Alabama football had a surprising challenge against South Carolina to open up their SEC schedule. How did the Crimson Tide do?
In the first two weeks of the Alabama football season, the Tide didn’t face a true challenge. They will definitely play tougher opponents this season, but this is their first game that concerned the fans. All expected a win, but South Carolina kept this one too close for comfort.
With a new starting quarterback for the Gamecocks, the offense took the Tide by surprise. They managed to stay on the field and continue to move the chains. If it weren’t for a few breaks that went Alabama’s way, this one could have been tied at halftime.
At the end of the day, the offense was simply too much for South Carolina to handle. This is the case for most teams, but two receivers went for over 100 yards in this one. Tua went off for five touchdowns and a career high in passing yards, and there was nothing South Carolina could do to stop it.
Despite the win, Alabama did not look like its normal self in this one. The offensive line struggled early, and the defense lacked discipline at every level. It works against teams like South Carolina, but Alabama can’t simply rely on Tua and the passing game to win them every game. They’re going to need more from the defense and the running game. They have some time to tune up, but they need to do it fast if they want to beat teams like LSU, Texas A&M and potentially Georgia or Clemson.
Now that we are about a month into the college semester, it’s about time for the first round of exams for all college students. With that being said, what did Alabama’s report card look like after their first test of the SEC schedule?