Alabama shows its championship mettle down the stretch to beat South Carolina

Every year, at some point, you are going to face an unexpected test. No matter how good you are, you are going to have your back against the wall against an opponent you should have handled. That's especially true in this era of college football, but it was true for plenty of championship teams in Tuscaloosa in the past.

The 2009 team survived Tennessee and had to come from behind to beat Auburn on the road. The 2015 team had to survive against Tennessee in a game that shouldn't have been close. Mississippi State took the 2017 team to the wire. A .500 Ole Miss team gave the 2020 Tide a scare.

It's too early to tell whether the 2025 Crimson Tide is a championship team or not. But with their backs against the wall at the end of a brutal stretch, Alabama found a way to win in Columbia against South Carolina, coming from behind late to steal a 29-22 victory.

That's what championship teams do.

Trailing 22-14 with under 10 minutes to play, Ty Simpson stated a Heisman Trophy case with a brilliant drive. Simpson led the Crimson Tide on a 14-play, 79-yard drive with clutch throw after clutch throw. He capped it off with a touchdown pass to Germie Bernard on a brilliantly designed play by Ryan Grubb.

On another creative call, Simpson tied the game with a two-point conversion pass to Josh Cuevas.

With two minutes to play, senior captain Deontae Lawson made the play of the game, stripping South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers with fellow captain Tim Keenan falling on the fumble to give the Crimson Tide the football in Carolina territory.

Germie Bernard took a direct snap on 3rd-and-10 a few plays later, and ran for a 25-yard touchdown to give the Crimson Tide an improbable 29-22 lead. A perfectly executed squib kick by Connor Talty pinned the Gamecocks at their own 9-yard line with no timeouts and under 30 seconds to go. Keon Keeley finished South Carolina off with a sack of Sellers.

Survive and advance is the name of the game in the SEC today

The SEC is a grind. It always has been. But in the era of NIL and the Transfer Portal, week-to-week is more like the NFL now. Any win is a good win, especially when that win happens on the road.

Alabama faced a lot of adversity today. They easily could have folded. They would have last season. It was the exact type of game the Crimson Tide lost a year ago against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma on the road. But Kalen DeBoer and his team passed the ultimate test of maturity by responding down the stretch to gut out a win when all looked hopeless for most of the second half.

That's growth. That's what Alabama fans have been looking for out of DeBoer and this team. They beat four straight ranked opponents, and followed that up with an ugly win over South Carolina that couldn't look prettier to Tide fans who can finally take a breath.