College football grades: Alabama earns ‘A-‘ mark for SEC blowout, USC gets ‘D’ on Week 4 report card

Alabama flashed its dominant gear yet again in a 49-18 win over South Carolina on Saturday, as the Crimson Tide improved to 4-0 (2-0 SEC) with another victory brought glimpses of greatness. Kalen DeBoer's club has totaled between 45 and 50 points in all four outings this season while demonstrating a penchant for game-changing explosiveness.

That explosiveness came in the form of a 35-3 start against the visiting Gamecocks as quarterback Keelon Russell threw four touchdowns in the first half. The onslaught came a week after the Crimson Tide rallied from a 21-6 deficit to outscore Florida State 44-15 the rest of the way.

Against Kentucky in Week 2, Alabama closed the game with 32 unanswered points. The Crimson Tide are far from perfect; they have put some defensive shortcomings on film the last two weeks, and they struggled to run the football consistently against the Gamecocks. But they force turnovers and have now gone two games without committing any of their own.

The makings of a great team are visible. With a little more defensive consistency and some better run blocking, the Crimson Tide will be rising even higher up the national title odds sheet.

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Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/