Texas A&M vs South Carolina Preview
The Aggies look to build upon the momentum gained over the last two weeks by taking down South Carolina in Kyle Field under the lights.By: The Hammer
Spiller ran for 131 yards last season on the Gamecocks. Photo by Sean Rayford, AP Photo
After taking care of business with ease on the road last weekend, the Aggies return home to take on a pesky 4-3 South Carolina team for the famed Bonham Trophy. That’s right, there is a trophy for this game. I mean, South Carolina is our hated SEC East rival after all. Even if South Carolina pulled off the upset, I don’t think anyone actually knows where the trophy is at, so it’s unlikely to be exchanged. Even more unlikely than the Bonham Trophy being located, perhaps, is the Gamecocks upsetting the Aggies on Saturday night.
Last weekend, Texas A&M beat up a bad Missouri team on the road while South Carolina needed a last minute touchdown led by graduate assistant turned backup QB Zeb Noland to defeat a horrible team in Vanderbilt. Texas A&M is hopefully finding their stride right now and South Carolina is next on the docket. It’s time to take care of business at home and bury a lesser opponent. I’m confident the Aggies do just that Saturday night.
Zeb Noland, the form Iowa State and North Dakota State turned graduate assistant turned starting QB for South Carolina. What a story. Photo by Karl B DeBlaker, AP
I’m not ready to say the Alabama win will launch A&M into a winning streak for the rest of the season, similar to the Florida win in 2020 did, but I do know we are playing the best football we have all year. Given how the season started, that isn’t saying much, but it’s a good sign nonetheless. If A&M can dominate South Carolina and put this team away early, I might start believing.
The Gamecocks are a feisty bunch that play hard, they just don’t have a lot of top end talent at the moment. Their only win over a power 5 opponent came last week when they barely beat 2-4 Vanderbilt 21-20. It’s a rebuilding year for first year coach Shane Beamer, and the team’s play has reflected that. Right now their biggest issue is offense. The Gamecocks are only managing 348.4 yards and 21.9 points per game, good enough for 102nd and 109th in the nation respectively. The run game has been almost non-existent averaging below 4 yards per carry on the year, and the passing game has been spotty at best with Doty and Noland both seeing time under center. The Aggie defense should be very aggressive Saturday night and I expect them to force multiple turnovers. South Carolina is the exact kind of team you bury if you are truly an elite defense.
South Carolina’s defense is much more respectable and has kept them in plenty of games, allowing their offense to score just enough in most of their wins. The Gamecocks currently allow 327 yards and 21.7 points per game, putting them 34th and 45th nationally in those categories. Like I said, this is a respectable unit defensively. The one thing A&M must avoid here is turnovers. The Gamecocks have been very good at forcing opportunistic turnovers and taking advantage of them. If we can avoid those, I know the Aggie offense can put up enough points to win.
Calzada needs to play better than he did against Mizzou. He missed too many passes, especially on easy swing passes to the running backs, but I’m confident he will have a better outing on Saturday. I would love to see Jimbo push the ball downfield more and take some home run shots, especially off play action if the run game is working. And I think it will be. Running the ball won’t be nearly as easy on South Carolina as it was against Missouri but I think we can run for at least 150 on these guys. The offensive line has been finding a groove these past few games and I trust Spiller and Achane to take advantage of all the running room they get and more.
At the end of the day, Texas A&M is a much better football team and program than South Carolina is right now. As long as we don’t play a terrible game and turn the ball over, this one should be an easy win that is out of reach by the 4th quarter. But if we mess around and play poorly, South Carolina is good enough to make it interesting. The Aggies seem to be on the right track right now though, and I think they will play well and get a comfortable win at Kyle Field.
Texas A&M - 31
South Carolina - 9
#BTHOSOUTHCAROLINA
