It isn't often you get bulletin board material seven months before a game, but South Carolina provided the ultimate disrespect to Alabama football with a scheduling decision it made.
In a move that perhaps is a representation of the current perception of the Crimson Tide football program, the Gamecocks slotted their October 25th matchup in Columbia with Alabama as their homecoming game.
Traditionally, you schedule your homecoming game against an opponent you are confident that you are going to be able to beat. Nobody wants to lose their homecoming.
South Carolina could have easily scheduled the Oklahoma game the week before as homecoming. The Gamecocks blew out the Sooners in Norman last season and are likely confident they can do the same thing to Brent Venables' team at Williams-Brice.
Alabama and South Carolina were linked together in the 2024 season thanks to their identical 9-3 regular season records and some hot debates over the final College Football Playoff spot. Many pundits believed the Gamecocks, winners of their final six games, deserved to be ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide despite Alabama winning the head-to-head matchup in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama narrowly eeked past South Carolina, 27-25, a week after the stunning loss to Vanderbilt. The Crimson Tide were heavy favorites, but ultimately needed to withstand a Hail Mary attempt that Domani Jackson picked off just shy of the endzone to seal the win.
It turned out to be one of Alabama's best wins of the season as South Carolina turned out to be a really good team. Both narrowly missed the playoff thanks to SMU's close loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.
Both fanbases spent time complaining about the slight, just for both teams to render that meaningless with losses to Big 10 opponents in their respective bowl games.
South Carolina will be a preseason media darling in 2025 with the return of QB LaNorris Sellers, who will be one of the preseason Heisman Trophy favorites. The Gamecocks obviously feel good about themselves and are making a bold proclamation by declaring the Alabama game as homecoming.
It could prove to be regrettable because it is sure to anger the Crimson Tide players who will now have extra motivation for the road trip to Columbia in October.