Rapid Reaction: Texas A&M erases 30-3 halftime deficit to stun South Carolina
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Talk about a tale of 2 halves.
First-half Texas A&M looked like it didn’t belong anywhere near the College Football Playoff. Second-half Texas A&M — and, specifically, third-quarter Texas A&M — looked like the No. 3 team in the nation that had roared to a 9-0 start.
The Aggies trailed South Carolina 30-3 at the halftime break. They scored 21 unanswered in the third quarter to completely change the complexion of the game, then took the lead early in the fourth quarter. Though there was drama late, A&M held on to win 31-30 and rescue its perfect season.
In the victory, Texas A&M became the first SEC team since 2004 to trail by 27-plus points in a league game and come back to win. Teams were previously 0-286 when trailing by at least 27 points in an SEC game.
Everything went wrong in the first half. Everything.
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed threw 2 interceptions, one of them in the endzone. He also lost a fumble that was picked up and returned for a touchdown by South Carolina. The Aggies missed a field goal and banged another off the upright.
Reed completed just 6 of his 19 passes in the first half. He went 16-for-20 for 298 with 3 scores in the second half.
The Aggies produced 374 yards of offense over the game’s final 30 minutes. They averaged 10.4 yards per play. In just that third quarter, A&M bit off 14.1 yards per play and outgained South Carolina 240-65.
With the clock ticking under 4 minutes to play, A&M had it third-and-goal from the 1-yard line. A score would have put the Aggies up 9. Rather than hand it off to tailback EJ Smith, A&M inserted freshman running back Jamarion Morrow and ran a trick play that sent the snap directly to him and gave him the option to keep or pitch to Reed.
Morrow was immediately bottled up and threw a backward pass to Reed. Reed couldn’t corral the ball, South Carolina recovered it at the 9, and gave the offense a chance to go win the game.
The Aggie defense snuffed out any remaining hope. They sacked South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers on 2 of his last 3 plays to force a turnover on downs and ice the ball game.
A&M (10-0, 7-0 SEC) will face Samford next week before traveling to Austin to face Texas on Nov. 28. A win over the Longhorns would send A&M to the SEC Championship Game.
No. 3 Texas A&M 31, South Carolina 30
Here’s the A&M-South Carolina box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Marcel Reed vs LaNorris Sellers
Did Marcel Reed help his Heisman odds? Here’s a statistical breakdown of how the Texas A&M quarterback performed against South Carolina passer LaNorris Sellers:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
