Casagrande: How a 97-second disaster turned into an Alabama win worse than the Vandy loss

From Milroe scurrying around after a devastating block from Jam Miller two weeks ago to leaving the field completely dazed at halftime this Saturday.

It's almost hard to remember the sequence of events that led to the game going to halftime with Alabama leading 14-12, but this abstract football continued until the clock reached zero in the fourth quarter indicated.

As a reminder, the Tide led 14-0, didn't dominate, but posed no real threat until South Carolina lined up on fourth-and-9 from the Tide 36 with 1:43 on the clock. That's how it went.

Busted covered and the Gamecock's 36-yard touchdown catch came with 1:37 left on the click.

Personal foul on the following kickoff. Alabama started at its own 10-yard line when Jalen Milroe's low-energy attempt to throw one away amid the devastating pass rush took place in the end zone.

Security.

Then, after South Carolina stumbled, Alabama took over the midfield position. Two negative rushing plays later, Milroe was picked off to set up a 36-yard field goal as time expired. A shell-shocked Alabama team headed to the locker room in the midst of a whiplash collapse that looked pretty bad through a microscope.

Even worse from the telescope.

It exposed major, gaping flaws in every aspect of a Crimson Tide program that was at its peak 14 days earlier but has since plummeted to Earth. Of course, this also includes the madness of last week at Vanderbilt.

But this “victory” over South Carolina felt even worse.

Alabama was sloppier against South Carolina. At times it looked like low effort and low energy. They were manhandled for spreads by a team that wasn't supposed to be in contention against a team like the Crimson Tide.

It's hard to imagine the last time a team conceded a touchdown, a safety and a field goal in 97 seconds. It seems almost impossible to be so inept at all phases of the game.

Frankly, it's impossible to explain to anyone who was in a champagne coma in the second quarter of the Georgia game the feeling Alabama had at halftime.

The Crimson Tide had dismantled their superpower rival early, survived a disastrous second half, and then were attacked by Vanderbilt and then South Carolina, something unthinkable amid the Bryant-Denny flashlights of Sept. 28.

Things even got worse a few times before Alabama avoided a second straight historic upset.

South Carolina took a 19-14 lead after bleeding out the first 8:35 minutes of the second half in a 16-play, 85-play molasses march to the end zone. The Gamecocks shaped Alabama and played the physical football that was once the hallmark of Tuscaloosa.

No longer.

Alabama was outscored 93-62 as Milroe outscored Georgia 28-0 on South Carolina's 1-yard touchdown run with 6:20 left in the third quarter on Saturday.

The Gamecocks, fresh off a 27-3 loss to Ole Miss, were beating Alabama 257-142 at the time. And it finished with a rush of 374-313 yards.

South Carolina sacked Milroe four times among his nine tackles for loss.

A Gamecock team that was among the worst in the country on third downs converted 5 of 6 in the third quarter and shot a season-high 7 of 15 for the game.

Two weeks ago, Milroe was a Heisman frontrunner. On Saturday he threw two costly interceptions. He still completed 16 of 23 passes for 209 yards and the game-winning touchdown, but two weeks later his stock is in a very different place.

Maybe this is the lowest point for a team that was on the mountaintop 14 days earlier.

Or it's just the next step in the steady and shocking decline because it's hard to find much positive in another day of endless adjectives.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or further Facebook.