The South Carolina Gamecocks met no resistance against No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies, despite their farewell week, dropping 48-3 Saturday night in Columbia.
The Gamecocks lost three chances in possession of the game’s initial ball, after some pleasant receptions from Shi Smith and a bomb, unfortunately, falling on Jalen Brooks. Fortunately, it did no harm, as the USC forced A&M to go three and leave as well.
However, the Gamecocks, happy with the pass, kicked again – he got it right – and ultimately set up a 7-yard touchdown by Ainias Smith to put the Aggies in an initial 7-0 lead. South Carolina continued to struggle to receive the next possession, hitting it for the third time – although reserve defender Luke Doty received a few snaps.
After managing another defensive stop, Gamecocks opened the second room with – you guessed it – a punt. The Aggies then had a long and productive run, aided by a key conversion from Isaiah Spiller in the third and long, and culminated in a 15-yard reception by Jalen Wydermyer scoring to place the Aggies at 14-0.
South Carolina’s situation went from bad to worse when Hill was immediately chosen as the first downhill when trying to hit Xavier Legette on a double cover. (Really, did the team forget that Kevin Harris or even ANY running back was on this team?) Fortunately, the USC came up with a fourth stop to make sure the pick wouldn’t come back to bite, but a promising boost (which included a Harris race from 28 yards!) Ended with a 44-yard Parker White goal attempt that went to the left.
Not to be outdone, Gamecock’s defense also performed horribly towards the end of the semester, yielding a 52-yard run for Spiller and allowing another Wydermyer score with just 14 seconds remaining in the first stanza to give A&M a 21-0 halftime lead.
And honestly, look, I don’t want to go into that too much, but – things immediately got ugly for South Carolina in the third quarter. A&M quickly increased its lead to 34-0 and scored another pair of points in the fourth quarter to climb 48-0 while Hill inexplicably remained a defender for the Gamecocks. Fortunately (?), South Carolina avoided closing, dropping 48-3.
The Gamecocks (2-4) travel to Ole Miss next week.