By james art 
No. 10 Texas A&M suffered its first loss in two months as it was held scoreless by South Carolina in the second half of Saturday night’s 44-20 loss. The Aggies saw their College Football Playoff hopes take a hit as they were dropped in their first SEC game.
Here are five takeaways from a prime-time showdown in Columbia, South Carolina:
A&M came out of both halves
The Aggies found themselves in an early hole to start the game, as the Gamecocks grabbed a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the game. Redshirt quarterback LaNorris Sellers called his own number on a 23-yard score before A&M turned the ball over on downs at its own 34-yard line.
South Carolina took advantage of the short field when Sellers connected with sixth-year tight end Joshua Simon two plays later for a 15-yard score. The Aggies rallied to make the game 20-20 at halftime, but lost all momentum after the break.
A&M punted and turned the ball over on its first two possessions of the second half, and South Carolina answered with a touchdown and a field goal. The Gamecocks outscored the Aggies 14-3 in the first quarter and 24-0 in the second half en route to a dominating victory.
It felt like the antithesis of A&M’s win over LSU last week, when the Aggies struggled in the first half and early third quarter before dominating the rest of the game. On Saturday, A&M turned things around in the second quarter before a terrible second half.
Life without Moss?
Beyond the hit to its College Football Playoff hopes, A&M’s next big blow came with a right knee injury to junior running back Le’Veon Moss. Moss fumbled at the end of a 20-yard reception from redshirt freshman QB Marcell Reed in the second quarter. ABC’s Molly McGrath reported that he was unable to put pressure on his right leg before being carried off the field.
It’s unclear how long Moss will be out, but it’s a significant loss for an A&M offense that relied heavily on his production. The Walker, La., native has shown excellent consistency this season with 94.6 yards per game and 10 total touchdowns entering Saturday. In the receiving game, he caught nine passes for 121 yards.
The injury puts a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of junior RB Amari Daniels entering the final quarter of the regular season. He took most of the touches after Moss went down, finishing with 83 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Daniels came in averaging 47.9 rushing yards per game with five scores.
Hasty defense proves to be Agis’ undoing
None of the success that led the Aggies to limit the Tigers to 24 yards on the ground last week could be found Saturday. The Gamecocks shredded A&M’s defense to roll up 286 yards rushing and two touchdowns. South Carolina also got its yardage in chunks, with eight rushing plays of 10 yards or more and seven passes of at least 15 yards.
Arkansas senior transfer RB Raheem “Rocket” Sanders lived up to his nickname with 144 yards rushing and 92 yards receiving for two touchdowns. Sellers added 106 yards and a score on 15 carries as the Gamecocks posted their second-highest point total of the season against a porous Aggie defense.
Sellers added 244 yards and two touchdowns to Simon through the air. Overall, South Carolina outgained A&M in yards, 530-350, including 286-144 on the ground.
Cleaning up the sloppy approach
Saturday’s game could have looked a lot different, or at least more decent, if A&M cleaned up the basics of its defense. The Aggies seemed to miss tackle after tackle, allowing the Gamecocks to move the ball down the field at will. A&M never came home to sack Sellers, even though it was there on several occasions.
Sophomore linebacker Taurean York led the defense with eight tackles and half a tackle for loss, but there’s no telling how much of a unit is left on the table. The longer he stayed on the field, he wore down and couldn’t handle the physicality of Sanders and Sellers. A&M showed its struggles running the ball two weeks ago at Mississippi State, and this time it came back to bite him.
No longer in the driver’s seat of the SEC
The Aggies entered the weekend in control of their own destiny in the conference title race. They were the only undefeated team remaining in SEC play at 5-0, with a Nov. 30 game against No. 6 Texas the main roadblock in their path. The Gamecocks had something to say about that.
A&M is now tied with No. 2 Georgia atop the conference standings at 5-1. While it’s certainly not a bad place to be under a first-year head coach, it does complicate the Aggies’ path to the College Football Playoff, which would look pretty promising with a win.
They will head into their bye week before returning to action against New Mexico State at Kyle Field on November 16th. A&M entered its first bye week after beating then-No. 41-10. 9 Missouri. This one will certainly look and feel a lot different for the Aggies.
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