South Carolina has spent the week with one eye on Texas A&M and the other on Georgia, and that’s exactly where the pressure of Saturday’s game lives.
The No. 21 Gamecocks are 5-3 overall and 3-3 in the SEC, riding a three-game winning streak into Williams-Brice Stadium with a chance to lock up bowl eligibility.
Texas A&M arrives at 4-4 and 1-4 in league play, and kickoff is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN. South Carolina is favored by seven points.
The matchup has not been kind to the Gamecocks since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2014. Texas A&M has won 10 of the 12 meetings, including last season’s comeback after South Carolina blew a 27-point halftime lead. Still, the Gamecocks have taken the last two games played in Columbia, which gives this one a little extra edge heading into Saturday.
There’s also a bigger picture hanging over the week. South Carolina’s Nov. 21 game against No.
2 Georgia is already driving plenty of conversation, but the Gamecocks have to get through Texas A&M first. Beat the Aggies, and the next two weeks turn into a full-blown buildup to the Bulldogs.
Lose, and the whole playoff conversation gets a lot quieter.
That’s why this week feels so close to a trap game, even if it isn’t quite one. Texas A&M’s offense has struggled, and the Aggies have not beaten an SEC team not named Arkansas. But there’s still a wrinkle here: Mike Elko is 6-0 off a bye week as a head coach, and Texas A&M had the week off to tinker.
Shane Beamer’s own words from nearly a year ago are also back in the spotlight. After South Carolina’s loss at Texas A&M last season, he said, “I do know next year at this time,” Beamer said, “we are going to be sitting here on this Tuesday night watching the Playoff rankings to see where we are”
That prediction is now playing out. In Tuesday night’s first College Football Playoff rankings on ESPN, South Carolina checked in at No. 21 and was the highest-ranked three-loss team in the country.
The Gamecocks are also still carrying the memory of last year’s collapse in College Station. South Carolina led 30-3 at halftime against the No. 3 team in the country before the lead disappeared, and the loss turned into a long-running embarrassment.
Beamer revisited that game in Tuesday’s team meeting, telling the team, “I think the biggest thing was you give A&M credit,” Beamer said he told the team. “They made the plays in the second half. ...
And we need to coach better and play better than what we did in the second half. Period.
End of story.”
This one matters in its own right, too. South Carolina’s biggest win of 2024 came against No.
10 Texas A&M, and last year’s Aggies comeback remains one of the most memorable games on their side of the ledger. Saturday offers the Gamecocks a shot to wipe that memory away.
One area that should help South Carolina is up front. The offseason conversation centered on the offensive line, after USC quarterbacks had been sacked at least 40 times in each of the previous three seasons.
That hasn’t been the story this year. Through eight games, the Gamecocks have allowed just 16 sacks, or two per game.
Texas A&M, meanwhile, has the fewest sacks in the SEC with 16. That should give LaNorris Sellers some room to work after he was sacked three times last week against Oklahoma.
And if South Carolina wants another reason to feel good, November has been the month where Beamer’s teams have done their best work. Since 2021, the Gamecocks are 14-7 in November and 8-12 in October.
Against Power-4 teams, that November record is 11-7. Six of Beamer’s nine wins over ranked opponents have also come in November.
Prediction: South Carolina 33, Texas A&M 20
In Other News...
South Carolina's Postseason Picture Suddenly Feels Bigger Than One More Game
One more win is all South Carolina needs to lock up bowl eligibility, and that alone has made the final stretch of the season feel a little bigger than the standings might suggest. With the Gamecocks still in position to extend their year, the bowl chatter has already started to pick up, with various outlets floating a range of possible destinations based on where the season leaves them.
The projections have South Carolina linked to everything from the Duke's Mayo Bowl and Music City Bowl to the Las Vegas Bowl and IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl, among others, with opponents and sites shifting depending on the outlet. None of it is settled yet, of course, but the spread of possibilities shows how much is still in play as the Gamecocks chase that last win and the postseason door that comes with it. [Read more 🡒]
Charleston Southern Showed Something South Carolina Fans Will Want To Track
Charleston Southern handled Columbia International University 86-49 on Nov. 5, a result that may not move the needle much in Columbia but still offers a small point of interest for South Carolina fans keeping tabs on the states basketball landscape. Anthony Ruffolo led the way with 31 points, and Lase Olalere added a strong all-around night with 14 points and 16 rebounds as the Buccaneers continued their dominance in the series.
The win pushed Charleston Southern to 7-0 all-time against Columbia International University, and the schedule now gets a bigger test with a trip to Wake Forest on Nov. 10. For South Carolina followers, it is the sort of early-season result that is worth noting less for the final margin than for the players who helped create it and the tougher challenge waiting next. [Read more 🡒]
South Carolina's Backfield Suddenly Faces A Test That Could Define This Stretch
South Carolinas backfield took a significant hit when Matt Fuller went down with a left ankle injury and was ruled out for the rest of the season, with surgery now on the calendar. In the immediate aftermath, the Gamecocks had to lean on Jabree Coleman, Christian Clark and Isaiah Augustave, and they answered the call against Oklahoma by helping steady a position group that suddenly had to reshape itself on the fly.
Fuller has still been around the program, attending team meetings and practices as a spectator, which at least keeps him connected to a room that will need to keep adjusting as the schedule moves on. For South Carolina, the challenge now is less about replacing one player snap for snap and more about seeing how quickly that next wave of backs can settle into larger roles while the staff manages the ripple effect of losing a season-long contributor. [Read more 🡒]