South Carolina entered halftime looking like a defensive force. Through two quarters, the Gamecocks had limited the No. 3 team in the nation to just three points and 132 total yards — one of their strongest showings all season.
But everything unraveled almost immediately after the break.
Just 10 plays into the second half, Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed connected with Izaiah Williams on a 27-yard touchdown, trimming the Gamecocks’ lead to 31-10. When the Aggies got the ball again, the onslaught continued: seven plays later, Reed found Ashton Bethel-Roman for a 39-yard score.
South Carolina went three-and-out on its next drive, and Texas A&M needed only two plays to strike yet again. Reed hit Bethel-Roman for a 76-yard gain, and one snap later the Aggies punched in a 14-yard touchdown to make it a six-point game.
In a span of 12 minutes and 18 seconds, the Gamecock defense surrendered 203 passing yards and three touchdowns—a stunning collapse after once leading 30-3. The natural question became: What went wrong?
“They had some play calls that we haven’t seen”
Defensive coordinator Clayton White said the second-half meltdown started with Texas A&M finding rhythm — and South Carolina failing to respond.
White acknowledged that the staff anticipated a push from the Aggies.
“They had some play calls that we haven’t seen, but accountability definitely starts with us,” White said.
Linebacker Justin Okonkwo echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that the entire program — coaches and players alike — share the blame.
A defensive identity shaken
The defense has been the backbone of South Carolina’s season, keeping the Gamecocks afloat despite major offensive inconsistency. They’ve also proven capable against mobile quarterbacks like Ty Simpson and Marcel Reed, largely thanks to facing LaNorris Sellers every day in practice.
White maintains confidence in the unit, even after the collapse.
“With us, we want to make sure that our guys understand that, like, the first half was not a fluke. We’ve done something like that before. We played that way before the road,” he said. “Really, the second half was more of a fluke than the first half, to be honest with you.”
Still, he admitted the game forced him to rethink some second-half playcalling.
“You can’t just sit back and play prevent defense the entire half,” he said, though he acknowledged moments when doing so might have helped.
“Didn’t quite answer that”
White said the Aggies clearly aimed to score quickly — something South Carolina expected but didn’t prepare well enough for.
“And we were in some pass calls. We were aggressive. We kind of mixed it up, and some mistakes here and there, mistiming of a call here and there, and then just this didn’t roll our way,” White said. “… Maybe we probably wouldn’t expect, we were up 30 to three at the half. So it’s kind of like, okay, we probably need to be ready for them to try and strike fast. And didn’t quite answer that.”
“We can’t make those mistakes”
With two games left — both against in-state opponents Coastal Carolina and Clemson — the Gamecocks can’t dwell on the meltdown, but must learn from it.
Defensive back DQ Smith put it bluntly:
“And in the SEC, on the road, against the number three team in the country, we can’t make those mistakes,” Smith said. “We made those mistakes in the second half, and they came back and shot us in the foot. I don’t know, the result is the result.”
