Sports

Alabama Almost Blew Its Win Over South Carolina With Game-Tying Safety On Game-Winning Interception

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Alabama Safety South Carolina
ABC

Alabama barely escaped with a win over South Carolina during its chaotic college football game in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. The Crimson Tide came within inches of overtime on a boneheaded play that might’ve been catastrophic depending on how the SEC viewed the ruling.

Fortunately, it never got to the point where officials must determine the outcome!

Let’s first begin this discussion with a crucial sequence of events late in the fourth quarter. Jalen Milroe threw a wide-open touchdown to Germie Bernard right out of the two-minute timeout that put Alabama up by eight with the extra point. Although it is always great to get in the end zone and score points, it was actually not the best outcome in this specific situation.

If Bernard had gone down to the ground at the one-yard-line, the Crimson Tide would have been able to take three-straight knees and end the game. A touchdown instead gave the ball back to the Gamecocks.

South Carolina took full advantage of the extra possession. LaNorris Sellers chucked a deep ball to Nyck Harbor in the end zone. It was ruled a touchdown upon further review after being called as incomplete.

The Gamecocks were down by two after they failed to score on the two-point conversion. Alabama clung to a 27-25 lead.

If that was not crazy enough, a successfully recovered onside kick gave the ball right back to the visitors. They had 40 seconds to get into field goal range and knock one through the uprights.

South Carolina failed to do anything on first and second down so it went deep again on 3rd-and-8.

Sellers aired one out to nobody.

He threw an awful interception that was going to end the game… until Domani Jackson almost blew it. The Crimson Tide defensive back caught the interception at the two-yard-line, established possession, and ran directly into the end zone. Jackson almost took a knee after crossing the goal line but quickly reversed course to run out the clock in the field of play.

If Malachi Moore was not there to keep his positionmate from putting his knee all of the way to the ground, there was a chance that a kneel down would’ve resulted in a game-tying safety. Officials did not have to decide whether Jackson’s momentum carried him into the end zone or if he entered into the end zone on his own accord. He came to his senses and got the heck out of there in a hurry!

Thank goodness. Even though it was likely to be ruled as a touchback and not a safety, the last thing we need is for such a great game to come down to the subjective decision by the officials.