Bama Central

Live updates: Alabama at South Carolina

The latest from the Crimson Tide's game at Williams-Brice Stadium
Christopher Walsh|
Live updates: Alabama at South Carolina
Live updates: Alabama at South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Alabama is set to face South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium (2:30 p.m. CT). 

Here's the latest: 

Fourth quarter 

• The stands are definitely emptying early. 

• Parker White makes a career-long 48-yard field goal. Alabama 34, South Carolina 16. (Scoring Drive: 6 plays, 45 yards, 1:03)

• South Carolina tried an onside kick, which didn't work. Alabama quickly scored, with DeVonta Smith catching his second touchdown ball -- 1 yards this time. Reichard missed the extra point, though. Alabama 40, South Carolina 16. (Scoring Drive: 3 plays, 40 yards, 1:08)

• Tua Tagovailoa tied an Alabama record with five touchdown passes. His 432 passing yards are a career-best.  

• Ale Kaho has been getting some playing time. Josh Jobe in at corner as Alabama is doing a lot of nickel. Hilisnki throws one into the end zone where Xavier McKinney made the easy pick. 

Third quarter

• Will Muschamp to CBS about the lack of a replay review on the play: “I’ll get fined for the rest of my life if I comment on that” 

• Nick Saban to the Crimson Tide Sports Network: "We stopped ourselves with penalties, and we’ve given them too many opportunities with penalties, jumping offsides on defense. We stopped ourselves down there. We had a scoring opportunity, and we don’t get the field goal. We’re fortunate to get off the field here (at the end of the half) with no points. We’re not playing great on defense. They’re spreading us out, lots of empty. Guys are not certain about what they’re doing, so we need to get it fixed at halftime.”

• Official attendance: 81,954

• Raekwon Davis shook up during South Carolina's first drive. Phidarian Mathis inserted. Couldn't really tell what it was, maybe a wrist. 

• Alabama's defense still having trouble as the Gamecocks drive, but linebacker Terrell Lewis blew up a jet-sweep in the red zone for a 5-yard loss. On the next play he got twisted around, landing awkwardly, and limped off the field. South Carolina had to settle for a 28-yard field goal. Alabama 24, South Carolina 13 (Scoring Drive: 11 plays, 71 yards, 3:34) 

• Lewis is riding an exercise bike. Davis is still in the medical tent as South Carolina kicks off. 

• Devonta Smith with a another touchdown, 42 yards. It was a play-action slant in which he made such an impressive move the safety (J.T. Ibe) was left grasping at air -- no exaggeration. Alabama 31, South Carolina (Scoring Drive: 5 plays, 75 yards, 1:34) 

• South Carolina ball at its own 14. Both Davis and Lewis are back on the field. 

• Linebacker Anfernee Jennings gets to Hilinski on the blind side, forcing a fumble that DJ Dale recovered. Alabama ball at its own 47. 

• On third-and-2, Alabama goes wildcat with Slade Bolden running for the first down. Crimson Tide slowing the game down and grinding out the yards until it gets down to the 4. It can't punch it in, Reichard kicks a 21-yard field goal. Alabama 34, South Carolina 13  (Scoring Drive: 13 plays, 50 yards, 6:35)

Second quarter 

• First play of the second quarter is a check down to Brian Robinson Jr. for a 34-yard gain. On second-and-15 a screen to DeVonta Smith gets Alabama 18 yards and into the red zone. On third-and-goal at the 5 the call is a fade to Smith, but the ref says his foot was out-of-bounds. Will Reichard kicks a field goal. Alabama 17, South Carolina 10. (Scoring Drive: 10 plays, 70 yards, 3:39).

• Alabama didn't even try to run in the red zone. It has three attempts for the game so far.

• Alabama tries to establish the ground game, but on 4th-and-2 goes for it and does a little play-action pass to Najee Harris. He easily gets the first down, avoids one tackler and hurdles defensive back R.J. Roderick for the 42-yard touchdown. That's one for the highlight reel. Alabama 24, South Carolina 10: (Scoring Drive: 7 plays, 65 yards, 4:12)

• This place is very, very quiet.

• Tua Tagovailoa's passer rating is 240.4

• South Carolina with another special-teams fake, this time on a punt. Tyrell Shavers snuffed it out and Slade Bolden with the tackle. Alabama first down at the Gamecocks' 32. Reichel ends up sending a 37-yard field goal wide left. 

• Jaycee Horn is the South Carolina defender who has been getting in Jerry Jeudy's face. 

• Trevon Diggs came out for a couple of plays on the last-minute drive after he wrapped the player on the third-down sideline catch for a first down. Josh Jobe was in for him. 

• Hilinksi guides South Carolina down the field until it has third down at the Alabama 1 with 19 seconds on the clock and after a time out has a botched snap. Everyone on South Carolina was moving to the left on the play. With 6 second left the Gamecocks run a play, rolling right and can't complete the pass as time runs out. Halftime: Alabama 24, South Carolina 10.

First quarter

• South Carolina had a flyover. The biggest surprise so far is that there are a lot of empty seats. Thee upper decks are about half full just a few minutes to kickoff. 

• South Carolina wins the toss and defers to the second half. Alabama to get the ball first.

