Texas A&M Football: 3 Reasons the Aggies will Beat South Carolina

Texas A&M Football’s Special Teams need to be on point

I think we’re all familiar with the moniker “Beamer Ball,” referring to South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer’s father, Frank Beamer, and his emphasis on special teams.  Well, as they say, like father, like son.  The Gamecocks field an outstanding special teams unit, ranking within the top 3 in blocked kicks and blocked punts, and top 10 in kickoff return defense as well as punt returns.  Those latter two categories will be strength-on-strength this Saturday, as the Aggies are a top team in kickoff return yardage and punt return defense, with Achane’s ever-present ability to break loose on a kickoff return and the leg of Nik Constantinou a formidable weapon in itself.

Where the Aggies need to play cleanly, however, is in the kicking game.  Caden Davis’s mishap against App State is now a distant memory with Randy Bond assuming the kicking duties, but an errant snap against Arkansas almost cost the Aggies that game.  A&M needs clean execution from snap to kick on both FG tries and XP attempts this Saturday— a big special teams play could not only amp up the opponent, but a hostile crowd could seize on that and make things even more difficult on a day where the Aggies need to get the crowd out of the game as soon as possible.

So what do you think?  What are your keys to the game?  Let me know in the comments below!