No. 8 Alabama heads into Saturday’s matchup with South Carolina at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium looking to move to 4-0 in the 2026 season, and the game has the feel of another tight one. The Crimson Tide has already seen how tricky this series can get under Kalen DeBoer: Alabama won both meetings in 2024 and 2025 by a combined nine points, with each game going down to the wire.
This one figures to come down to a few key battles.
The first is Alabama’s ground game against a South Carolina front that has already shown it can make life difficult between the tackles. The Tide’s rushing attack has come a long way from last season, when it was one of the worst in the FBS. Quarterback Keelon Russell has helped drive that jump, while Daniel Hill has led the backfield and Trae'shawn Brown and EJ Crowell have provided support in the freshman committee behind him.
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer made it clear Wednesday that he knows what Alabama has in Hill. He said, "we recruited Daniel Hill heavily coming out of high school" and praised how tough he is to get on the ground. Beamer also remembered Crowell from the recruiting trail, saying that after going to Jackson High School to watch Gamecocks quarterback commit Landon Duckworth, he quickly realized Crowell, a former 5-star, was "going to be a handful."
The Gamecocks do have pieces built to slow the run. They are allowing 117.5 rushing yards per game, which ranks 49th nationally, while Alabama is averaging 209.7 on the ground, 23rd-best in the country.
Preseason First Team All-American edge rusher Dylan Stewart is the headliner on the defensive side and is listed as probable on the availability report. Former Alabama linebacker Justin Okoronkwo leads South Carolina in tackles, and linebacker Shawn Murphy, another former Tide player, is also probable and should help clog run lanes.
Another matchup to watch is on the perimeter, where Alabama cornerback Dijon Lee Jr. gets a difficult assignment against South Carolina wideout Nyck Harbor. Lee had a rough outing against Florida State’s Duce Robinson last week, even though he wasn’t always the one matched up on him.
Robinson finished with six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown, and Lee was in coverage on the score. Robinson is 6-foot-6, while Lee stands 6-foot-4, so size wasn’t the issue.
Harbor brings a similar frame at 6-foot-5, and he has already made an impact in this series. He caught one pass for a 54-yard touchdown in last year’s game against Alabama and added two receptions for 40 yards and another score in the 2024 meeting.
He has opened this season with 127 receiving yards on eight catches, and quarterback LaNorris Sellers is expected to keep looking his way. Alabama will need Lee to bounce back quickly, especially with the 2025 Shaun Alexander Award finalist set to be tested again.
"Nobody is harder on himself than Dijon Lee," Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said on Monday. "He works his ass off every day.
He was highly disappointed after the game, but I've got a lot of confidence in Dijon. I know he will work to get those things fixed.
"Certainly, when the ball is in there, fundamentally, you've got to be able to go execute and finish. Those were specifically his issues.
It is hard at the beginning of the season when we're going up against the scout team. That's the one thing we really can't simulate: a live look against a good receiver with a quarterback making a throw on time.
"That's something that we just have to get those reps, certainly, in games. That never should have happened in a game, but ultimately I think he'll have a sense of urgency to get it fixed, and he will."
The third matchup could swing field position in a hurry: Alabama’s punt and kick coverage against South Carolina return man Vicari Swain. Since DeBoer arrived, the Tide has been strong in coverage, with Wisconsin’s Vinny Anthony II’s 95-yard return in 2025 standing as the only opposing special teams touchdown.
Swain, though, has already become a problem. Through three games and six punt returns, he has 152 yards and two touchdowns. That total ranks sixth nationally, his 25.3 yards per return is seventh, and he is one of only four players in the country with two return scores.
"Every week, I think from here on out, you're going to have someone who can do those types of things," DeBoer said during Wednesday’s teleconference. "But [Swain] is showing it already here early in the season that he can not just get them a few yards - he can take it all the way.
"So, where we punt the ball, what our coverage is and how well we're having lane integrity when we're running down the field and then getting him on the ground and getting a lot of players to him, to where you're not having to count on a one-man show to get the tackle.
"So we've got to be great in those areas, and that's where the big plays show up is in these SEC games. It's going to be in those one-offs, and it changes field position at the very least. And you've got to really make sure you don't avoid and get exposed that leads to a score."
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