Well, South Carolina’s defense certainly looked significantly more well read against Texas A&M’s Reed Option on Saturday night than LSU did a week ago.
The unranked Gamecocks held No. 10 Texas A&M and freshman quarterback Marcel Reed to a mere 46 rushing yards on 16 carries for a 2.9-yard average through four quarters in a 44-20 demolition of the Aggies in front of 80,298 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C.
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After entering midway through the third quarter last week for struggling regular starter Conner Weigman, Reed rushed nine times for 62 yards and three touchdowns with a 6.9-yard average and completed 2 of 2 passes for 70 yards in a 38-23 win over LSU in College Station, Texas.
South Carolina (5-3, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) stuffed Reed in short-yardage situations and held the 3-point favorite Aggies (7-2, 5-1 SEC) to 145 yards rushing on 41 carries (3.5 yards a carry). Last week, LSU surrendered 245 rushing yards in all on 46 carries (5.3 yards a carry).
The No. 14 Tigers (6-2, 3-1 SEC) will play one of the SEC’s better running quarterbacks on Saturday in Jalen Milroe (380 yards on 102 carries) when No. 11 Alabama (6-2, 3-2 SEC) visits Tiger Stadium (6:30 p.m., ABC). Both teams were open Saturday.
Texas A&M coach Mike Elko again fielded questions about Reed’s starting status. Last week, it was would Reed start against South Carolina after such a great game? This week, it was would Reed remain the starter after such a loss in which was outplayed by struggling South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers. Reed completed 18 of 28 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown, but he threw a critical interception in the second half. Sellers completed 13 of 27 for 244 yards with TDs of 57 and 15 yards with no interceptions while rushing 15 times for 106 yards with a 23-yard score.
“He’s the starter now,” Elko said. “And we’ll see where we go.”
Weigman was caught pouting a bit on the sidelines by the ABC cameras as South Carolina turned around a 20-20 tie at the half by outscoring the Aggies, 24-0, in the second half. The Aggies outscored LSU, 31-6, in the second half last week.
“Certainly, up and down some,” Elko said of Reed’s game. “He’s still a young kid. He’s learning. He’s getting better. He’s got to be a little bit more careful with the football.”
Which was the criticism last week of LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who threw three interceptions in the second half.
“He’s got to learn,” Elko said.
Elko, aka Coach Bilko, appeared shocked and flabbergasted as the Gamecocks took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, then blew his team away in the second half.
“Hats off to South Carolina,” he said after the game, speaking as fast as former A&M coach Jimbo Fisher. “They beat us on the line of scrimmage – both sides of the ball. Controlled the game. Forced turnovers. We couldn’t run the ball.”
Then he started sounding like former Saints’ coach Jim Mora in his two famous postgame rants – the “diddly poo” one in 1996 and the “woulda, coulda” diatribe in 1987.
“Couldn’t tackle. Couldn’t control the quarterback,” Elko said. “We didn’t do anything you need to do to win a football game. And that’s why we lost. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to fix ’em.”
The Aggies are open this week before light fare at home against New Mexico State (2-6, 1-4 Conference USA) on Nov. 16 and Auburn (3-6, 1-5 SEC). Then it’s No. 6 Texas (7-1, 3-1 SEC) on Nov. 30 in the regular season finale.
“We’ve got to not ever play like that again,” Elko said. “Sometimes the hardest thing is to learn in victory because it gets covered up.”
A&M was the last undefeated team in SEC games.
“Some of the things that have been behind the scenes, we’ve been winning through certainly showed up tonight,” Elko said. “So, that’s on me.”
Asked if his team had a letdown and lost focus after such a huge win over LSU, Elko tersely said, “No.”
Asked if he felt like the Aggies were still in the SEC and College Football Playoff races, he said sharply, “It feels like it because it is. We’re tied for first. We still control our own destiny to Atlanta. We still control our own destiny to the playoffs. So, yeah.”
The Aggies lost top tailback Le’Veon Moss, a junior from the Baton Rouge area, to a leg injury in the first quarter. He was the SEC’s No. 3 rusher with 757 yards and 10 touchdowns.
“I don’t think it looks real good right now,” Elko said after the game of the injury “But I don’t think it looks as bad as it might have on the field. So, hopefully, it’s not one of those awful ones. But I do think he’ll be out for a while.”
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