College Football on Fox puts South Carolina-Alabama game on upset watch

South Carolina plays No. 4 Alabama this weekend. The Gamecocks and Crimson Tide will play at 3:30 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium. The game will broadcast nationally on ABC and stream on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Kalen DeBoer’s ‘Bama squad is a 12.5-point favorite at the time of this writing.

Even so, earlier this week, the College Football on Fox social media team put Alabama on upset alert.

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While including the game among this weekend’s most likely upsets might be surprising, if one squints, there is a (shaky) case that can be made for the Gamecocks on Saturday.

South Carolina, a team more talented than its record, has the players to pull off an upset, much like Florida State (who is now also 3-4 on the year) did in the season opener.

In three road games this year, Alabama has a negative score differential. A pair of three-point wins over Georgia and Missouri is more than canceled out by a 14-point loss to FSU.

Last season, the Gamecocks were an even bigger underdog to the Crimson Tide for their matchup in Tuscaloosa. Despite a spread of over 20 points, Carolina had a chance to win at the end of the game. The final score read 27-25 in favor of Alabama, but Shane Beamer’s team played better that afternoon. In the end, a couple of fumbles were the difference, allowing the Tide to win a game in which they were outplayed on both offense and defense.

The Gamecocks have also knocked off a top-five Alabama squad in Williams-Brice Stadium before. Back in 2010, when Nick Saban’s team was the No. 1-ranked team in college football, Carolina rolled the Tide right back out of Columbia, 35-21. The game, also played in the afternoon like this year’s contest, wasn’t as close as the final score. Perhaps adding to the upset magic for this weekend, that 2010 team (one that also won the SEC East) will be in town for a 15-year reunion.

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Ironically, Mark Ingram, a current College Football on Fox analyst, was on that Alabama team in 2010. The former Heisman Trophy winner said this offseason that the game in Columbia worried him as a UA alum.

Joining Ingram with that opinion is his former quarterback, AJ McCarron. McCarron, on his podcast THE DYNASTY, said this offseason that the Gamecocks represented one of the scariest games on the Alabama schedule.

A lot has changed from the offseason to now, however. Alabama might be a better team than its preseason standing would indicate, and South Carolina has had a disappointing showing.

Still, the Gamecocks have pulled off multiple double-digit underdog upsets during the Beamer era. Those include the 2022 wins over Tennessee and Clemson that kept the rivals out of the College Football Playoff. USC would love nothing more than to play CFP spoiler once again.

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