Five things we learned from South Carolina’s 30-17 loss at Texas A&M
No road victories for the Gamecocks — not in 2023. Now, this season will come down to four home games.
Here are five takeaways from South Carolina’s 30-17 to Texas A&M in its final road game of the season, a loss that dropped the Gamecocks to 2-6 (1-5 SEC) on the season.
DQ got DQ’d
South Carolina safety DQ Smith was ejected from Saturday’s game for targeting halfway through the third quarter. Now, he’ll miss the first half against Jacksonville State next week.
As if this USC defense needed this to happen to Smith.
The sophomore has 59 tackles this season, three of which came against the Aggies on Saturday afternoon. He’s played every game this season after breaking out as a freshman in 2022.
Need four quarters of that
For the first 15 minutes of the game against the Aggies, South Carolina looked different. The defense had a quick three-and-out and continually pressured quarterback Max Johnson. The USC offense didn’t score on their first drive but took a 7-0 lead halfway through the quarter. For 15 minutes, it looked like the Gamecocks had some extra life.
While the remaining 45 minutes weren’t like that, head coach Shane Beamer said he was still proud of the Gamecocks for staying in the “freaking fight” — even if the best quarter was the opening frame.
Just Legette and Harbor?
With a thin receiver room, Rattler didn’t have many options for targets. Xavier Legette, previously considered questionable, did play against the Aggies and had seven targets for 33 yards.
Nyck Harbor was the only other receiver to have at least four targets (he had eight) and led the Gamecocks with six catches for 59 yards. Mario Anderson and DK Joyner had seven and four targets, respectively, to lead running backs.
While this tandem of receivers had moments of good, there were still some big-time drops that hindered the Gamecocks from getting more points. Harbor had a dropped pass early, and Legette had a critical drop later in the day to keep it a one-score game.
There’s only so much Rattler and the Gamecocks can do without a healthy Legette and no Juice Wells or Ahmarean Brown. Harbor, overall, had a decent game and saw the increased role Beamer’s hinted at all season. It’s just a matter of things clicking.
No turnovers, again
South Carolina’s defense had three sacks on Johnson and limited the Aggies’ run game to 105 yards ... but still had no turnovers.
Beamer has lamented the lack of turnovers this the season. USC has had no takeaways the last three games. The Gamecocks have six interceptions and one fumble recovery all season.
There were a few opportunities for an interception or fumble recovery Saturday, such as Jalen Kilgore’s jump in the first half that nearly became his second-career interception.
“It’s just hard on our guys,” Head coach Shane Beamer said postgame. “It’s hard in the SEC when you’re not generating takeaways, especially against this defense.”
The Gamecocks’ offense had one turnover Saturday, a Joyner fumble with less than three minutes left to play.
Throw it away ... carefully
Rattler watched as the referees pulled out the yellow flag three times after throwing the ball away to avoid a sack.
Intentional grounding. Intentional grounding. Intentional grounding.
“I was just surprised by it as you were,” Beamer said.
Each intentional grounding brought a loss at the spot where Rattler threw the ball. All three instances came during the first half, twice when the Gamecocks were already in second- or third-and-long situations.
Rattler has thrown the ball away many times this season. He tried to avoid hitting the ground again Saturday, but those intentional grounding calls are part of the self-inflicted errors this team has been seeking to avoid.
“I don’t really know how to judge those in a moment,” Rattler explained. “Dowell (Loggains) said, ‘Keep throwing it away, don’t take a sack.’”
This story was originally published October 29, 2023 at 6:40 AM.
