Tag: South Carolina Football

Texas A&M vs. South Carolina injury report: Latest updates, news for Week 10 matchup

Here is the first availablity report for Texas A&M and South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s Week 10 matchup

10th-ranked Texas A&M will head to Columbia (SC) to face one of the toughest SEC defenses in the country, as South Carolina brings constant pressure in the trenches due to the play of defensive ends Dylan Stewart and Kyle Kennard.

One of the primary reasons this game presents a big challenge on paper for the Aggies is A&M’s recent performance in pass protection in Saturday’s win against LSU, as starting quarterback Conner Weigman faced an overload of pressure before being benched in favor of backup Marcel Reed.

On Wednesday, head coach Mike Elko stated that he would continue to evaluate the quarterback position ahead of the matchup, providing both Reed and Weigman equal practice reps this week to determine the final choice.

Injury-wise, the first SEC Availability Report was released on Wednesday night. Texas A&M’s roster looks to be in great shape outside of starting left guard Chase Bisontis, who will miss at least the next two weeks due to a lower-body injury.

As of Wednesday, here is the latest SEC Availability report ahead of Saturday night:

Texas A&M injury report

  • Rueben Owens – RB (Out for the season)
  • Mark Nabou – OL (Out for the season)
  • Tyreek Chappell – DB (Out)
  • Chase Bisontis – OL (Out)
  • Jahdae Walker — WR (Out for first half)
  • Jaylen Henderson — QB (Questionable)

South Carolina injury report

  • Jakai Moore — OL (Out)
  • DeAndre Jules — DL (Out)
  • Jared Brown — WR (Probable)

OL Chase Bisontis injury update

After sustaining a lower-body injury against Mississippi State, Mike Elko stated on Monday that Bisontis will miss “a couple of weeks,” which is very good news for the Aggies, who will be on their second bye week after facing South Carolina on Saturday.

WR Jahdae Walker’s update

Jahdae Walker shouldn’t have been suspended for the first half of Saturday’s game after what was flagged as a blindside block and targeting against an LSU wide receiver during the Aggies’ 31-6 second-half run against the Tigers. Still, alas, he will be available after halftime.

Texas A&M will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on either ABC or ESPN+.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

Texas A&M’s College Football Playoff odds ahead of facing South Carolina in Week 10

Here are the lastest College Football Playoff odds, including where Texas A&M currently stands

Texas A&M (7-1, 5-0 SEC) will head to Columbia (SC) to face South Carolina (4-3, 2-3 SEC) in a game where you can throw both team’s records out of the window, as the Gamecocks possess one of the most formidable defenses in the country.

However, the Aggies are one of the hottest teams in the country after defeating LSU 38-23 in one of the craziest comebacks you’ll see all season, withstanding a 17-7 halftime deficit after head coach Mike Elko inserted quarterback Marcel Reed into the lineup.

Leading the Aggies to five consecutive scores, Reed’s Lamar Jackson-like speed resulted in three rushing touchdowns, as the Tiger’s defense couldn’t adjust to his quickness.

After starting quarterback Conner Weigman’s poor first-half performance, Elko stated on Monday that his decision regarding who will start against South Carolina will depend on this week’s practice. This means his choice will likely be announced on Saturday afternoon.

The way the Aggies defeated LSU is impressive and proves that this team should be taken seriously as a potential College Football Playoff team among the 12-team structure.

Sitting at 7-1 and in first place in the SEC standings with a 5-0 record, Texas A&M’s CFB Playoff odds have steadily increased. According to BetMGM’s newest odds for the teams most likely to make the playoffs, here are the top 15 teams with the greatest odds:

College Football Playoff Odds:

  1. Oregon: -3000
  2. Georgia: -1600
  3. Ohio State: -1000
  4. Texas: -900
  5. Penn State: -650
  6. Miami (FL): -600
  7. Clemson: -185
  8. Notre Dame: -175
  9. Tennessee: -175
  10. Boise State: -175
  11. Iowa State: -140
  12. BYU: -125
  13. Alabama: -105
  14. Texas A&M: -105
  15. Indiana: +115

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Texas A&M starting OL will ‘probably’ be out a couple of weeks

Texas A&M left guard Chase Bisontis could miss more time than expected

Texas A&M’s critical 38-23 win over the LSU Tigers has vaulted the Aggies to No. 10 in the AP Poll for the first time since the 2022 season. Head coach Mike Elko’s influence has taken hold after just eight games.

