South Carolina vs. Alabama Roundtable Predictions

Fresh off a 72-10 pasting of outmatched Charleston Southern, the South Carolina Gamecocks now turn their attention to their doozy of an SEC opener: a visit from the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. Yeah, no biggie. Here’s how the GABA gang thinks it’ll all go down tomorrow.

Kody: So uh, yeah. We all know this is a David and Goliath matchup, so I won’t belabor that point. There are just a few things I’m looking for in this game: a) effort and passion on display, given how lackluster USC looked in its last two games against Power 5 competition; b) the emergence (or return) of a playmaker, whether it’s Ryan Hilinski continuing his momentum or Kevin Harris becoming an actual thing; and c) a lack of injuries. If the Gamecocks can accomplish those things and cover or even beat the spread -- which is currently sitting at Alabama by 26 -- I won’t have anything to complain about.

DC3: I keepthinking of that line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, ‘stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea’. That’s what Saturday’s gonna be like. Last week was fun, but it was like watching a Lion kill a mouse. Not putting a lot of stock in our defensive secondary (mainly the safeties) being able to stop the vertical pass game of Alabama. Tua Tagovailoa is pretty good don’t know if y’all knew that. If the offense is anywhere near as experimental as it was last Saturday this could make for a fun game that could produce some false hope in the first half but unless fate intervenes there’s not much chance of another epic upset on Saturday. Carolina covers the spread but the Tide Rolls 38-17.

Matt: I’ve been trying to look for any possible reason to not expect an impending beatdown and I haven’t come to much luck. Some Gamecock fans look back to 2010 as a source of hope with the Gamecocks trying to slay the dragon that is the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, but things were simply much different back then. For South Carolina, their running back was Marcus Lattimore and one of their receivers was Alshon Jeffery. On the other hand, Alabama had Mark Ingram at running back and one of their receivers was Julio Jones. More importantly, their quarterback in 2010 was Greg McElroy, not Tua Tagovailoa. South Carolina undoubtedly has less talent now in comparison to 2010 and I’d say Alabama is arguably even better now than they were in 2010. The one thing the Gamecocks do have, though, is Ryan Hilinski, and although he may not be able to complete a miracle this Saturday, I expect him to be able to lead this team to a covered spread. Tide take down the Cocks 34-13.

Katie: Unlike the guys, I’m calling for a win because I’m me. Back in 2010, I was a senior at USC, my family had decided to come to town for the Alabama game, my brother and I made it into a crowdshot on Gameday, and I predicted South Carolina would stun Alabama in an upset. That prediction ended up being correct, and even though I’m now 30, not in Columbia, and will still be asleep when Gameday is airing, I’m hoping for repeat success with my prediction this year. Also my cousin goes to Alabama and I’d really like to be able to have some unexpected bragging rights at Thanksgiving, so.