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By B.J. Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com Senior Editor
SouthernPigskin.com Senior Editor B.J. Bennett reflects on Alabama’s 20-6 win over South Carolina. Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/SouthernPigskin.
*Alabama is so incredibly physical on defense. Despite turnovers, flipped field position and offensive inefficiency at times, the Crimson Tide defense continued to punish the South Carolina offense every single time they got the ball. The Alabama defense has to be one of the best in recent college football history; it’s almost an NFL unit across the board. The catalysts are nose guard Terrance Cody and linebacker Rolando McClain, two future first round NFL Draft picks. Gamecock QB Stephen Garcia went 4 of 18 for 71 yards and an interception in the first half. USC running backs totaled 17 first half rushing yards. Incredible. What’s scary is that the Tide played Saturday night without All-SEC caliber defenders Dont’a Hightower and Javier Arenas.
*Mark Ingram is a grown man. He has to be the Heisman frontrunner at this point, second or third at the very worst; he is my Heisman favorite at this point. He had 14 carries for 146 yards in the first half alone, running through tacklers like a swimmer through water. Against a South Carolina defense that was holding opponents to under 3.5 yards per carry, Ingram rumbled for over 245 yards at roughly ten yards per carry. The single high game is a Bryant Denny Stadium record. The prototypical offensive workhorse, his skill set typifies the mentality Nick Saban instills in his teams. Ingram is the ideal posterboy for Alabama football.
*It was a tough night for Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, who had been very good until Saturday night. He had a bad game, but was going up against a stout USC defense and still made enough plays, and/or didn’t make too many mistakes, for his team to hold on to the victory. Games like these are part of the maturation process of a quarterback. But with two consecutive poor performances, McElroy will need to perform better.
*Alshon Jeffrey is a great playmaker and made one of the plays of the year last week against Kentucky, but three consecutive fade routes to him from the five-yard line late in the second quarter may have been a bit questionable. After the first two attempts, it seemed like the announcers, fans and coaches all knew a third try was coming. Spurrier then attempted the exact same play, unsuccessfully so, with a few seconds left in the first half. Yet another try was made with a few seconds left in the fourth quarter. Alabama, specifically cornerback Kareem Jackson, did a fantastic job defending those passes. Hindsight is always 20-20, but…
*The Gamecocks were just overmatched at the point of attack. South Carolina did a good job hanging in there for much of the game but ultimately the battle in the trenches simply proved too much. There may not be a better team in the nation on both sides of the football than Alabama. That said, give USC a lot of credit for hanging tough. Stephen Garcia fight off injury to finish the game, a gritty effort on his behalf.
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