By james art 
The No. 11 Texas A&M football team was stunned by the South Carolina Gamecocks in Week 10 to suffer its second loss of the season.
The Aggies (7-2, 5-1) lost to the Gamecocks (5-3, 3-3) 44-20 in what was an unusually bad night on both sides of the ball for A&M.
The Aggies offense, led by redshirt freshman Marcell Reed, was held to 350 yards of total offense and just 144 on the ground. Reed also had his only two turnovers of the season in the loss, an interception and a fumble late in the game that was well finished.
The defense struggled all night as the combination of freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers and senior running back Raheem Sanders helped lead the Gamecocks to 530 yards of offense. The Aggies continued their trend of being undisciplined with penalties, racking up seven, which played a huge role in their second loss of the season.
Texas A&M will then be inactive before welcoming New Mexico State to Kyle Field in Week 12.
Here’s how the Aggies graded Saturday:
Quarterback: C-
Marcell Reed showed real fight for the first time on Saturday night. South Carolina had a game plan to shut down a Reid-led offense, and it worked to perfection as the Aggies struggled all night to find sustained offensive success.
Reed finished the game with his first two turnovers of the season, both of which came in the second half as A&M tried to mount a comeback. He accounted for 206 yards passing and 46 yards rushing, and the young signal-caller struggled to find a rhythm all night as they finished 5-for-18 on third and fourth downs.
Backs: C+
Losing Le’Veon Moss early in the game was a blow to an Aggies offense that relies so heavily on the playmaker to be the focal point of the unit. His physicality in short-yardage situations was sorely lacking, and his lack of ability to convert in those high-leverage situations played a huge factor in the outcome of the game.
Amari Daniels stepped up admirably, finishing with 83 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries, but the game looked noticeably different in Moss’ absence. With A&M averaging just 3.4 yards per carry and with EJ Smith not making much of an impact, the onus to deliver was on Daniels’ shoulders.
Receivers: C+
A group that largely played a complementary role this season to a run-first unit once again found themselves having minimal impact. The Aggies threw for just 206 yards, with 164 coming from wide receivers, and a total of 103 of those in the second half.
A&M is a hard-working team, but even with their scrimmage for much of the game, they managed just 15 passing yards and failed to create much momentum against the Gamecocks’ defense.
Offensive Line: C
The Gamecocks have a great pass rush led by Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart, and the Aggies knew going into the game. Statistically, A&M held up well as they gave up just two sacks, both of which came in the fourth quarter with the game in hand for South Carolina.
However, they struggled at the point of attack, evidenced by the 3.4 yards per carry they could only muster on the ground and their inability to convert on third and fourth downs.
According to the Stats Broadcast, the Aggies finished 1-for-9 on “power rush” attempts, a stat defined by rushing attempts converted into touchdowns or first downs of two yards or less. They had a quick success rate of 31, with 40 being considered average.
Defensive line: D+
A group loaded with talent made zero in the sack column tonight and struggled to contain Sellers as the mobile quarterback was able to break through the rush and tear apart the Aggie defense all night long.
The freshman quarterback finished with 106 rushing yards, and much of that came from pass rushers chasing his pass rush, creating lane to step up and get into space.
The Gamecocks averaged 5.8 yards rushing on third down, but averaged 9.7 yards per play while doing so. The pass rush had trouble picking up and holding the quarterback and played a huge role in the outcome of the game.
Linebackers: D
The Aggies’ linebackers, led by sophomore captain Taurean York, are usually the highlight of the unit. However, they did not play well and York knows it. “Build the course of the season. I felt like one person beat us. We didn’t struggle with our technique. It all starts with me,” he said after the loss.
York is right. The Aggies’ linebackers struggled to scout Sellers and keep him at bay, while Sanders was able to work his way on the ground as well, finishing with 144 yards.
The tandem of York and Scooby Williams has been the highlight of an A&M defense that ranks in the top 20 in the nation in rushing defense, but it was completely outplayed Saturday night.
Defensive back: B-
The silver lining for the Aggies’ defense Saturday night is that the cornerbacks played decently. The combination of Mazeo Bennett Jr. and Jared Brown finished the game with three receptions for 20 yards. Although Bennett left the game early with an injury, no other wide receiver was able to step up and make a play in his absence.
The problems were with the other pass catchers on the unit. Tight end Joshua Simon finished with 132 yards and two touchdowns, while Sanders added 92 more out of the backfield.
Much of that blame rests with the quarterbacks and perhaps the quarterbacks. It wasn’t clean and it wasn’t much for A&M this week, but the play of cornerbacks Will Lee III and BJ Mays continues to be encouraging as Lee continues to show he’s one of the SEC’s best cornerbacks and Mayes gets his third rotation in two weeks with a slight recovery.
Special teams: B+
Tyler White has been a real weapon for the Aggies punters, but tonight was just a crazy night for the freshman. He punted the ball five times, punting two inside the 20-yard line while averaging 40 yards per attempt.
Placekicker Randy Bond was solid again, going 2-for-2 on the day with a long of 55 yards.
Coaches: C-
Head coach Mike Elko and Co. they were rightly praised all season, but tonight was weak. Despite the wins they’ve had over the past two months, this team has struggled with penalties and is currently 116th in the country with 62.
The lack of discipline has kept the team playing with fire all season, and on Saturday against South Carolina, it finally burned them. The Aggies finished with seven total penalties on the night, and if the Elko group wants to get their season back on track and reach the College Football Playoff, the small details will need to be honed.
Fortunately for A&M, they have a bye next week and Elko will have plenty of time to emphasize that his team needs to improve.
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