Texas A&M fans are still smarting from the loss to South Carolina, and there's a lot of doom and gloom at the moment about a team that is currently under .500. The Aggies were close to a victory in that game, and yet they found a way to waste their opportunities— that's what hurts more than anything.
But after venting, taking a deep breath, and looking towards the final three games of the season, what can we take away from that performance? Let's dive into what we learned from the loss to South Carolina.
Three takeaways for Texas A&M against South Carolina
Marcel Reed is getting better, but the offense is still broken
If you're honest with yourself, you look at that Marcel Reed performance from last night, comparing it to what we saw out of him against Kentucky, LSU, and Missouri, and you have to say that he has improved in a big way. You can't look at him dirting a rollout pass to Carsyn Baker on a failed fourth-down conversion against the Wildcats and then look at what he put on tape against Carolina and say that's the same level of play.
The frustrating thing is that it was not enough for the Aggies to win in either instance— nor, obviously, was it good enough to beat Missouri or LSU. That shouldn't be ignored, but we can't also pretend that there's not a difference in the way Reed was playing in each game.
There is something deeply wrong with an offense that can put up 450 yards of offense, not turn the ball over, and only score 9 total points, but that's the way things have gone for this Aggie team so far this year. There are explanations to point to— injuries being one of the big ones— but it just feels way too hard for this team to score right now, even when things are going right.
The defense is currently underappreciated
The final 41-yard run from LaNorris Sellers notwithstanding, the Aggies put up a valiant effort on defense against what had been one of the most effective rushing offenses in the country. A&M heavily limited the Gamecocks on the ground, holding them to their lowest output this season on both a points and a rushing yardage basis (even with that 41-yarder factored in).
There were some hiccups along the way, of course. The Gamecocks hit some big plays down the field in the pass game, as so many have against the Aggies, showing that there are still some coverage confusions that are plaguing the secondary.
The defense did what they needed to do, though, against one of the hottest offenses in the country coming into the game. They gave this team a chance to win— it's not the defense's fault that the offense failed to produce points in a historically unprecedented way.
This team will be riding the razor's edge down the stretch
That was most likely the toughest game left on the schedule for the Aggies, and they were right there with a chance to win down the stretch. This doesn't look like a team that has given up at all; it looks like a team that is way out of sync and searching for answers, but there's still a lot of belief inside the locker room.
In that vein, whether the Aggies win or lose out, all of the games are bound to be close. We saw from this game that that's a double-edged sword: most predicted A&M would lose this one, but the fact that it was so close yet still slipped away made it that much more painful for Aggie fans.
A&M is going to have a chance in all of these games. This is a team that keeps finding a way to lose, though, so you can't feel all that optimistic about them coming away with a win when all is said and done. It's going to be a wild ride either way, though, so prepare for that now.
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