TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s storied football program was pushed to the brink of a second straight Southeastern Conference upset loss under first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer.
This time, the Crimson Tide survived — if only barely.
No. 7 Alabama (5-1, 2-1) botched the recovery of an onside kick in the final minute to give South Carolina one last chance, but Domani Jackson intercepted LaNorris Sellers as time expired, and the Tide escaped with a 27-25 win on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
It was Alabama’s third straight game that went down to the very end. The Tide won 41-34 against visiting Georgia, ranked No. 2 at the time, on Sept. 28 before losing 40-35 to Vanderbilt in Nashville last weekend.
“Another game down to the wire. We’re kind of getting accustomed to those,” said DeBoer, who led Washington to a national runner-up finish last season before coming to Tuscaloosa in January as the successor to Nick Saban, who retired after 17 seasons and six national championships with the Tide.
“There’s some things that we can do to make sure it doesn’t get to that point. But we always talk about finding a way to win. As many times as it looked like we weren’t, we did.”
With 43 seconds remaining, South Carolina’s Sellers hit Nyck Harbor for a 31-yard touchdown pass, but the Gamecocks (3-2, 1-3) failed to convert on their 2-point attempt. They recovered the ensuing onside kick as it went in and out of Alabama hands, but Sellers’ desperation heave toward the end zone with 13 seconds remaining was intercepted at the goal line by Jackson.
“We expected to win this game,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said. “Nobody was coming in here at halftime doing cartwheels because we were in a tight game with Alabama. We expected that because we have a good football team. Life in this conference is really hard.”
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe rushed for a 7-yard score in the fourth quarter and then hit Germie Bernard for a late 34-yard touchdown pass to help the hosts survive the scare. It wasn’t quite the emphatic rebound win the Tide were hoping to produce after being humbled by the Commodores, who beat a team in the top five of the AP poll for the first time on their 61st try.
“It’s not the ‘W’ that we wanted,” Alabama defensive lineman Tim Smith said. “It should have been a lot more dominant and physical, but a ‘W’ is a ‘W,’ man.”
Milroe delivered when he had to in a game where he was intercepted twice and flagged for intentional grounding on a sack in the end zone for a safety. Facing third-and-10, he found Bernard downfield without a defender anywhere in the vicinity with 1:54 left to cap a 10-play drive.
“There was a lot of safe avenues and things that we discussed on that play, and I think that they were aggressive in trying to play a lot of those,” DeBoer said. “There was a deeper route, and I love that Jalen saw it.”
Milroe was 16-of-23 passing for 209 yards with a touchdown, and he rushed for a pair of scores. Sellers was 23-of-31 for 238 yards with two touchdowns and the final pick.
The Gamecocks entered the fourth quarter with the lead and had a chance to regain it, but Alex Herrera’s 51-yard field-goal attempt, which would have been a career-long make, was short.
Milroe had taken advantage of a Sellers fumble with his 7-yard touchdown run with 10:42 left, but the 2-point pass failed, leaving it 20-19. He was relegated to cheerleader status at the end with the defense on the field, just like against Vanderbilt and Georgia.
“When we talk about team, that’s a great example of just finding a way as a group to just cheer on whoever’s on the field, and everyone just buying in,” said Milroe said, who was touted by media as the Heisman Trophy front-runner after starring against Georgia.
Milroe was outplayed by Sellers for much of the way Saturday, though, as the Gamecocks largely turned things around after their 27-3 home loss to Ole Miss last week.
Alabama’s 14-0 lead was whittled down to two points over the final 1:37 before halftime amid a series of South Carolina’s big plays and Tide stumbles. It included the safety, turnovers from each team and Sellers’ fourth-and-9 pass to a wide-open Mazeo Bennett Jr. for a 36-yard score.
“There was some crazy stuff,” Beamer said, “but our guys just kept hanging in there.”
South Carolina is on the road again to face No. 18 Oklahoma next Saturday, when the Tide will take on No. 8 Tennessee in Knoxville for the latest edition of the Third Saturday in October rivalry.