All the ingredients for a letdown were there when the Alabama Crimson Tide took on the South Carolina Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday. There was no prepared dish, though, as the Tide knocked off the Cocks 29-22 in Columbia.
CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford believes last year’s team might’ve folded in the same situation, but lauded quarterback Ty Simpson and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack for keeping things together.
Kalen DeBoer was given credit. Wommack was given credit. Even though he’s no longer the lead play-caller, indirectly, through the credit Simpson got, Nick Sheridan got credit. The only one who wasn’t given credit was Jalen Milroe, since he’s the only one who’s gone who can be blamed.
“The Crimson Tide lost three times in Kalen DeBoer’s first season as a double-digit favorite against unranked competition and history could’ve repeated itself against the Gamecocks before Alabama refused to stay down late. Last year’s squad may have folded in the situation, facing an eight-point deficit away from home, but Simpson was terrific down the stretch and the Kane Wommack’s defense finally held off Sellers and South Carolina’s running game strengths in the final moments,” Crawford wrote.
Simpson has been a tangible upgrade over Milroe. Still, it’s clear DeBoer’s first-year offense was out of whack in the head coach’s transition to a new program while being indebted to start Nick Saban’s last QB1.
To Milroe’s credit, he helped lead Saban’s final team to an SEC Championship and the final four-team College Football Playoff. The Tide were inches away from tying the eventual-champion Michigan Wolverines, but lost 27-20 in OT on a fourth-down play-call in an instant classic Rose Bowl.
Who knows what he could’ve done in a Ryan Grubb-coached offense? Just as DeBoer wasn’t ready for the expectations last season, Sheridan was in over his head. Milroe was adversely affected by the coaching change more than anyone else. He was doing well in Tommy Rees’s offense.
Either way, last season’s lows and the unfathomable 31-17 loss to the Florida State Seminoles in Week 1 this season can set Alabama up for major highs if DeBoer’s program can finish the job.
