A Southeastern Conference rivalry between No. 10 Texas A&M and South Carolina saw its latest rendition with the Bonham Trophy on the line on Saturday night. The stakes were high, with eyebrows raised on who would start at quarterback for the Aggies and which Gamecock team would show up. Those questions were answered at Williams-Brice Stadium, where South Carolina crushed A&M, 44-20.
Redshirt freshman QB Marcel Reed got the nod from coach Mike Elko on Thursday that he would start against the Gamecocks.
“He’s still a young kid, he’s learning, he’s getting better,” Elko said. “He’s got to be a little more careful with the football, obviously.”
In another primetime game, A&M did not expect to find itself down two touchdowns in the first quarter with the defense unable to contain the outside. Plenty of missed tackles and penalties stood in A&M’s way. The struggles for the A&M offense also began shortly after the South Carolina defense marked its territory when Elko rolled the dice early on a 4th-and-1 attempt that was quickly shut down.
“We didn’t do any of the things you need to do to win a football game,” Elko said.
It felt like it would be an uphill battle on both sides of the ball for A&M after a 23-yard rushing touchdown by South Carolina redshirt freshman QB LaNorris Sellers. The second drive for the A&M offense saw junior running back Le’Veon Moss escorted to the medical tent and carted to the locker room. Moss did not return for the rest of the game, leaving junior RB Amari Daniels in charge to step up.
“I don’t think it looks real good right now, but I don’t think it maybe looks as bad as it might have on the field,” Elko said. “Hopefully, it’s not one of those awful ones, but I do think he’ll be out for a little while.
The Maroon and White faced their largest deficit of the season but crawled back into the game when graduate kicker Randy Bond tied and then broke his career-long field goal on two attempts in the first half. He nailed a 52-yard field goal in the first quarter before getting the Maroon and White within one possession with a 55-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Senior cornerback BJ Mayes registered his third turnover in the last two games, helping set up the Aggies’ second field goal, but the Gamecocks’ explosiveness in the rush attack continued.
Entering the game, A&M had not allowed teams to rush for more than 100 yards in five of its past six games and had not surrendered multiple rushing scores in a game since the season opener against Notre Dame. This time, the defense gave up 286 rushing yards and 244 yards in the air.
There was plenty of confidence for the defense in the second quarter, though, when the Aggies held the Gamecocks to six points from two field goals, which helped the offense get back into the game. Daniels busted into the open field on a 56-yard touchdown to cap off a quick three-play, 65-yard drive to get within four points.
Reed had a few more sparks that proved he is capable of being the starting quarterback of the future, but he also made some mental mistakes on the field that reminded that he is still a redshirt freshman. One of his highlights came at the end of the second quarter when he hit senior wide receiver Jabre Barber for an 11-yard gain before a two-yard touchdown to give the Aggies their only lead of the evening at 20-17.
At other points in the game, the offense stalled or had some questionable play calls that caused A&M to go three-and-out or go for it on fourth down. There were numerous runs up the middle by Daniels that were for little or no gain deep in A&M territory, and it forced Elko to make a critical call to go for it on 4th and 1, which had previously been unsuccessful in the first half. It resulted in a turnover on downs for the second time and put the defense pinned back in its own territory again.
“It was fourth and half a yard on both of them and we have to be able to get half a yard,” Elko said.
Once Elko decided not to send the punt team onto the field, Williams-Brice Stadium began to light up, and the energy started to rise where nothing was going to stop the Gamecocks. The A&M defense gave up 10 points in the third quarter, but time was not in its favor, and the fourth quarter was a total collapse.
“I think the missed tackles have been growing and growing,” Elko said. “Once it got to that point and we weren’t able to play the game that we’re better at, I think that really hurt us.”
Reed nearly threw a pick-six, but a video review determined that the returner had stepped out of bounds. Sellers later connected with graduate tight end Joshua Simon on a 57-yard touchdown pass with less than four minutes to go, and Reed got strip sacked, which led to senior RB Raheim Sanders putting the icing on the cake with a seven-yard touchdown, his second score of the night.
A&M will enter the bye week before heading into Week 12 to battle New Mexico State on Nov. 16 at 6:45 p.m. on the SEC Network.
