W
Wes Mitchell
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South Carolina travels to Texas A&M Saturday night looking for its first win over the Aggies in what will now be eight tries. The first ever matchup between the two teams was the Kenny "Trill" game that many, myself included, count as the beginning of the end of the Steve Spurrier era. That was followed by four straight games that were all relatively close and certainly closer than they probably should have been on paper. Then came the last two seasons when the Gamecocks were outscored 78-9 in the two games.
The common thread in the last two games has been that the Gamecocks just simply haven't been able to run the football at all and A&M has been able to establish a rushing attack.
This Aggies team is built a little differently as Kellen Mond has finally moved on but they do still run the football very well behind the one-two punch of Isaiah Spiller and Devon Achane. Spiller has been a major contributor since he was a freshman so you're probably familiar with him but just in case he's more of the workhorse back. He's an all-around player and at 6-foot-1, 215-pounds, he can run with power or speed and the Aggie o-line does a good job of giving him room to operate.
The 5-foot-9, 185-pound Achane is more of smaller, speedy back, capable of taking the ball to the house at any time, and also a contributor in the return game. They complement each other well from a skillset standpoint and Jimbo Fisher will get both of them the ball in the running game and on passes out of the backfield.
A&M has taken on more of a run-first identity on offense since the injury to quarterback Haynes King and that's helped his replacement Zach Calzada settle in and eliminate some of the mistakes he was making early in the season. This offense has really started to find itself in recent weeks as Jimbo Fischer has continued to tweak it after they struggled early on in the season. Obviously, the big win over then-No. 1 Alabama stands out but the Aggies followed that up by jumping all over Missouri early in the game this past week as well.
From what I saw in that game, they operate from the pistol quite a bit, spread teams out formationally and then really do a good job of getting movement up front from their offensive line. In the game I watched, they were heavy on running power plays with pulling offensive linemen and even when they ran zone, you'll often see an H-back pull across the formation as a sniffer block to the other side of the formation. Granted, Missouri is terrible in the run game on defense, but the Aggies essentially had their way with their front seven.
Getting back to Calzada, the book on him is that he's a big-armed kid who can make all the throws and will do just that from time to time but is also prone to turning it over at times and will sometimes lack touch and/or accuracy on some of the "easy" underneath throws. He'll make the "wow" throws but will also leave the layups out there. Obviously, we know this secondary has done a good job of forcing turnovers this season and they'll likely need to do that a couple of more times tonight if the Gamecocks are going to have any chance to be in position to pull a mammoth upset.
Tight end Jalen Wydermyer had a big game against South Carolina last season and physically looks like someone who will be an NFL Draft pick. He's a mismatch waiting to happen but has had issues this season holding onto the football. Even with his problems with drops this season, he's absolutely someone who can get open and that defenses have to account for on every play.
On the other side of the ball, this is a Texas A&M defense that much like pretty much every single A&M defense I can remember the Gamecocks facing, is incredibly talented up front and does a great job of creating havoc and getting to the quarterback. It's a big, athletic, deep group and while they're maybe not quite on the Georgia level, they're certainly one of the best defensive lines that the Gamecocks will face this season. For a South Carolina group that's struggled to protect the passer and consistently run the football this year, it's not necessarily a great matchup.
Led by their pass-rush, the Aggies have been strong defensively overall this season (2nd in the SEC in scoring [16.6 points/game], 7th in total defense [350 yards/game]), but if there's one area they may be a bit succeptable at times it's in the downfield passing game.
We've seen Zeb Noland have some success with the deep ball during his stretch as starter earlier this season and if the Gamecocks are going to have any chance, they'll have to hit some of those this week as well. It will be imperative for the Gamecocks to find a way to get the ball out quick while also stretching the field to ultimately get some type of running game going.
Which backs will carry the biggest workload this week will at least partially depend on which ones are most healthy as it's a banged up room right now, but I expect Juju McDowell to be back out there this week and for ZaQuandre White to get some action after stepping up for the team in the second half last week. It wouldn't surprise me if White got the start.
Getting back to those last two games against A&M, South Carolina rushed for 50 yards in last year's game (rushing for just one first down) and just 45 yards in the game before. Anything close to run-game outputs like that in this game will result in a similar outcome in the game.
FINAL PREDICTION: Texas A&M seems to be coming into its own while the Gamecocks' offense appears to sort of just be what it is at this point. While there have certainly been some signs of progress each week, to this point it hasn't resulted in an overall better output on that side of the ball. I do think the Gamecocks' defense can keep them in the game for part of the evening. But against a strong A&M defense, with an excellent defensive front, I don't believe the Carolina offense can do enough to outscore the Aggies or keep the defense from wearing down. Texas A&M 31, South Carolina 14
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