2024 Alabama Football Opponents: South Florida, Vanderbilt and South Carolina

Continuing a preview of 2024 Alabama Football regular season opponents includes three teams that the Crimson Tide should beat, with ease. Combined USF, Vandy, and South Carolina are not likely to produce more than 20 wins.

This is the second in a series of posts in which the Crimson Tide's opponents will be previewed in the order of the least to most challenge to Alabama. Mercer and Western Kentucky started the least challenge countdown.

Next are the South Florida Bulls. USF gave the Crimson Tide fits last season, but that was more about Alabama's weaknesses than USF's strengths. In Alex Golesh's first seasons as a head coach, the Bulls were 7-6, but none of the wins came against teams that finished with a winning record. Given that USF managed just eight wins in the preceding four seasons, the progress under Golesh is noteworthy, and earned him some Coach of the Year consideration. The highlight of USF's 2023 season was a 45-0 win over Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl.

The Bulls return much production from last season. Sophomore quarterback, Bryan Brown passed for almost 3,500 yards and rushed for 809 more. Defense was a problem last season and it may not be much improved for 2024.

Some projections of all the FBS teams rank USF higher than Vanderbilt. Choosing Vandy as a slightly bigger challenge for the Crimson Tide came down to infusion from New Mexico State. Clark Lea added NMSU Offensive Coordinator, Tim Beck, former NMSU head coach, Jerry Kill and the QB that took down the Auburn Tigers, Diego Pavia. Also added from NMSU is tight end, Eli Stowers, who previously spent two seasons at Texas A&M as a backup quarterback.

Pavia will be pushed by Utah transfer, Nate Johnson. With either QB and despite losing the teams' top three wide receivers, the Commodores could be better offensively in 2024, but still suffer through the SEC schedule. In a best case scenario, the Dores win against Alcorn State, Georgia State, and Ball State and upset one or two of Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Kentucky or Auburn.

South Carolina will not finish in the SEC cellar. Arkansas and Mississippi State are posed for that role. The Gamecocks were 5-7 in 2023, with the best win being 17-14 over Kentucky late in the season.

New starting QB, LaNorris Sellars is a legit dual-threat. He will be aided by Arkansas transfer running back Rocket Sanders. A big problem for South Carolina over the past two seasons has been pass protection. Without marked improvement from the offensive line, reaching six wins is probably the ceiling for the Gamecocks.

Five 2024 Opponents and Five Alabama Football Wins

Now that five Alabama Crimson Tide opponents and five Alabama wins have been previewed, the next post in this series will include a couple of teams that have a small chance of upsetting the Crimson Tide.

Note: Player and team stats provided by Sports Reference.