After making the change at quarterback in the second half of Saturday’s game, leading to redshirt freshman Marcel Reed leading the offense to five consecutive scoring drives, including three rushing touchdowns on his own end, Texas A&M’s offensive line looked much better in run blocking compared to pass protection.

In place of starting left guard Chase Bisontis, who missed his first game of the season due to a lower-body injury sustained against Mississippi State, sophomore OL TJ Shanahan was impressive as a run blocker but came out of the game as the lowest-graded pass protector per Pro Football Focus.

While Shanahan will likely start at left guard against South Carolina despite his struggles, Elko revealed on Monday that Bisontis will ‘probably’ be out for at least the next couple of weeks, which could mean he’ll return against New Mexico State on Nov. 16th after the Aggies’ second bye week.

Texas A&M will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on either ABC or ESPN+.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

Texas A&M’s defensive line is the key to defeating South Carolina

Texas A&M’s defensive line needs to create constant pressure against South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers

Texas A&M (7-1, 5-0 SEC) is riding high after defeating LSU 38-23 in one the more memorable comebacks in program history after trailing 17-7 at halftime, as head coach Mike Elko’s second-half change to quarterback Marcel Reed resulted in five consecutive scoring drives.

Defensively, the Aggie secondary was less than stellar in the first half, allowing LSU to connect on several explosive plays downfield.

Still, as we’ve seen all season long, Elko and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman’s adjustments led to three LSU turnovers, including senior corner BJ Mayes’ two interceptions in the third quarter, while Texas A&M’s pass rush recorded two sacks against the Tigers’ stout offensive line.

This week, the focus shifts to the toughest remaining game on the schedule outside of facing the Texas Longhorns: the Aggies’ Week 10 road trip to Columbia (SC) to face the South Carolina Gamecocks for another Saturday night showdown.

On Monday, head coach Mike Elko quickly noted how tough South Carolina’s borderline elite defensive line has been despite the Gamecock’s 4-3 record, as close losses to Alabama and LSU still haunt the program this season.

“They’re extremely talented. Their front is phenomenal. … They’re athletic at the second level. They have a first-round safety.”

“Watching them, they allow their defensive line to impact the game, and what they’ve done is successfully turn people over and create opportunities for their offense. … It’s, by far, the best group we’ve played to date.”

While the Aggies’ offensive line will need to be much, much better in pass protection compared to their performance against the Tigers, Texas A&M’s defensive line, led by junior defensive end Nic Scourton, is the key to controlling the game and limiting Gamecocks QB LaNorris Sellers and forcing the dual-threat into errant throws.

Statistically, Texas A&M averages 3.5 sacks and 8 tackles for loss, while South Carolina is currently ranked 132nd in sacks allowed with 4.5 per game and 133rd in tackles for loss allowed with over 9 per contest.

While Scourton’s weekly impact is certainly needed, another collective effort from, especially inside with defensive tackles Shemar Turner, Albert Regis, and DJ Hicks, need to eliminate the run early and slowly but surely make their way into the backfield as the game wears on.

Texas A&M will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on either ABC or ESPN+.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

Texas A&M HC Mike Elko is not ready to announce the starting QB against South Carolina

On Monday, Mike Elko noted that this week’s practice is determine which quarterback starts against South Carolina

On Monday, No. 10 Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko took questions from the local media just two days after the Aggies’ memorable 38-23 comeback win over the LSU Tigers after trailing 17-7 at the half.

Behind the legs of quarterback Marcel Reed, who entered the game in the third quarter due to starting QB Conner Weigman’s poor play, scored three rushing touchdowns while leading the offense to five consecutive scoring drives in one of the season’s most dominant showings.

While many believe Reed, who remains 3-0 as A&M’s starter this season, has regained the starting job, Elko noted that nothing is set in stone, and this week’s practice will determine who starts against South Carolina on Saturday night:

“We just want to see how this week plays out and what we think gives us the best shot to go into this challenge and be successful.”

Regarding Marcel Reed’s dual-threat ability and success with the QB option, Elko stated that there are always plays available in the playbook to get him on the field, similar to his insertion against LSU:

“We have to have a plan for Marcel (Reed) ready at all times because you never know how, injury-wise, the game is going to go.”

