No Myles Garrett, no problem.

The Aggies’ sack leader did not make the trip to Columbia, S.C. for Saturday’s 24-13 victory over the Gamecocks. Remaining in College Station to rest an injured ankle, Garrett was relegated to watching his team smother South Carolina and remain undefeated.

The Aggies improved to 5-0 for the third consecutive season and are hopeful of having their defensive leader healthy for next Saturday’s huge showdown with Tennessee at Kyle Field.

In Garrett’s absence, Texas A&M played solid defense, holding host South Carolina to just a single touchdown. John Chavis’ defense continues to look much-improved despite yielding a big 75-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. After that, it was back to the usual stout defense that has helped to propel the Aggies into the conversation of elite SEC teams in 2016.

On the other side of the line, bookend sack leader DE Daeshon Hall helped to pick up the slack with 2 sacks and 6 tackles. Hall led a tough defensive effort that, after yielding the long touchdown, gave up just 86 rushing yards the rest of the way on 34 attempts.

The Aggies clamped down on South Carolina’s run game, an area that was focused on coming into the season after finishing dead last in the SEC against the run in 2013 and 2014, then finishing 13th in 2015. Chavis’ unit entered Week 5 ranked fifth in that department as it’s being cleaned up behind the play of Garrett, Hall and LB Shaan Washington.

Washington came up huge on Saturday. While defending the run has been a major concern, so has the linebacker position. Enter the veteran Washington to the rescue.

On Saturday, he not only led the linebacking corps, he led the Aggies by turning in a game-high 11 tackles. Included in that collection was one sack as Texas A&M protected its lead late. He also added 2 tackles for loss, 1 QB hurry and a forced fumble.

How good was the Aggies’ defense? It gave up a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. After that, only a pair of second-half field goals. The Aggies came up big on third downs, allowing South Carolina to convert just 3-for-14 and 1-of-2 on fourth down (the conversion was a fake punt that resulted in a first down).

That’s not to say that South Carolina didn’t move the football at all. It did, mainly through the air. In fact, South Carolina led the time of possession battle by more than three minutes. The Gamecocks also threw for 217 yards and compiled 21 first downs to 22 for Texas A&M.

But the bend-but-don’t-break approach has worked for years, make that decades, for Chavis. And that’s because when the chips are on the table, his defenses usually come up big.

It’s a formula that has the Aggies 5-0 this season and in place to play in big SEC games like the one coming up on the Texas A&M schedule.

Chavis’ defense will be tested once again next Saturday when the Aggies take on an unbeaten Tennessee Vols team that, like the Aggies, appears more and more each week like a team of destiny.