This Saturday the top-ranked and undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide hit the road to square off against the 19th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, SC. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 PM ET with television coverage on CBS. Our latest college football odds list the visiting Crimson Tide as 7 point favorites, with a total set for 47.5 points.
The defending national champions are playing their third straight game against a top-20 ranked opponent (4th in their last 5 games), as well as their third straight SEC foe. With a dominating win over rival Florida last week 31-6, the Tide moved to 5-0 on the season. The victory was also their 29th consecutive regular season win.
South Carolina was idle last week, giving them some much needed rest and preparation time with the best team in the nation coming to town. The Gamecocks opened 2010 with three straight wins, but suffered their first loss two weeks ago at the hands of Auburn, 27-35.
These teams have met just 14 times in their histories and Alabama has an intimidating 12-2 advantage in the series. The two have not met at South Carolina since 2005, a 37-14 victory for the Crimson Tide.
Despite coming out way ahead on the final score last week, Alabama did not put up huge numbers offensively. What they did do on offense, however, was control the clock with their potent running game and keep the Florida offense off of the field. The Tide are averaging 229.8 rushing yards per game thanks to the tremendous one-two punch of running backs Mark Ingram, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, and sophomore Trent Richardson. Both backs are averaging better than 7 yards per carry (Ingram 7.9 ypc, Richardson 7.4 ypc), giving Alabama the option to run the ball in almost any situation.
Tide quarterback Greg McElroy does not throw the ball often, but when he does he is typically very accurate. So far this season he has thrown for 983 yards, completing just under 70 percent of his attempts. His favorite target has been start wideout Julio Jones, who has hauled in 24 receptions for 322 yards and two touchdowns to date.
Most college football talking heads predicted the that the turnover of players on the defensive side of the ball would be the biggest challenge for the Tide to overcome. Consider that challenge overcome. Alabama is allowing just 9 points per game and is holding their opponents to only 292.4 yards of total offense per game.
Bama’s numbers are impressive to say the least, but consider that Tide head coach Nick Saban does not think the team has peaked.
“I really think our team is progressing. Each week you have a new challenge and you learn more about your team. Like how are we going to respond this week? We play another very good team on the road in a difficult place to play. Are we going to be able to challenge ourselves to continue to do the things we need to do to play at a high standard? Are we going to be relieved with what we’ve done up to this point? I can’t answer those questions. They have to come from within, with what people accomplish and what they want to do. So far we’ve responded fairly well, but not consistently all the time and that is something we have to continue to work on.”
South Carolina will try to keep the offensive balance they have displayed this season for their match up against one of the nation’s top defenses. Quarterback Stephen Garcia has been the leader of the team, completing 69.1 
percent of his passes for 743 yards and five touchdowns so far this year.
Freshman running back Marcus Lattimore will carry the majority of the rushing load for the Gamecocks. He doesn’t have numbers like the Alabama backs do, but he is constantly improving and is averaging 4.4 yards per carry and 91.5 yards per game so far this year.
You could mark down consistency as a strength for South Carolina so far this year, but the defense has failed to follow suit. The Gamecocks are allowing just 18.2 points per game so far this season, but they have not showed much ability to stop the run (128.2 yards per game), a major problem considering how effectively Alabama runs the ball. Where SC may be able to make an impact is when McElroy does drop back for the Tide as the Gamecock pass rush has been impressive, notching 12 sacks through four games this year.
Alabama has had difficult schedule to this point, but their come-from-behind victory at Arkansas, followed by an impressive win over Florida shows that this team is well-coached and unlikely to have a letdown. With that being said, this is the ideal situation for Steve Spurrier and his Gamecocks to face the Tide, at home and coming off of back-to-back emotionally and physically draining games.
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