Roman Harper: One word will determine if Alabama can avoid upset at South Carolina

For the first time in more than a month, Alabama faces a team that is not nationally ranked on Saturday.

The No. 4 Crimson Tide (5-1, 4-0 SEC) travels to meet South Carolina (3-4, 1-4) on Saturday in Columbia. Alabama has beaten four straight ranked teams — Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee — and is a double-digit favorite against the struggling Gamecocks.

As former Alabama star Roman Harper noted on Saturday’s edition of SEC Nation, the Gamecocks were also unranked when they played in Tuscaloosa last year, and Alabama needed a last-second interception to seal a 27-25 victory. Harper, an All-SEC safety at Alabama in 2005, said that one characteristic will define if the Crimson Tide can avoid a letdown vs. South Carolina.

“The key word to that is maturity,” Harper said. “You have to be a mature team. That means you know how to have a success, as long as you don’t get too caught up with also the lows of the season. And so it’s good ebbs and flows. And right now Alabama, everybody’s telling you how great you are and you are playing really well, but you still haven’t even played your best game. So that part is still out there as well.

“So putting it all together in the run game, putting it all together on the offensive side, throwing the football, but also defensively — you can be a lot better on the defensive side of football. And there’s no better team to face right now than South Carolina, who hasn’t blocked anybody the last couple weeks. But South Carolina is a dangerous team because this is the same team that everybody said you’re supposed to blow out last year and you are one pass away from losing that game.”

Kickoff for Alabama-South Carolina is set for 2:30 p.m. Central on ABC.