COLLEGE STATION — It took all four quarters in Texas A&M’s first game back home in five weeks.
The Aggies scored 28 unanswered points in the second half for a 31-30 comeback win over South Carolina on Saturday at Kyle Field.
Since 2004, SEC teams were 0-286 when trailing by 27-plus points. After trailing 30-3 at halftime, the Aggies pulled off the biggest comeback win in program history. It was A&M’s largest comeback since making a 21-point turnaround in the 2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl against Duke.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Aggies’ win.
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First half struggles
The Aggies couldn’t get out of their own way in the first half.
Heisman Trophy contender Marcel Reed had three crucial turnovers — two interceptions and a fumble — which the Gamecocks capitalized on for 17 points. The defensive side of the ball was no better, giving up 30 points in the first half, the most the Aggies had allowed before halftime all season.
“If you take your foot off the gas in football, football will humble you quick,” A&M head coach Mike Elko said. “Clearly, we weren’t in the mental space we needed to be in to start that game. That’s on me, I’m the head football coach. We weren’t doing the things on either side of the ball that we needed to do to be successful.”
The Aggies also had struggles on special teams, as kicker Randy Bond missed two field goals from 45 and 25 yards. The 27-point halftime deficit was the most A&M had trailed an opponent in 2025, forcing the Aggies to play near perfect in the second half for any chance to remain undefeated.
Second half redemption
The Aggies have demonstrated their adaptability all season, and put that on display again against the Gamecocks, putting up 28 unanswered points. After only mustering up 132 total yards of offense in the first half, A&M proceeded to feast in the second half for 371 total yards.
Whatever adjustment the Aggies made at halftime worked, as A&M picked things up on both sides of the ball. Reed rebounded from his three first half turnovers with a trio of passing touchdowns, while running back EJ Smith claimed the lead with a 4-yard rushing touchdown. The defense refused to let South Carolina build up steam late, giving up just 76 yards to the Gamecocks in the second half.
“I’m not lost for words very much, but I was lost for words with the team in the locker room after the gam,” Elko said. “A lot of that emotion was just pride and then who they were, how they conducted themselves. There’s not a lot of teams that have a culture and a core that will just keep going.”
No running room
The Aggies’ matchup against the Gamecocks appeared to be a ripe for running room, however that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. A&M had just 64 rushing yards, the Aggies’ lowest total so far this season.
A&M entered Saturday third in average rushing yards in the SEC while South Carolina allowed the third-most yards on the ground per game. A large deficit on the scoreboard certainly didn’t encourage the Aggies to run the ball, as A&M was forced to pass for any hope of getting back in the game.
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Early defensive disaster
Despite the Gamecocks walking into Kyle Field with the worst offense in the SEC, South Carolina managed to tear the Aggies’ defense to shreds for 388 total yards and 30 points in the first half. With firing of offensive coordinator Mike Shula, wide receiver coach Mike Furrey took over play calling duties. The Gamecocks managed to score points on four of nine first-half possessions.
Quarterback LaNorris Sellers looked a lot like the Heisman Trophy contender and NFL prospect many experts predicted he’d be in the preseason, with 295 yards from scrimmage, including a 21-yard catch on an end around in the first quarter. The A&M defense had no answer for Sellers’ athleticism or any other members of the Gamecocks’ backfield in the early going. South Carolina averaged just 100.8 rushing yards per game, the least in the SEC, but racked up 121.1 yards on 33 carries.
The Aggies’ secondary also struggled early failing to contain the Gamecocks receiving duo of Nyck Harbor and Vandrevius Jacobs. The duo hauled in a combined seven receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns. The Aggies defense will have to work on its consistency with a postseason run looming.
“I just felt like they were probably just outplaying us, they were out executing us, they were out efforting us,” A&M linebacker Taurean York said. “And that’s kind of what South Carolina does against us, if I remember correctly, last year they had a bye week going into our game. You know, this year they had some coaching changes, so they had a couple more weeks to implement some new plays. So they came out there with some new stuff we weren’t expecting.”
A&M WRs step up
Aggie wide receiver Mario Craver was listed as a game-time decision ahead of the matchup against the Gamecocks and appeared limited as he finished with just one catch for 6 yards. It took some time, but A&M eventually figured things out through the air, as several different receivers stepped up.
KC Concepcion led all receivers with seven catches for 158 yards. Ashton Bethel-Roman had four catches for 139 yards along with a score.
One surprising name for the Aggies was Izaiah Williams, who turned his first catch of the season into a 27-yard score for A&M.
“We would love to have Mario out there, I mean, he a dog,” Bethel-Roman said. “We would love to have him out there, but in our receiver room, we have dogs behind dogs. So it’s like, even though Mario went down, we had Zay [Williams] come pick up the slack, and he did a great job doing what he did.”
The Aggies final notable pass catcher was tight end Nate Boerkircher, who had three receptions for 40 yards and one touchdown.
“Obviously, he’s [Boerkircher] a more physical kid than he is a wide open wide receiver, pass catching type,” Elko said. “But, we knew he had really good hands, we knew he could play tight end and run routes and catch the ball. And so he gives us a lot of value.”
The Aggies’ ability to compete regardless of who is lined up out wide will be crucial to making a postseason run.
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