For Alabama Football, what 'staying the course' means against South Carolina

On Monday, Kalen Deboer said his message to the Alabama Football team is "stay the course." Doing that means "Just keep fighting, keep playing and stick together." In general terms there is not much more to say. The only way to rebound from a failure is to get back to work.

The Alabama Crimson Tide has an important opportunity on Saturday. It is not to prove something to the college football world. It is to prove something to themselves. South Carolina is Saturday's opponent, and while beating the Gamecocks is important; as or more important is for Alabama to perform at a level consistent with its lofty expectations.

Staying the Course needs an emphatic turning point for Alabama Football

Alabama should have performed at near that level against Vanderbilt. It didn't. Against South Carolina, Alabama should perform at a level that resembles its best self. If it doesn't, being prepared to win on the road a week later will be a major challenge.

The Gamecocks lost to Ole Miss 27-3 on Saturday. The game was basically over with just under six minutes left in the first quarter, after Ole Miss took a 14-0 lead. South Carolina made too many penalties, too many mental errors, and other mistakes, to compete with the Rebels.

Not even South Carolina fans know what to expect from the Gamecocks. Scott Davis has followed Gamecock Football for decades. After the loss to Ole Miss, Davis wrote, "South Carolina football in the Shane Beamer Era remains one of the most unpredictable, up-and-down, zig-zagging organizations in sports. We just don’t know what we’re getting from week to week from this team. We’ve called it the Roller Coaster, and I even nicknamed the phenomenonThe Shane Beamer Experience– an always interesting, often entertaining, occasionally maddening and absolutely all over the place ride that never quite ends where you think it will."

To open the season, South Carolina survived Ole Dominion, barely, winning 23-19. A week later the Gamecocks blew out Kentucky, 31-6. Akron was beaten 50-7. With the help of striped shirts, LSU beat South Carolina 36-33.

We're far enough into the season for stats to provide insight. The Gamecocks are a pretty good defensive team. South Carolina held Ole Miss to only three 3rd-down conversions in 13 attempts. South Carolina is 5th among SEC teams and No. 17 nationally in Total Defense (4.55 Yards Per Play). In Passing Defense, based on the percentage of opponent-completed passes, the Gamecocks are 1st among SEC teams and No. 11 nationally (53.9%).

South Carolina's offensive stats are near the bottom of the SEC in every major category. Despite what Joel Klatt said on Monday, about Alabama having to win every game in a shootout; there is little chance of a shootout on Saturday.

Whatever South Carolina does or does not do on Saturday, the task for Alabama Football is to redefine itself.