Germie Bernard scores a clutch touchdown for Alabama in the final minutes

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Germie Bernard was the leading receiver for Alabama in Saturday's 27-25 win over South Carolina with four catches for 89 yards. No catch was bigger than his 34-yard touchdown catch in the final minutes against South Carolina.

Shortly after the two-minute timeout, Alabama faced a third-and-10 and had a 20-19 lead. Quarterback Jalen Milroe spotted a wide-open Bernard crossing the middle of the field. There was no defender within 10 yards of him when he made the catch and rolled into the end zone to give Alabama a 27-19 lead.

“We knew we had to get the first down,” DeBoer said. “There were a lot of safe routes in this game and they tried to play a lot of them aggressively. As with many of our concepts, there was a deeper route. Jalen saw it and made the throw. That means finding a way to make it happen.”

The score gave Alabama a much-needed eight-point cushion, which proved crucial as the Gamecocks marched 65 yards in a minute to score and cut the lead to two points.

It was nice for Bernard to score the touchdown, but the smarter play would have been to go down near the goal line or go out of bounds. South Carolina ran out of timeouts and the Bama offense could have lined up in victory formation and run out the clock.

“Next time I’ll keep that in mind,” Bernard said. “Hopefully we never get into this situation again.”

The mindset for Alabama heading into Saturday's game against South Carolina was simple. Do your job.

That's something Alabama failed to do last week in Nashville after losing to Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years.

“We had to put the loss against Vandy behind us and put it out of our minds,” Alabama offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor said.

It took some time for the message to sink in as South Carolina battled back, scoring 19 unanswered points and taking the lead in the second half.

There was never any doubt in the players' minds that they would come away with the win.

“I had faith in my team and we had faith in each other,” running back Justice Haynes said. “We talk about it all the time. It's hard to get a win in the SEC. They are a good team and we took care of business today. That’s all you can ask.”

Punter James Burnip had an outstanding day. His first punt, 59 yards, turned the field over in the first quarter and South Carolina started at 10 yards of its own.

His second punt was a 52-yarder, tying the Gamecocks at their own 12. Later in the second half, he hit a kick just inside the 10.

South Carolina missed the chance to calm the crowd and tie the game 7-7. Instead of a great game and a change in momentum, South Carolina got nothing. QB LaNorris Sellers twice avoided a disastrous sack inside the 5-yard line and threw a pass to a wide-open Gage Larvadain who had nothing but green grass in front of him, but he dropped the ball. Alabama engineered a seven-play, 67-yard touchdown drive on its next possession to take a 14-0 lead.

Kickoff weather was 73 degrees with clear skies…Kicker Graham Nicholson, used only for extra points, had just two field goal attempts in six games…South Carolina topped Alabama in rushing yards (132-104) and passing yards (242-209)…In three SEC games, Crimson Tide running backs Justice Haynes and Jam Miller combined for just 179 yards…Honorary captains were Ricky Davis (1972-74) and Sylvester Croom (1972-74). ..Officials of the game: Matt Loeffler (referee), Stan Weihe (referee), Nicholas Theriot (head judge), Michael Shirley (linesman), Antonio Smith (field judge), Jesse Dupuy (assistant judge), John Morton (back judge), Jason McArthur (middle judge).