Both teams were a little bit unknown after the NFL swiped their players. Texas A&M saw three of their players leave through the first round of the draft in their quarterback Johnny Manziel to the Cleveland Browns, offensive tackle Jake Matthews to the Atlanta Falcons, and wide receiver Mike Evans to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks lost what is clearly their best player in Jadeveon Clowney number one overall to the Houston Texans, while their quarterback Connor Shaw is another quarterback for the same Cleveland Browns. This game was all about what players were going to step up and make a claim on their future for their respective coach. Had Kevin Sumlin found another quarterback that can go to the next level? Was the Ol' Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, up to finding more depth from his roster in his 10th season as the Gamecocks head coach? This was a must see game, and it did not disappoint those rabid Southeastern Conference fanatics.

First, it is a requirement to introduce to the field, Sophomore quarterback Kenny Hill for the Texas A&M Aggies. This was his first time on this big of stage and he absolutely owned it. He completed four of his five pass attempts on the game's opening drive, including two third down conversions. The most crucial play was hitting redshirt Freshman Ricky Seals-Jones for a 22 yard gain on third and five to get the Aggies to the one yard line. Tra Carson would punch it in from there to open the scoring while Junior kicker Josh Lambo would start the first of many extra points on the evening.

Given an opportunity to bounce back, redshirt Senior Dylan Thompson was unimpressive from the get go for the Gamecocks. Thompson threw no completions on his first drive of the game, and they only got a first down because the Aggies had a flag for defensive pass interference. The Aggies would take the ball and Lambo would add his only field goal of the game to put them up 10, and the Aggies never gave up the lead from there.

Thompson would follow that with the best play of the game for the Gamecocks, a 69 yard touchdown pass to Nick Jones, and Elliott Fry nailed the extra point to get the Gamecocks the closest they would be for the rest of the game.

The second quarter had it's own fair share of excitement as well. Hill would throw for two touchdowns, one to Ricky Seals-Jones and another to Edward Pope. In between those touchdowns Thompson added another one for the Gamecocks throwing to Damiere Byrd for a 46 yard touchdown. The Gamecocks were able to hit on several big plays for touchdowns tonight, which is a good sign for their future and also a bad sign for the future of the Aggies defense, which still needs to improve.

Before the half would come to a close though Tra Carson would add his second touchdown of the day. This gave the Aggies a 31 to 14 lead and the Gamecocks had a minute and sixteen seconds to come back and try to score before the half. The Aggies made a huge play when Freshman defensive lineman Myles Garrett would sack Thompson for a 11 yard loss. This moved them further away and Elliott Fry would miss a 54 yard field goal and the Aggies would take a knee to end the half up 17 points.

The second half was all about the Aggies pulling away from the Gamecocks, Hill started in the third quarter throwing a touchdown to Sophomore Josh Reynolds who transferred over from Tyler Junior College. Kenny Hill would finish the night with 44 completions on 60 attempts for 511 yards and 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Thompson would throw two more touchdowns on the night to give him four total, the final two coming to Pharoh Cooper and Nick Jones. Thompson also was responsible for the only turnover of the evening, an interception that he threw to Freshman defensive back Armani Watts.

Tra Carson would add his third touchdown of the evening, which is impressive coming on only 7 carries, and then Junior Trey Williams added the final touchdown in the fourth quarter. Trey was the top running back in terms of rushing yards getting 78 total yards. Also a Junior, Brandon Williams was very impressive as well contributing 57 yards but being shutout of the end zone. Another player that was great from the start was Senior receiver Malcome Kennedy who had 14 grabs for 137 yards. He was someone for Kenny Hill to lean on and was a major factor in the Aggies win.

The player of the game on the Gamecocks was definitely Nick Jones. He had two touchdown receptions on 5 catches for 113 yards. But he was clearly overshadowed by the 680 yards of offense that the Aggies were able to produce.

The 52-28 final gave the Aggies a 24 point victory and the Aggies took the final 10 minutes of the game and moved the ball down the field and ran out the clock. The Aggies will take the field next on September 6th at Kyle Field, home of the 12th man, when they face the Lamar Cardinals. That should be an easy victory for them, while the Gamecocks have to try and bounce back at home against East Carolina, also on September 6th, before they face the Georgia Bulldogs a week later. Things could go downhill really fast in the SEC East if they can't win both of those games. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Caleb Wahlgren
I will not deny that I am a big fan of the Green Bay Packers. But I love the NFL and want to see the very best for it.