“It’s a credit to Collin (Klein) that he’s able to do that in a way that doesn’t create a volume for our offensive players. … It’s not like we’re running two separate offenses because we have enough wrinkles in our system that we can tailor it to specific quarterbacks.”

Conner Weigman’s 6/18 day in the pocket was one of his worst career outings. Still, as we saw in Texas A&M’s season-opening loss, the redshirt sophomore has shown the ability to rebound after every bad performance, and Elko trusts his QB will right the ship this week. However, this is a two-way street concerning the wide receiver rotation finding consistent separation in their routes.

“He still has a ton of growth, repetition that he needs to gather to be able to consistently go through the progressions at the pace and speed that you need to.”

“Sometimes our wideouts are a little too slow getting to where they need to be, and sometimes Conner is a little too fast going through his progressions.”

If the Aggies want to reach the season finale vs. Texas with an undefeated conference record, the passing game, with either Weigman or Reed, will need to improve and find life early in games before the running game can find its footing.

“We’re looking for some consistency in the throw game, and it feels like we’re still working through some of the timing elements of it.”

“We have to get our passing game working in a rhythm in a way it can be productive and efficient for us to get down the road where we want to.”

Texas A&M will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on either ABC or ESPN+.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

Texas A&M vs. South Carolina Game Time, Channel options have been revealed

Texas A&M’s Week 10 road game vs. South Carolina has a Game Time, while the channel designation is still undecided

14th-ranked Texas A&M (6-1, 4-0 SEC) heads back to Kyle Field for a primetime Week 9 showdown against 8th-ranked LSU. The Aggies hope to return to playing A+ level football compared to the up-and-down showing during A&M’s 34-24 win over Mississippi State.

Both teams have reeled off six consecutive wins after losing their season openers. At the same time, LSU took care of business against a tough Arkansas team on the road 34-10 behind freshman running back Caden Durham’s 101 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

If the Aggies can get past the Tigers on Saturday night, another road test, which looks like the toughest game on the schedule against South Carolina, awaits for what is now a confirmed night game inside Williams-Brice Stadium.

Texas A&M will enter the matchup already 2-0 on the road in SEC play after not winning a conference road game since the 2021 season before defeating Florida earlier this year. However, South Carolina’s 16th-ranked defense is the real deal, already racking up 28 sacks in seven games.

Texas A&M will face South Carolina at 6:30 or 6:45 p.m. CT. The channel is still undetermined, but SEC Network, ESPN, or ABC will air the matchup.

Texas A&M will host LSU at home on Saturday, Oct. 26th, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on ABC.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

Kalen DeBoer will need to do more than live on the edge to keep Alabama happy

Alabama can’t keep living like this if it’s really a championship contender.

After last week’s college football catastrophe at Vanderbilt, Alabama almost suffered yet another baffling loss against a visiting South Carolina on Saturday.

Late-game heroics from Crimson Tide cornerback Domani Jackson picking off an errant pass from Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers prevented the South Carolina upset, but the game got awful close to becoming another Alabama disaster there for a second,

The Crimson Tide let up a late touchdown to the Gamecocks and missed snagging an onside kick attempt to set the visitors up for a shocker at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

In fact, Alabama trailed going into the fourth quarter, and two touchdowns wasn’t even enough to put South Carolina away for good.

While it’s the SEC on any given Saturday, it’s more than fair to question why Alabama was in this position in the first place, particularly after such a demoralizing loss in Nashville last week and so much talent on the roster.

Alabama fans won’t endear much sympathy from the grander college football world after years of sustained success, but the whiplash from the Nick Saban era to the Kalen DeBoer era has to be jarring.

These fans are going from beating the top nation in the Georgia two weeks ago to losing to Vanderbilt on the road last week and celebrating an escape from South Carolina at home this week. You don’t empathize as much as you wince because this is still a fierce culture shock for the Alabama faithful.

With a trip to Tennessee next week on the books and games against Missouri, LSU and Oklahoma in the weeks to come, Alabama’s chances of being on the ropes late in the season has skyrocketed past our expectations of where this team would be two weeks ago.

Sure, at its peak, Alabama can beat the best team in the country. At its worst, however, it can lose to Vandy and almost lose to South Carolina.

