on the Tuscaloosa campus. Defensive tackle Monkell Goodwine logged three seasons with the Crimson Tide where he saw limited action in five contests before transferring to South Carolina in January. Quarterback Robby Ashford and kicker Peyton Argent are both from Hoover, Ala.
OLD FRIEND ALERT: Alabama assistant head coach/running backs coach Robert Gillespie was on Steve Spurrier’s staff at South Carolina from 2006-08 as the running backs coach. Gillespie and Shane Beamer worked together under the HBC for the 2007 and ‘08 seasons.
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