• Alabama comes out going no-huddle, needs two plays to cross midfield. DeVonta Smith with a 20-yard reception has Alabama within the 25. Running back Najee Harris wide open out of the backfield for a 24-yard touchdown. Alabama 7, South Carolina 0; 5 plays, 65 yards, 1:39

• South Carolina was going with man coverage on the outside receivers. My guess is they'll mix it up, but Tua read is and looked for Henry Ruggs III the first time they did it. 

• South Carolina goes no-huddle too, but is doing everything it can to minimize the pressure on freshman Ryan Hilinski. The first-play 13-yard gain by  Bryan Edwards got the crowd back into it after he shook off a couple of defenders. It looks like safety Xavier McKinney's hand is still bothering him. South Carolina goes for it on fourth-and-1 at its own 37. Gets it on a pitch left. 

• Shane Lee came out for a play after losing his helmet. Markhail Benton goes in. On the next play Alabama got called for a substitution infraction, nullifying an interception by Patrick Surtain II. 

• Drive stalled just shy of the red zone. Raekwon Davis with a nice stop followed by freshman Jordan Battle blitzing and getting a blindside sack on third down. That blitz was a different look from what the Crimson Tide had done the first couple of games. Parker White makes a 44-yard FG. Alabama 7, South Carolina 3 (Scoring Drive: 14 plays, 60 yards, 4:50)

• South Carolina came out in man again, Tua Tagovailoa tried to go to Henry Ruggs III, but ran out of time and was sacked on first down. On third down, South Carolina stunted up the middle and notched another sack. It got pressure on the punt, with Skyler DeLong's kick going just 14 yards. Gamecocks have the momentum and first down at the Alabama 30. 

• Shane Lee's helmet came off again. This time the subsequent play is sack by DJ Dale. 

• South Carolina calls for a fake on a 51-yard field-goal attempt, tries to do a bounce pass to the kicker who takes it for a touchdown, only the pay is nullified by a holding call. Pretty obvious call. Gamecocks punt.

• Keep your eye on Raekwon Davis today. He's giving South Carolina fits.

• Alabama has first down at its own 4. Chris Owens is still in at center, but he's having some trouble today. It's something to keep an eye on. Third down, slant to Ruggs for a touchdown. That's 81 yards folks. Alabama 14, South Carolina 3. (Scoring Drive: 4 plays, 96 yards, 1:55)

• Helinksi throws into double-coverage and hits for a 31-yard touchdown by Shy Smith. Heck of a throw. Looked like Jordan Battle and Shyheim Carter were the defenders and had good coverage. Two plays before that Anfernee Jennings was dragged down and no holding call was made. Alabama 14, South Carolina 10. (Scoring Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 1:26)

Pregame

• Alabama has arrived. The video is already posted, and if you follow our Twitter account @BamaCentral you know how it was greeted. Conditions are 84 degrees and partly cloudy skies. The dew point is high at 69, but otherwise it's pretty comfortable here. Storms went through the area last night. 

• Here are the depth charts being handed out in the press box:

• Hubert Owens' crew will officiate the game. 

• First players out on the field for Alabama. Landon Dickerson is warming up as the emergency long-snapper (not earth-shattering, but kind of interesting). Looks like Paul Tyson didn't make the trip. Team can only bring 70, so that's something we'll be looking for right off the bat, here. 

• Alabama in all white, jerseys and pants, South Carolina in all garnet, jerseys and plants. 

• I don't think we're getting the full Million Dollar Band today. I drove by them (which is really hard to do on a two-lane highway, BTW), and there was like only three busses. The full band is five-plus.

• Will Reichard just made a 54-yard field goal with plenty of room to spare kicking toward the south uprights. First attempt too. One before that was 51 from the left hash and the ball went about another 15 yards. He then kicked the north side from 56.

• Centers are on the field, and Darrian Dalcourt is the backup center behind Chris Owens. The freshman is coming along quickly, but it also tells me that Dickerson is going to start at right guard as we saw this week in practice. Emil Ekiyor (knee) did make the trip. 

• Game captains: Raekwon Davis, Terrell Lewis and DeVonta Smith.

• Alabama brought nine defensive linemen. No changes with the starting three (Davis, Ray and Dale). Christian Barmore made the trip, is third string with Byron Young and Tevita Musika. Second-team is Justin Eboigbe, Stephon Wynn Jr. and Phidarian Mathis.

• Ekiyor isn't doing much in warmups. I'm thinking he's an emergency option. Alabama has 12 linemen. Of note, Kendall Randolph is wearing No. 85. 

• Of note on the travel roster, linebacker Jarez Parks made the trip, defensive back Eddie Smith did not. 

• In the secondary, Shyheim Carter was the extra defensive back in the nickel package. On the second team, Jordan Battle and Daniel Wright were the safeties. Freshman Marcus Banks came in at corner for the nickel. 

• Skyler Delong kicked the punt at the end of warmups. Alabama was booed running off the field. 

  

Published
Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of Alabama Crimson Tide On SI, which first published as BamaCentral in 2018, and is also the publisher of the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt sites . He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004 and is the author of 27 books including “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” and “Nick Saban vs. College Football.” He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.

Share on XFollow BamaCentral
Home/All Things Bama