Look: Alabama players eat gator meat ahead of South Florida Week 3 matchup

Alabama football players ate gator meat for dinner on Tuesday ahead of their Week 3 road matchup against South Florida, seemingly poking fun at SEC rival Florida Gators.

Senior defensive back Jaylen Keys publicized the Crimson Tide's gator meat stunt on his Instagram story. Here's a look at the reptile, per Keys' IG story (via Mike Rodak of 247Sports).

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The Crimson Tide, of course, don't face the Gators in Week 3. Nor do they play Florida at all in the 2023 college football season (outside of a potential SEC championship meeting in Atlanta). But there is always room for pettiness between these two powerhouse programs: Alabama and Florida haven't played since the 2021 college football season, but have battled for the conference title 10 times since the game was introduced in 1992.

Because South Florida's nickname is a bull — rather than a gator — serving beef in the team cafeteria would have been a more appropriate dig at their upcoming opponent (albeit more mundane than the sizable gator).

The Crimson Tide face off with the Bulls on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT as Alabama looks to bounce back from an upset loss to Texas in Week 2. The game is in Tampa, Florida, a rare nonconference game for the team under Nick Saban.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Alabama players eat gator meat ahead of South Florida game