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Earlier this week, I referred to the University of South Carolina football team‘s home tilt against No. 10 Texas A&M as a “make or break” game. Well, head coach Shane Beamer‘s squad made it… with plenty of room to spare.
In front of a raucous capacity crowd of 80,298 under the lights at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night, Beamer’s Gamecocks (5-3, 3-3 SEC) survived a furious counterpunch from the favored Aggies (7-2, 5-1 SEC) to emerge with their first victory over a ranked opponent in nearly two years.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M suffered its first loss in conference play – while its College Football Playoff hopes were dealt a potentially fatal blow.
Thousands of Gamecock fans stormed the field following the improbable victory, surrounding Beamer and his players in a euphoric sea of garnet and black…
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Here's a health Carolina.
— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) November 3, 2024
FOREVER TO THEE! pic.twitter.com/MG4f0P9kkX
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The dramatic, emphatic upset didn’t come easy… even if it looked that way at times.
Leading 14-0 to start the game, South Carolina coughed up its two touchdown edge in a hurry. It seemed as though the infamous ‘Chicken Curse’ was about to rear its hideous head as Texas A&M stormed back to take a 20-17 lead with just over a minute left in the first half. All the momentum was with the Aggies, with ESPN’s win probability predictor giving them a 65.6 percent chance of prevailing at that point in the game.
Head coach Mike Elko’s team was simply following their script. Last week, they blew then-No. 8 LSU totally out of the building with 31 second half points after falling behind by double digits early.
On this particular Saturday, though, it was South Carolina’s turn to dominate the second stanza. After forcing an Aggie punt on the first drive of the third quarter, the Gamecocks took the lead for good five plays later when tailback Raheim “Rocket” Sanders scored on a 52-yard run.
Flashing his breakaway speed, Sanders amassed 144 yards on 20 carries – including a pair of touchdowns – leading a Gamecock ground game that amassed a season-high 286 yards against one of the nation’s elite rushing defenses. Sanders also hauled in five passes for a career-high 92 receiving yards. Meanwhile, freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers easily had his best game as a Gamecock, amassing career highs in passing yardage (244) and yardage gained on the ground (106).
Sellers threw for a pair of touchdown strikes (both to sixth-year tight end Joshua Simon) and opened the evening’s scoring with a 23-yard touchdown scamper – but his true brilliance came in the form of his escapability behind the line of scrimmage.
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The official box score from Saturday’s Gamecock victory recorded the Aggie defense as registering zero sacks – which is accurate. What that line failed to show is they should have had ten.
On countless plays, Sellers was dead-to-rights in the Gamecock backfield. Seemingly destined to go down, the 6-foot-3, 242-pound Florence, S.C. native had other ideas. Whether it was spinning out of trouble, stepping up into the pocket or moving laterally to avoid contact, Sellers was a veritable matador most of the evening.
When the Aggies were able to get their hooks in him, that’s when his raw power took over. Even with two and three A&M defenders draped all over his back, Sellers kept churning his legs and refused to go down. He also absorbed – and actually repelled – ferocious hits that would have de-cleated most signal-callers.
“He’s special,” Beamer said of his young signal-caller. “He’s just going to get better.”
Speaking of getting better, defensive coordinator Clayton White‘s unit pitched a second half shutout which included a pair of turnovers and two critical stops on fourth down. Redshirt senior O’Donnell Fortune of Sumter, S.C. almost had a pick-six on Aggie quarterback Marcel Reed – but officials ruled he stepped out of bounds at the sixteen-yard-line prior to sprinting eighty-six yards down the Texas A&M sideline.
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White’s defense also registered three sacks of Reed – giving them 31 sacks on the season. The Gamecocks rank No. 3 nationally with 3.88 sacks per game and lead the nation with 259 sack yards. South Carolina ranks No. 16 nationally in total defense, giving up 304.8 yards per game, and No. 20 in scoring defense – surrendering 18.8 points per game.
Prior to the clock hitting zeros on this signature win, South Carolina had dropped nine in a row to ranked opponents followings back-to-back upsets over then-No. 5 Tennessee and No. 8 Clemson in 2022.
Had they fallen in this tilt, Beamer would have been tied with former South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp – who posted a 3-15 record against ranked opponents during his nearly four years in Columbia, S.C.
With the win, South Carolina matched its victory total from a disappointing 2023 campaign – and moved one win away from bowl eligibility with four games remaining on the 2024 schedule.
Beamer’s team will seek to punch its postseason ticket this Saturday in Nashville against resurgent Vanderbilt. When assessing South Carolina’s brutal 2024 slate of games, the Commodores didn’t figure to be among the Gamecocks’ ranked opponents – but they clocked in at No. 24 in the Associated Press poll and No. 25 in the coaches’ poll after a 17-7 victory over Auburn on the Plains.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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1 comment
Getting those expectations high. You know the next step.