Opponent preview: South Carolina looks to keep rolling vs. Texas A&M

It’s been eight years since Kenny Hill led No. 21 Texas A&M into Columbia, where it pulled off a 52-28 win over No. 9 South Carolina.

Not much has changed since then. The Gamecocks have lost to the Aggies every year since that fateful Thursday night in 2014.

In some ways, this year feels different. South Carolina has won its last three games and comes off an upset win against No. 19 Kentucky. Meanwhile, in College Station, the Aggies are 3-3 and have lost their last two games.

“That’s our main goal right now. I’m just trying to figure out what we need to do to beat Texas A&M,” Zacch Pickens said. “For me, this is a big game because I’ve been here for four years and three years I’ve never beaten them, never came close. And I feel like this is our year that we can finally get close to winning.”

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It won’t be easy, though.

The Aggies might be underperforming this year but that doesn’t mean Shane Beamer will look at them any different.

“Coach (Jimbo) Fisher’s done a great job with those guys,” Beamer said. “They’re playing a lot of freshmen. They’ve battled a handful of injuries like we have, as well. But they’re really talented.”

Both teams had an extra week to regroup after the last playing on Oct. 8. One of the biggest questions coming into this week was who would be starting at quarterback for Texas A&M. And without much hesitation, Fisher said Haynes King will be starting.

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After starting the first two games, King was benched in place of Max Johnson. But after an injury to Johnson, he found his way back into action and performed well against No. 6 Alabama.

The sophomore quarterback completed 25-of-46 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. He came within one play of taking down the Crimson Tide.

“He didn’t pout or where he got, he worked on getter better knowing if he had another opportunity he wanted to play well,” Fisher said. “And he’s still got to continue to play better than he did because never good enough is never good enough, but that’s just who Haynes is and who he is as a person. He’s going to work and grind and play as best he can.”

King is surrounded by numerous weapons including leading running back Devon Achane and wide receivers Evans Stewart and Moose Muhammad III. Achane is sixth in the SEC in rushing with 528 yards, two spots ahead of South Carolina’s Marshawn Lloyd. Stewart and Muhammad have combined for 502 yards and three touchdowns.

But as a whole, the Aggies’ offense hasn’t found its rhythm yet. They are dead-last in the SEC in total offense, with 332.5 yards per game. It doesn’t help that they’re without Ainias Smith, arguably their best receiver. Smith will miss the rest of the season with a leg injury he sustained in September.

Keeping Achane, specifically, in check will be critical for South Carolina’s defense. It has allowed 174.7 rushing yards per game but found a way to limit Chris Rodriguez Jr. and the Kentucky run game to 121 yards and no scores.

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“Everybody flying to the ball and making sure that we gang tackle,” Sherrod Greene said about Saturday’s matchup. “We know (Rodriguez) was a big back coming in but the same thing with this back coming in this week. We just got to be disciplined and run to the ball, effort and just play physical.”

Defensively, the Aggies will look to force Spencer Rattler to make mistakes. They’ve only recorded two interceptions but recovered seven fumbles, making it a priority for Rattler to limit his turnovers.

“They’re a good team and we’ve got to prepare just the way we did versus Kentucky,” Rattler said. “We were aggressive all week in practice. We had a great mentality, our urgency was up, so we just got to do that this week.”

While it didn’t win in its last matchup, Texas A&M did force four Alabama turnovers. The team is hoping to repeat that success this weekend.

“You take the goods from the performance but also you learn from the mistakes that you made and the little things that could help the outcome be different and use that as motivation,” Texas A&M defensive back Antonio Johnson said. “We set a standard for ourselves and just taking what we did and you apply it to the standard that we abide by. And you just try to use it as fuel for the rest of the season.”

If the Aggies are going to win, they’ll have to do it in front of a ruckus crowd. South Carolina has sold out for the fourth consecutive time in five home games this year.

“It’s going to be an awesome environment in the stadium, the fair across the street, a night game in Columbia, an SEC night game as well,” Beamer said. “Our guys have earned the right to have a big game like this. We need to have a great week of practice to be able to play well Saturday night against a really good team.” 

South Carolina and Texas A&M will kick off from Williams-Brice Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday night. The game will be televised on SEC Network with Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Cubelic on the call.