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What College GameDay said about South Carolina-Alabama

Screenshotby: Kevin Miller3 hours agokevinmillerGC
ESPN College Gameday at Vanderbilt vs. Alabama
© Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On Saturday, College GameDay was in Nashville, Tennessee for a surprise top-15 matchup between Vanderbilt and Missouri, two teams that beat South Carolina earlier this year. The battle of SEC contenders saw the usual panel of Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban, and Kirk Herbstreit in attendance. The show (understandably) spent much of its time talking about the Commodores and Tigers. Even so, there was other college football talk, as well. South Carolina’s home game against Alabama came up.

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Early in the show, right after the open, Herbstreit said that the “biggest mental toughness test” of the weekend could be Alabama’s matchup against South Carolina. He referenced Kalen DeBoer’s team’s schedule, arguing that this afternoon’s contest could be a trap game for the No. 4 squad in the land. Former Crimson Tide headman Nick Saban agreed and recalled the 2010 game in which the Gamecocks whipped the No. 1 team in the country. Saban also said that the Head Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, reminds him of that day “every time I see him.”

Later in the show, the panel discussed potential “trap games” this Saturday. They brought up the ‘Cocks and Tide once again.

Every Saturday, College GameDay also picks what they deem the best games of the weekend. Matchups like Indiana-UCLA, South Florida-Memphis, North Dakota State-South Dakota State, Minnesota-Iowa, Texas-Mississippi State, LSU-Texas A&M, BYU-Iowa State, and Ole Miss-Oklahoma joined the Vanderbilt-Missouri headliner. Despite mentioning the game several times earlier in the broadcast, the panel did not pick South Carolina-Alabama.

This marked the fourth game in a row without Gamecock representation for the picks.

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South Carolina (3-4; 1-4) and Alabama (6-1; 4-0) will kick off at 3:30 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium. ABC will carry the television broadcast, while ESPN+ and the ESPN app will make the conference clash available via streaming.

Alabama enters as a 12.5-point favorite, according to BetMGM. The Crimson Tide is ranked as the No. 4 team in both the AP top 25 and the coaches poll. Carolina, though ranked as high as No. 10 earlier this year, is unranked heading into Saturday.

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