Epic collapse: South Carolina blows 27-point lead, falls to Texas A&M
After two-and-a-half months of disappointments and failures, South Carolina on Saturday appeared to be the team it was supposed to be.
For weeks now, Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer has been adamant his team was close. It fell mostly on deaf ears as South Carolina kept losing. The Gamecocks’ offense kept stalling. And Beamer’s team kept squandering fourth-quarter opportunities.
And then, on a beautiful mid-November Texas afternoon, close turned into something. It materialized with one of the most-unexpected displays by a South Carolina football team.
And then it died at halftime.
After going to the break leading the No. 3 team in America 30-3, South Carolina lost 31-30 to Texas A&M (9-0, 7-0 SEC). The Gamecocks will not make a bowl game for the second time in three seasons.
“I don’t know why we’ve had all this heartbreak that we’ve had,” Beamer said after the game. “But we will be better and stronger and hardened because of it as we go into next season.”
Once again, the Gamecocks (3-7, 1-7 SEC) were close. Nothing less. Nothing more. And on this day, close felt like sledgehammer to the temple.
Because for all the pain of Saturday, that first half was a cannon of euphoria. South Carolina looked so confident, so fast, so efficient that it was hard not to wonder where this team would be if Beamer had fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula earlier in the season. It was also hard to not think about play-caller Mike Furrey being the play-caller going forward.
Think about it: The Gamecocks racked up 312 yards of offense in the first half on Saturday. That’s more yards than South Carolina’s had in three entire games this season.
“We had great confidence,” Beamer said. “I get it — our record is what it is. But our guys also understood that we beat this team by 24 points last year.”
And quarterback LaNorris Sellers finally looked like himself. He was making quick decisions, escaping sacks and throwing those magical deep balls. He hit Vandrevius Jacobs for a 50-yard touchdown pass.
Then, with the Gamecocks already up big, Sellers fired a slant to Nyck Harbor and let the track star outrun the entire Aggies’ defense ... and then a state trooper.
That 80-yard score put South Carolina up by 24 points ... and USC would add another field goal just before half. It almost didn’t feel real. Was Shula that bad? Is Furrey a wizard? Where was this Sellers all season? Is Texas A&M just terrible? Holy cow, could the Gamecocks actually make a bowl?
What came next felt as equally hard to process.
Texas A&M scored touchdowns on its next four possessions. It looked effortless. The Aggies needed less than 20 minutes to complete the comeback, capping it off with a 99-yard drive that put them ahead 31-30 ... with over 10 minutes left.
Since 2004, according to ESPN, SEC teams were 0-286 after trailing by 27 points. Texas A&M did it against USC with ease.
And, yet, South Carolina — like it has so many times this season — still found itself with a chance to win. The Gamecocks’ defense pounced on a backwards pass and, somehow, Sellers and Co. had the ball with over three minutes left, needing just a field goal to win.
On the sideline, Beamer found his redshirt sophomore quarterback.
“I told him, ‘This is easy compared to what you usually have,’” Beamer told Sellers, referring to the two-minute situations he gives Sellers in practice. “I told the offense right there in the huddle, ‘What a story this is gonna be. For all the crap we’ve gone through and the heartbreak and the criticism and what not, we have a chance to go win the game. What a story what’s gonna be.’
Except the story has been written before — against Missouri and Alabama earlier this year. This team can’t finish. It doesn’t matter how easy the situation.
The Gamecocks offense neared midfield, and then Sellers was sacked on back-to-back downs. Asked if his quarterback held the ball too long on those sacks, Beamer sighed.
“I thought the protection was solid,” he said.
The Gamecocks offense reverted to their October self in the second half, finishing with just 76 yards in the final two quarters. After not being sacked in the first half, Sellers finished the game having been taken down four times — including twice on the final drive.
And the South Carolina defense — which held Texas A&M to three points in three red-zone tries while picking off quarterback Marcel Reed twice in the first half — had no more magic left. They missed tackles. The pressure wasn’t getting to Reed. And, well, the Aggies finally stopped making mistakes.
Texas A&M finished with 503 yards of offense — 371 of those in the second half.
Just as this 2025 season started off with incredible hope and soured quickly, Saturday was another gut punch for those South Carolina fans who once again let themselves believe.
Next South Carolina football game
Who: South Carolina vs. Coastal Carolina
When: 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM.
