Texas A&M football still has yet to announce starter for South Carolina game
Texas A&M football is slated to face off with South Carolina this Saturday in the toughest road test the Aggies have this season. As Mike Elko has said a couple of times this week, the Aggies are walking into a buzzsaw of an environment down in Columbia this week.
The Gamecocks, who will be coming off of a bye, are coming into this one with a giant-killer mentality. They've been extremely close to notching a huge win two times this season—at home against LSU and on the road against Alabama—and come up just short both times.
Part of the confidence that the Gamecocks are bringing into this one has to do with the uncertainty at quarterback for the Ags. Of course, after the slow start last week, the Aggies made a switch from Conner Weigman to Marcel Reed, with the latter jumpstarting the A&M offense.
There's still some question, though, about whether that was simply a matchup-based spark. When Reed led the offense against Bowling Green and Arkansas, things looked pretty rough for quite some time.
Those who watched The Pulse this last weekend, or either of Mike Elko's pressers, also heard the head man diffuse blame across the entire passing game rather than just Conner. The play calling and receivers, in retrospect, looked like they were not doing Weigman any favors—not that the blame is fully off of him, but the pass game in total definitely looked dysfunctional.
Does that mean, though, that Elko may start Weigman in this game? It's tough to say. This seems like a textbook bad matchup for Conner, as the Gamecocks have a somewhat soft rush defense and a ferocious pass rush.
Of course, if things are clicking in the pass game off the bat, there's really nothing a defense can do. This comes down to a question of playing it safer vs. shooting for that higher ceiling; the out-of-this-world efficiency that the Ags showed against Missouri (who, for all the disappointment they've shown as a team, still look to have a decent defense) vs. a lower margin-for-error style with Reed.
I think we see Reed start this one, but I also think we see both guys at different points. The pass rush was simply too bothersome against LSU when Conner was in to think that he'll immediately thrive on the road against an even better unit. But, that said, he's surprised us before.