No. 9 A&M Remains Undefeated, Downs South Carolina 24-13

Saturday, October 1

Columbia, S.C.

3:00 PM

Texas A&M

5-0 , 3-0

South Carolina

2-3 , 1-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

South Carolina

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 01, 2016 | Football

Box Score Box: A&M 24, SC 13 (PDF)Photos

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Trevor Knight threw for 206 yards and ran for 84 more, leading No. 9 Texas A&M to a 24-13 win over South Carolina on Saturday.

Knight also had a fumble and an interception that kept this one close. But the Aggies (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern) used a tight defense to win this one, tackling the Gamecocks (2-3, 1-3) for losses on 10 plays and keeping them out of the end zone after A.J. Turner's 75-yard touchdown run on South Carolina's first play from scrimmage.

Knight came in second in the SEC in total offense, and either threw the ball or ran it on 52 of Texas A&M's 79 plays. Trayveon Williams and James White each ran for a touchdown for the Aggies. The SEC's best rushing team had 216 yards on the ground.

Four starters were out for Texas A&M, including last year's SEC sack leader Myles Garrett, two receivers in Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and the Aggies were away from home for a third straight game. Coach Kevin Sumlin said he told them if they weren't careful, this could be a trap and the touchdown on the opening play could have spiraled things out of control.

"But they settled down after that first play. There was never panic on the sideline. There was never guys pressing -- defense keeping us in the game, offense moving the ball in the second half," Sumlin said.

Knight expects everyone to be back next week. "Those guys needed a week to heal up," the senior quarterback said.

The Gamecocks had chances to end their six-game losing streak to ranked opponents, but kicker Elliot Fry missed two field goals and Jamarcus King fumbled a punt with 3:12 left in the game.

"We're doing a lot of things better but we don't have a lot of margin for error," South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said.

ABOUT THE WIN...

Texas A&M used a balanced offensive attack and stingy defense to tally a hard-fought 24-13 road win over South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday.

• The Aggies improved to 5-0 for the third straight season, which hasn't been at Texas A&M since 1939-41.

• Texas A&M moved to 3-0 in SEC play, marking the first time the Aggies have won their first three conference games of the year in more than a decade (since 2004).

• The Aggies improved to 3-0 against their permanent cross-division rivals.

• Texas A&M improved to 2-0 vs. South Carolina when wearing alternate uniforms. The Aggies wore "Junction Made" retro uniforms commemorating the undefeated 1956 team coached by Paul "Bear" Bryant.

• The victory moved the Aggies to 4-0 in 2016 when the opposing team scores first. Prior to 2016, the Aggies were 3-8 in games when the opponent scored first.

• The Aggies continued to be road warriors under head coach Kevin Sumlin as they improved to 21-7 in games away from Kyle Field, including a 14-6 mark in true road games. In the five seasons before Sumlin's arrival, the Aggies were 10-19 away from Kyle Field.

BIG-PLAY TRAY...

True freshman RB Trayveon Williams, who entered the weekend as the nation's top true freshman rusher, continued his penchant for long TD runs with a 49-yard romp on the Aggies' first drive of the second half.

• He finished the game with a game-high 98 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

• Williams who entered the game with a FBS-best 9.7 yard per carry average, averaged 7.0 yards per tote vs. the Gamecocks.

• Williams now has six runs over 20 yards in 2016, including four that he took to paydirt.

ABOUT THE BALANCE

The Texas A&M offense, which entered the game with exactly 153 rushing and passing plays, gained 219 ground yards (on 39 rushes) and 206 yards (on 40 pass attempts) through the air vs. the Gamecocks.

• It was the Aggies' fifth-straight 200-yard rushing game to open the season, which hasn't happened at Texas A&M in nearly 30 years (since 1997).

FIRST-TIME STARTERS

Three Aggies were making their first career starts against the Gamecocks: junior DE Qualen Cunningham, sophomore RT Koda Martin and sophomore WR Frank Iheanacho.

• Not making the trip to South Carolina were normal starters: DE Myles Garrett, RT Jermaine Eluemenor, WR Speedy Noil and WR Ricky Seals-Jones.

NOTABLES

• Sophomore WR Christian Kirk had a career-high 12 catches (for 61 yards) against the Gamecocks.

• Senior LB Shaan Washington flirted with his tackles career high of 13 with a game-high 11 stops against the Gamecocks. He logged the 200th tackle of his career in the first quarter vs. SC.

• Last week's SEC Defensive Player of the Week Armani Watts made his first interception of the 2016 season with a first-quarter pick against South Carolina.

• Senior DE Daeshon Hall had two sacks vs. South Carolina and is now tied for the team lead with Myles Garrett. For the game, Hall had six tackles, two sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss and two QB hurries.

• The Texas A&M defense generated 10 tackles for loss. It was the fourth time in five games that the defense has posted 10 or more TFLs in a game.

• When South Carolina scored on the first play of the game, it was the first points allowed by the Aggies on the opponent's first offensive possession of the first or second half since UCLA booted a field goal on its first drive.

• Game captains for the Aggies were graduate transfer QB Trevor Knight, senior DB Alex Sezer Jr. and senior LB Shaan Washington. South Carolina won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff.

• The Aggies' 12th Man representative was sophomore LB Cullen Gillaspia (Katy, Texas) in his fifth straight start. A former walkon, Gillaspia was awarded a scholarship at the end of fall camp. He contributed a fumble recovery to end South Carolina's upset hopes.