By james art 
On Saturday, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer and his team defeated the Texas A&M Aggies. In front of a sellout crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium, the Gamecocks won 44-20 after holding A&M scoreless in the second half.
The Homecoming win didn’t somehow catapult USC into the ranks of the top 25 teams in the country (according to the AP and USA Today Coaches polls); However, the Gamecocks have shown the college football world that they are a good football team that can make some noise downfield.
After the win, some of the biggest college football voices in the nation were very impressed with South Carolina.
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SEC Network analyst and former Georgia Bulldogs defensive end Aaron Murray is a believer. Murray, who knows a thing or two about losing in front of sellout crowds in Columbia (0-2 lifetime at Williams-Brice Stadium), said he thinks “South Carolina can play with anybody in America. This is a really good football team.”
ESPN NFL and college football analyst Dan Orlovsky called Williams-Brice Stadium “electric” and then reminded everyone that he called the Gamecocks a “top 15 football team” just two weeks ago.
Barstool Sports’ Casey Smith, who drew the ire of Gamecock fans earlier this week with some…misinformed…opinions about South Carolina’s defense, offered an apology on social media, complete with a quote from one of the greatest philosophers of our time , Happy Gilmore.
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On3’s JD Pickell also ate some crow (and black licorice).
ESPN and SEC Network personality Alyssa Lang (University of South Carolina grad) also got in on the action. Lang specifically called attention to the great plays of quarterback LaNorris Sellers and running back Rocket Sanders.
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One of the loudest statements came from the SEC Football Final studio. Dari Nowkhah, Benjamin Watson and Chris Doering talked about the game and Doering gave his opinion. The former Florida Gator said the Gamecocks beat Texas A&M at all the things they were supposed to be good at: South Carolina outplayed the SEC’s best ground attack, they physically outplayed one of the best offensive and defensive line combinations in country, and they won the sack battle 3-0 against one of the other best pressure teams in college football. Doering even went so far as to say that the atmosphere at Williams-Brice Stadium was so good it made Kyle Field “look like a joke.”
The big win is good for Shane Beamer’s team, but South Carolina still has four regular season games left on the schedule. The Gamecocks will then travel to Nashville, Tennessee to face the 24th ranked Commodores. USC fans can tune into the SEC Network at 4:15 PM to watch the game. The ESPN app will also stream the race.