Germie Bernard’s 2 late TDs help ‘unbreakable’ No. 4 Alabama rally past South Carolina 29-22

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Alabama’s motto this season has been “unbreakable.”

The No. 4 Crimson Tide proved to be just that on Saturday.

Germie Bernard scored two touchdowns in the final 2 1/2 minutes, and No. 4 Alabama rallied to beat South Carolina 29-22 at Williams-Brice Stadium for its seventh straight win.

Ty Simpson threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns and DeShawn Jones returned an interception 18 yards for a score for the Crimson Tide (7-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference).

“We knew that this was going to be a dogfight coming in, right?” Simpson said. “… But there was not one ounce of nonbelief, right? We knew what we had to do and we made sure that we were going to be unbreakable with everything that we had — and that’s what we did.”

LaNorris Sellers threw for 222 yards and a touchdown and ran for 67 yards and another score for South Carolina (3-5, 1-5), but had a costly fumble late which led to the winning score.

On the ensuing drive, linebacker Deontae Lawson stripped Sellers, giving Simpson and the offense the ball at the South Carolina 38.

“I had two hands on it because I knew they were trying to strip it,” Sellers said. “I was thinking the ref was going to blow the whistle and that is when I started to fall down. When I was going to catch myself that’s when I took my other hand off it and I guess that is when he got under the ball.”

South Carolina tried to let Bernard score after he’d picked up the first down.

Bernard could have slid down near the goal line and let the clock run down to set up the go-ahead field goal.

Instead, he happily took the six points.

“Coach gave me the green light to go ahead and score, so that’s what I did,” Bernard said.

Alabama took a 7-3 lead in the second quarter after Sellers’ pass in the flat bounced off the hands of running back Rahsul Faison and into the arms of Jones, who raced down the left sideline for a score.

Mistakes haunted the Gamecocks in the first half.

Along with the mishandled catch by Faison, a holding penalty negated a 15-yard TD run by Sellers. Another holding call ended a potential touchdown drive and the Gamecocks also missed a field goal.

Despite the errors, South Carolina only trailed 14-6 at halftime.

The Gamecocks scored the next 16 points.

Nyck Harbor got behind the defense and hauled in a 54-yard touchdown strike, William Joyce connected on a 47-yard field goal and Sellers scored on a 10-yard run after the Gamecocks recovered a punt deep in Alabama territory after it hit a Tide player in the back of the leg.

Down by 8 on the road, Alabama never flinched.

Coach Kalen DeBoer praised his team’s resilience and said this type of a win can pay dividends down the road.

“If you play with confidence, you give yourself a chance,” DeBoer said.

For South Carolina, which started the season ranked No. 13, it was yet another agonizing defeat.

“It’s hard. As the coach, I feel like I’m letting a lot of people down,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said. “I know today let a lot of people down. I wish I had something to say to make it better.”

The takeaway

Alabama: The Crimson Tide surprisingly struggled to run the ball against the Gamecocks, gaining 72 yards on 23 carries — most of those coming in the fourth quarter. “It’s hard to win the SEC, hard to win on the road,” Simpson said. “It’s such a great resilient win by the guys, man. Just super proud of the team.”

South Carolina: The Gamecocks had allowed 22 sacks coming into the game, the most in the country. Their offensive line had some costly penalties, but overall played better than in recent games.

Up next

Alabama: Hosts No. 20 LSU on Nov. 8.

South Carolina: At No. 8 Ole Miss on Saturday.