Greg McElroy gave his thoughts on Alabama’s victory over South Carolina, as the Crimson Tide bounced back from a stunning loss at Vanderbilt to slip past the Gamecocks in Tuscaloosa.

After the Tide pulled ahead 14-0, the Gamecocks brought it within a touchdown. That’s when the Tide started to lose their grip on the game, McElroy said.

“Alabama made some of the dumbest mistakes I think I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Seriously, for as well coached and for as good as this team has traditionally been, that was about as bad as it gets at the end of the first half and at the end of game situation. This team right now is lacking situational awareness, which is really a problem. And it needs to get addressed and get addressed rather quickly.”

Toward the latter stages of that game, a facemask by Alabama with under a minute to play made it 1st and 10 from the Tide 31, and the Gamecocks cashed in to pull within 27-25. They then were able to somehow recover an onside kick before a LaNorris Sellers interception ended his team’s chance at a home upset.

By all accounts, things could have gone much differently, a fact McElroy highlighted.

“Just an inexcusably bad and dumb game that was played by the Crimson Tide. Just dumb. Flat-out dumb. And it needs to get addressed really quickly because that almost cost them,” he said.

Week 6 of the 2024 South Carolina football season is history.

There isn’t much change at the top of the poll as the favorites keep winning. But there are some new teams entering the lower end of the poll after some upsets.

Here is the complete breakdown of South Carolina’s best, as we see it, after Week 3 of the South Carolina high school football season.

Previous rank: 1

Last week: defeated James F. Byrnes 15-9 in OT.

Up next: at Riverside.

Previous rank: 2

Last week: defeated Emerald 41-17.

Up next: Fountain Inn.

Previous rank: 3

Last week: defeated then-No. 23 White Knoll 38-0.

Up next: at Lexington.

Previous rank: 4

Last week: defeated James Island 26-0.

Up next: Ashley Ridge.

Previous rank: 5

Last week: defeated Fort Mill 65-6.

Up next: Rock Hill.

Previous rank: 6

Last week: defeated then-No. 18 River Bluff 35-14.

Up next: at White Knoll.

Previous rank: 7

Last week: defeated Augusta Christian 51-16.

Up next: at Northwood Academy.

Previous rank: 8

Last week: defeated Chapman 27-9.

Up next: Woodruff.

Previous rank: 9

Last week: idle.

Up next: Blythewood.

Previous rank: 10

Last week: defeated Georgetown 65-16.

Up next: at No. 25 Dillon.

Previous rank: 11

Last week: defeated Travelers Rest 54-0.

Up next: at Pickens.

Previous rank: 12

Last week: defeated Dorman 23-7.

Up next: No. 23 Boiling Springs.

Previous rank: 13

Last week: defeated Ninety-Six 42-14.

Up next: Pelion.

Previous rank: 14

Last week: postponed at McCormick

Up next: at Calhoun Falls Charter.

Previous rank: 15

Last week: Lake Marion 39-7.

Up next: Barnwell.

Previous rank: 16

Last week: defeated York 42-0.

Up next: Lancaster

Previous rank: 17

Last week: idle.

Up next: Crescent.

Previous rank: 19

Last week: defeated Waccamaw 40-14.

Up next: Georgetown.

Previous rank: 20

Last week: defeated Pelion 56-0. 

Up next: at Ninety-Six.

Previous rank: 22

Last week: Crestwood 41-7.

Up next: Darlington.

Previous rank: Not ranked

Last week: defeated Chester 22-6. 

Up next: Eau Claire.

Previous rank: Not ranked

Last week: defeated then-No. 24 Northwood Academy 28-12.

Up next: idle.

Previous rank: Not ranked

Last week: defeated Wade Hampton 55-14.

Up next: at No. 12 Spartanburg.

Previous rank: 18

Last week: lost to No. 6 Irmo 35-14

Up next: Chapin.

Previous rank: Not ranked

Last week: defeated Aynor 49-7.

Up next: No. 10 Marlboro County.

South Carolina is a small betting underdog to Oklahoma for next weekend’s road matchup with the Sooners, according to early lines released Sunday morning.

Draft Kings has the Sooners as an early 3-point favorite while FanDuel set the line at Oklahoma -3.5. Bally Sports and Bet Rivers both set it at 5.5 points. All of those lines are according to Vegas Insider, which has the early consensus line at Oklahoma -3 as of late Sunday morning.

The over/under on the game is 41.5 points, which isn’t surprising given the strength of both teams’ defenses and the inconsistency of their offenses.

[See what other fans are saying on The Insiders Forum!]

The Gamecocks (3-3, 1-3 SEC) are coming off a heartbreaking 27-25 defeat at Alabama, a game they entered as three-touchdown underdogs.

South Carolina has wins over Old Dominion, Kentucky, and Akron this season, along with losses to LSU, Ole Miss, and the Crimson Tide.

Oklahoma (4-2, 1-2 SEC), in its first season in the new-look SEC, is coming off a 34-3 beatdown at the hands of rival Texas in the Red River Rivalry game.

The Sooners have wins over Temple, Houston, Tulane, and Auburn with losses to Tennessee and the Longhorns.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Texas A&M football game]

While the game will be the first ever matchup between South Carolina and Oklahoma, it will be a bit of a homecoming for Beamer who served as the Sooners’ tight ends coach before landing the job in Columbia.

“Being with Lincoln Riley (at Oklahoma) and that recruiting team (it was) just a new way of doing things, new way of seeing things,” Beamer said at SEC Media Days this year. “(I saw it at a program) not like Georgia, because that’s where I was coming from. And then being in a state, this isn’t a knock on South Carolina football, it’s facts,  the population of the state of South Carolina isn’t what the state of Texas is. And it isn’t what the state of Georgia is. 

“So therefore there’s fewer Power Five players coming out of the state of South Carolina each and every year then, you know, Texas and Georgia and California, a lot of states can say that. So being able to be creative on recruiting outside your state, like we had to do with Oklahoma was beneficial for me coming back to South Carolina also.”

The Gamecocks and Sooners are scheduled for a 12:45 p.m. ET kickoff on SEC Network.