Inside the 'big time' drive that propelled South Carolina to victory over Texas A&M
Outside of the first five minutes of South Carolina’s win over Texas A&M on Saturday, the Gamecock offense was largely inconsistent.
South Carolina punted the ball six times and only averaged 3.69 yards per play across the 33 plays it ran on those drives.
“It was ugly as all get out for us there a lot of the time,” Shane Beamer said. “Just really, really proud of our players and their fight and the individual plays a lot of our guys made.”
While it may have been ugly at times, the Gamecock offense stepped up when it was needed most.
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With just a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter, Spencer Rattler captained the offense to their best drive of the game – and arguably the season.
The eight-play, 80-yard drive was highlighted by explosive play after explosive play. Rattler found Josh Vann for a 21-yard connection to kick off the drive, and then back-to-back big runs from Lloyd and Jalen Brooks set up the Gamecocks in the red zone.
Lloyd capped off the drive with a four-yard touchdown rush – his second of the night – that extended South Carolina’s lead to 30-21 and essentially iced the game.
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“It was big time,” Rattler said. “Our mindset there was let’s go 80 yards and go score. I knew we needed to take time off the clock. We knew we needed to make another statement and put the game to bed and you know, drove down the field…and it was a great feeling.”
At that point in the game, Lloyd said South Carolina was riding high on momentum, and they used it to help ice the game.
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“We know we put a lot of pressure on a lot of defenses and we tire them out throughout the game,” Lloyd said. “We’re confident in each other and confident in our abilities… and Coach Beamer believed in us.”
Before the drive began Lloyd said the offense knew all they had to do was put their foot down and not let up.
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“We’re able to compete with anyone,” Lloyd said. “Going out there and having a long drive like that, we have a bunch of believers on his team, a bunch that will go out there and just work and put their head down.”
The lack of consistency on offense had let Texas A&M hang around all night, and South Carolina could never quite pull ahead.
Beamer said his message to the team before the “big time” was short and sweet: enough is enough.
“(The message was) if we want to get better as the game goes, and we want to take games over in the fourth quarter, and continue to pride ourselves on being a really, really physical football team, what more could you want. A drive to go right down the field and put the game away,” Beamer said. “… Let’s go get points right here and try and put this thing away.”
