Game Recap: Texas A&M Football Trounces Gamecocks

The Gamecocks took possession first in the third quarter. A screen pass to a WR with his knee on the ground lost them one yard on first, but a well-executed slant got the Gamecocks into third and 1, which they converted. A first down rush went nowhere on the ensuing play, but a second down play that should’ve been blown up in the backfield ended up going for several yards after Anderson broke a tackle. Third and one led to more pressure, but this time Rattler somehow completed a pass to a heavily-covered Trey Knox. A first down run and second down screen gained only 3 total yards for the Gamecocks, and a jump ball on third between the towering Harbor and diminutive Deuce Harmon had the latter winning the matchup. The Gamecocks converted on a 49-yard try to cut the lead to 11.

Max went deep to Evan on the Aggies’ first play, but the ball fell incomplete after some jersey tugging by the defender, who went down with an injury following the play. A second down run picked up only two yards, and the Aggies were again in third and long. Pressure in Max’s face forced an early throw, which didn’t make it to Ainias, and the Aggies would punt. What looked like a sure block turned out to be a whiff by a SC special teamer, and the punt fell on the Carolina 40.

Rattler threw incomplete on the first play, and another Gamecock went down with injury—this time, it was TE Trey Knox. Another lateral pass on second down, to Legette this time, went for only 2 yards, bringing up a long third down where another pass to Legette fell incomplete. The Gamecocks would punt, and Ainias called for a fair catch around the 15 yard line.

Texas A&M football continued chipping away with another first down rush by Owens, picking up about three and a half yards. A toss play to Owens on second moved the Ags into 3rd and 4, where Max had time against the blitz and completed a ball to Noah Thomas for a first down, his first catch of the day. A pass to Jake Johnson picked up another first, and an offsides penalty gave the Ags a free five yards, with Owens picking up the remainder on the ensuing toss play. Noah Thomas went up high to catch a pass just short of the sticks on second down, bringing up another short yardage situation. This time, the Aggies faked the handoff, and Max lazily looped a pass to his tight end for the first. Another first down pass to Stewart picked up just over ten yards, but the defender lowering his head initiated a targeting review that ended up being confirmed, moving the Aggies down to the eleven yard line. A run up the gut gained only about two yards, and a pass to an open Max Wright seemed at first to lead the TE out of bounds, but upon review, the pass looked like it might have been hauled in. After a long video review, though, the refs let the call stand, bringing up a third and 8. Johnson again appeared to have a touchdown, this time to Noah Thomas, but a great break on the ball by Gamecock safety Nick Emmanwori broke up the pass, leaving Thomas apparently injured—he was able to walk off under his own power, though. Randy Bond’s field goal was good from 26 yards, and the Aggies led 24-10.

Mario Anderson had possibly his best run of the day on the first play of the next drive for the Gamecocks, going about 10 yards. A screen pass to Harbor picked up another 10, but the Ags had good coverage on the next play, forcing another throw away by Rattler. The Gamecock QB scrambled for one yard on the next play, but he was able to get the ball to Harbor once more to convert. Mario Anderson had another big run to move the Gamecocks down within the five, also bringing the quarter to a close.