With only one loss this season, the Crimson Tide still have a clear path to the College Football Playoffs. However, that path feels much more fraught than it did after the Georgia win. For the first time in a long time, Alabama feels hard to trust, even against teams they’re supposed to beat.

It’s only the first year of the DeBoer era, so this staff deserves some grace. Saban went 7-6 in his first year with Alabama and lost four-consecutive games that season.

The hard part for DeBoer is simply that was then, and this is now. Life post-Saban was always going to be dicey for Alabama, and DeBoer was never going to get as long as Saban did to succeed.

For a program so accustomed to not only winning, but absolutely dominating, it’s now a fair question to wonder how long DeBoer’s coaching staff will get to return Alabama to where its fans (and administration members) are comfortable.

Living on the edge works for most college fanbases. But this is Tuscaloosa.

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College GameDay host Rece Davis reveals the ‘real’ Carolina

North Carolina is the real Carolina. Even Rece Davis, the host of College GameDay, says so.

It’s Saturday morning in the fall. You wake up, watch College GameDay and prepare yourself for a day full of college football.

GameDay was in Columbia, South Carolina this week in advance of the highly-touted, South Carolina-LSU matchup. The visiting Tigers held on for a 36-33 victory, thanks to 20 second-half points and the Gamecocks missing a tying field goal as time expired.

When it comes to the North Carolina-South Carolina rivalry, though, there’s debate between the two fanbases on who the “real” Carolina is. Everyone knows that UNC holds that distinction, according to all outside of Columbia.

If you ask College GameDay host Rece Davis who the real Carolina is, he’ll also vouch for the Tar Heels.

https://twitter.com/MattDowellTV/status/1834651087350985041

The North Carolina Tar Heels have been on College GameDay three times, most recently ahead of their 2023 opener against South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. UNC won that game in massive fashion, 31-17, behind a 9-sack performance from its defense.

North Carolina leads its all-time series against South Carolina, 34-20-4. Despite UNC’s season-opening win last year, it was just UNC’s second win in its last six tries against the Gamecocks.

If the Tar Heels continue their early-season winning ways, could they be getting another visit from Davis and the College GameDay crew?

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

South Carolina’s Maurice Brown II soared over 3 LSU players for the punt block of the year

HOLY BLOCKED PUNT, BATMAN.

There are blocked punts and then there are blocked punts by South Carolina.

Not to be dramatic, but a blocked punt during South Carolina’s matchup with LSU on Saturday might be one of the best I’ve ever seen. What should have been a routine play turned into a disaster for the Tigers and pure art for the Gamecocks.

Tight end Maurice Brown II  — just put on scholarship this week — perfectly timed his jump to block a punt after a stalled drive and was unintentionally lifted in the air by an LSU player. That gave him just enough to get up and over the line and block the punter so fast that even the broadcast was stunned by the turn of events.

I mean, look at this slow-mo GIF version. BEAUTIFUL. Hang it in the Louvre. WHEWWWW, BOY. THIS IF PERFECTION.

(Feature image courtesy of ESPN)

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Commanders to hire former NFL quarterback as director of player development

Adam Peters makes another impressive hire.

Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters continues to raid other organizations for top talent. On Monday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 (Click 2 Houston) Houston reported that Washington was hiring Houston Texans director of team development Dylan Thompson for a similar role in the organization.

Thompson, 32, played college football at South Carolina under former Washington coach Steve Spurrier from 2010-14. The Boiling Springs, S.C., native appeared in 36 games for the Gamecocks, completing 58% of his passes for 5,401 yards, with 40 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

In 2015, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the San Francisco 49ers. After Colin Kaepernick went down for the season with an injury, he spent some time on San Francisco’s 53-man roster. The 49ers released him after the season, and he signed with the Los Angeles Rams. He spent the 2016 training camp with the Rams before he was cut.

In 2017, Thompson accepted a position for the Charleston-Southern men’s basketball team as the director of player development. He received his first NFL gig in 2018 when the Detroit Lions hired him as the team’s character coach until he landed with the Houston Texans in 2021.

With Houston, Thompson was the director of team development. In that role, Thompson helped the rookie class or any young player adjust to life in the NFL off the field. This could involve educating the players or spending time with them off the field to help make their transition to the NFL much smoother.

Washington let its former senior director of player development, Malcolm Bracken, go earlier this offseason, and Thompson will fill that role.