The Texas A&M football team had an opportunity to continue the momentum that they had built over the past two weeks with a home game against South Carolina. After a huge win against Alabama and dominating victory over Missouri, the Aggies seemed destined to win in dominating fashion.
They did just that.
At halftime, A&M already led 31-0 in a game that included a 95-yard return touchdown and a handful of elite defensive plays for the Aggies. The Aggies would eventually go on to win this game by a final score of 44 to 14, asserting their dominance upon the Gamecocks.
Today, I’m going to give three takeaways from this game.
Bonus Takeaway: The Texas A&M football team has too many playmakers to keep track of
Perhaps an afterthought of the Aggies’ dominating performance against the South Carolina Gamecocks is simple — this team has more playmakers than opposing teams can keep track of.
This shouldn’t really be considered a surprise, as most of the college football world knew what guys like Isaiah Spiller, Devon Achane, and Ainias Smith were capable of before the season. That said, their effectiveness has been on full display this year.
Two of the three players that I just listed have returned either a kick or a punt for a touchdown. The other in Spiller is just had his fifth 100+ yard rushing performance of the season. If you try to defend Spiller, you run the risk of being torched by his backup in Achane, who set a new career-high in yardage against South Carolina.
These three players combined for 304 yards and three touchdowns on the night.
Heck, even if you take things a step further, you’ll see guys like Caleb Chapman, Jalen Preston, and Demond Demas who have become afterthoughts. They’re all just as threatening though.
Takeaway No. 1: The Texas A&M football team’s offense is here to stay
I’ll stick on the offensive end for my second takeaway, which is simple — Jimbo Fisher’s offense is here to stay.
Rewind a few weeks and we’re talking about a program that couldn’t seem to score against a Power Five opponent. They played a Colorado team that is now 2-5 on the year and only scored 10 points. They would do the same two weeks later against Arkansas.
Even their 22-point performance against Mississippi State was a huge letdown.
That said, things have turned around 180 degrees since that performance. It started with a 41-point game against the Alabama Crimson Tide and continued with a 35-point scoring night against Missouri last weekend.
It continued against his week against South Carolina, where Texas A&M accumulated 479 total yards and 44 points in their contest against the Gamecocks. This game included a potent rushing attack, which is becoming a theme for the Aggies.
Zach Calzada is also growing increasingly confident and seems to be improved under pressure. He’s not a Heisman candidate, but he’s doing enough to allow this offense to be serviceable. Look for this unit to continue to improve through the end of the season.
Takeaway No. 2: The Texas A&M football team might have one of the best defenses in the country
I don’t want to overreact too much to this performance — the Gamecocks had one of the worst offenses at the Power Five level and were missing their starting quarterback. It was hard to see a world where they put up any points on Texas A&M.
That said, the Aggies had a more dominant defensive performance than anybody could have anticipated. It was a 41-0 game through three quarters, so I’m excluding garbage time statistics to give you an idea of A&M’s performance during the meat of this game.
Through three quarters, Texas A&M held South Carolina to 15 total yards, including -15 rushing yards, and zero points. The Aggies had this type of defensive performance while only forcing a single turnover.
This is no small feat — South Carolina has Kevin Harris, one of the best runningbacks in the entire country.
The Gamecocks had just two first towns through three quarters and couldn’t move the ball. Even if their starting quarterback in Luke Doty was around, I’m not sure that they’d be able to do much. Pass coverage was easy for Texas A&M because their defensive line was extremely dominant.
Though the Gamecocks finished the game with inflated stats, it was their worst offensive performance of the season and the Aggies’ best defensive performance of the season.
It’s also worth noting that if you include garbage time stats, A&M forced three turnovers on the night.
Texas A&M’s defense is the real deal.
Takeaway No. 3: A few Texas A&M football playmakers have arrived
The Texas A&M football team had a handful of playmakers — I mentioned it earlier and I’ll be talking about it all season long. That said, these playmakers hadn’t really shown up yet this season. At least not to the extend most fans and experts expected.
The players that I’m referring to are primarily Isaiah Spiller and Jalen Wydermyer.
I’ll start with Spiller, who had put together a solid season already to this point. The Aggie runningback had been having a quiet season, but this marks the fifth time he’s hit the 100-yard mark on the year. This game saw him rush for 102 total yards, reaching the endzone once.
The player who really stepped up for the first time this season was Jalen Wydermyer, who may have cemented himself as the best tight end in Texas A&M history. At the very least, he became the all-time receiving yard leader at the tight end spot in Aggie history, surpassing Martellus Bennett, who was in Aggieland a decade and a half ago.
Wydermyer had a huge game, pulling in four catches for 75 yards with two early touchdowns. He helped set the tone offensively and despite being a big, lumbering guy, found a way to get wide open on a consistent basis.
If these two guys can continue to play at this level, this offense will continue to produce.