COLLEGE STATIN, TX: In one of the greatest collapses in SEC football history, South Carolina saw a 27 point halftime lead disappear in a wave of second half Marcel Reed passes as the 3rd ranked Aggies rallied for a 31-30 win to keep alive the SEC and national championship hopes. The loss ended the Gamecocks’ hopes for postseason play.
USC built its big lead with complimentary football. The offense, led by quarterback LaNorris Sellers, had 313 first half yards, with 204 thru the air. The offense scored ten points on its first two possessions, and a scoop and score of 17 yards by Nick Barrett made it a 17-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Gamecocks added two William Joyce field goals in the second quarter, but the highlight moment was an 80 yard catch and run by Nyck Harbor in which he turned on his Olympic speed and ran by the Aggie secondary.
The Gamecocks had all the momentum going into the second half. The question was, could they sustain it? The answer was a resounding, no.
Reed hit on touchdown passes of 27, 39 and 14 yards on the Aggies first three possessions of the second half. EJ Smith ran in from four yards out with 10:47 left to make it touchdowns on four straight possessions as the Aggies went up 31-30.
Meantime, the Gamecocks in the second half turned the ball over on downs at the A&M 30 and punted three times in their first four possessions. They did get a fifth possession following an A&M fumble at the USC nine. The Gamecocks reached their own 40, but Sellers was sacked on consecutive downs. On his final play, Sellers was forced to run from pressure and gained just seven yards to turn the ball and the game over to the Aggies.
The Gamecocks are now 3-7 overall, and they completed their SEC slate with a 1-7 mark.
Final Stats
My View from Kyle Field
No way Beamer recovers from this one. He can thank Wil Muschamp for the fact he’ll be back next year – no way they can pay his buyout at this point. This team, and its preseason Heisman candidate, are a mess. Sellers needs to go somewhere where he’ll get legitimate developmental coaching next season to reboost his draft stock. Compare how much the Texas A and M quarterback – Reed – is so much better than when Carolina played them last year. Yes, he was horrible in the first half, but his play in the second half was Heisman-like. Meanwhile Sellers has become an inaccurate passer, he has deer in the headlights vision in the pocket, and his instinctual ability we saw last season to know exactly when to break from the pocket and get upfield no longer exists. Beamer and his inability to bring in coaches that can develop Sellers, along with their inability to bring a genuine SEC running back on campus, have ruined Sellers. He is a young player in need of reclamation, and where that may happen may be unknown at this point, but what is certain is that if he stays at Carolina he will continue to regress.
If there was any question or hope of Shane recovering from this past disappointing season thus far, this game should provide a concise answer, he’s done. South Carolina will likely keep him for 1 more season and end up canning him midway through the year when he starts out 2-4. The Shane train has permanently derailed.