5 things we learned from South Carolina football’s dominant 44-20 win over Texas A&M

South Carolina did not just beat the No. 10 in the country and did not just eek out a victory in the game’s final moments. The Gamecocks (5-3, 3-3 SEC) pummeled the 10th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies — especially in the second half — and won 44-20.

Here are five things we learned from USC’s signature victory of the season:

1. LaNorris Sellers is a bad man

With chaos and euphoria around him, coach Shane Beamer stood in the middle of a field-storming and was choked up. ABC sideline reporter Molly McGrath had asked the Gamecocks’ head coach about Sellers, the redshirt freshman quarterback.

Suddenly, Beamer had a frog in his throat. Who could blame him?

Think about it: Sellers came into this season with the burden of expectations. He was gonna be the QB to elevate the program, the homegrown South Carolina kid lifting up the University of South Carolina. He starts as a redshirt freshman and his first start is, um, shaky. He bounces back, starts playing better, starts looking the part — then he gets injured.

He comes back from injury before getting mauled by Ole Miss and then losing to Alabama, primarily because he fumbled more than anyone in the country.

That’s a lot on this kid’s plate. A lot of doubt, speculation, criticism. And he never folded.

On Saturday, he was finally the star. Finally lived up to what everyone had hoped. Never mind some of the stats, even though they’re good: 13 of 27 passing for 244 yards, 15 rushes for 106 yards, three total touchdowns.

Texas A&M blitzed and blitzed him. They got in the backfield without a sweat. And, a decent amount of times, they could smell the cologne on Sellers. They had him wrapped up. Sacked. Done. And then he’d turn into “Flubber” and slip out of disaster.

South Carolina went into Saturday giving up the second-most sacks in America. Against one of the most-talented defensive lines in the country, the Gamecocks didn’t give up a single sack. That’s all because of the bad man wearing No. 16.

2. There’s your respect, Shane

I’ve written a few times this season how Beamer always comes into his postgame press conference talking about about how his team needs more respect. I’m not even sure who he’s talking to. The local media? National media? Fans? College football enthusiasts? People who make polls?

Who knows?

On Saturday, he sat behind the podium after the biggest win of the season saying stuff like: “I hope y’all give us the kudos that that group in (the locker room) deserves.”

On one hand, I get it: Darn right his guys deserve respect. To outscore that Texas A&M team 24-0 in the second half is proof of talent, will, resolve, potential. All of it.

On the other: It should not be a surprise why South Carolina wasn’t getting its kudos before Saturday. The Gamecocks’ wins were over Old Dominion (4-5), Kentucky (3-6), Akron (2-7) and Oklahoma (5-4). They hadn’t proved they could beat a really good team.

That’s what they proved Saturday. They proved they could get over the hump. That they could not almost beat good teams, but actually do it. Before Saturday’s win, South Carolina had lost its last nine games against ranked teams.

In college football, respect is earned through results. The Gamecocks finally got its desired outcome on Saturday. The respect will follow.

3. The defense was boringly great

Just a game after I declared that South Carolina has a “historically fun defense,” the Gamecocks were boring. They forced two turnovers, had just three sacks but none until midway through the fourth quarter, and broke up just one pass.

It was nothing flashy. And it was perfect.

The Gamecocks allowed 350 total yards and 206 through the air — the second-fewest it’s allowed against an SEC team this year. They stopped Texas A&M on two massive fourth downs. And they only allowed the Aggies into the red zone once.

South Carolina, though, stuck to its plan. The Gamecocks watched what A&M quarterback Marcel Reed did to LSU last week, running all over them en route to a comeback win. The plan on Saturday was not for South Carolina to pad its sack numbers and get in the backfield every play. It was simply to contain Reed.

Mission accomplished. The Aggies’ QB ran 16 times for just 46 yards. A guy who threw the ball two times (!) last week cocked back 28 times against South Carolina. You just know every time his arm went back, defensive coordinator Clayton White smiled.

“(Reed) became pretty much the key to winning,” said linebacker Demetrius Knight, who tallied a game-high 11 tackles. “The emphasis was control him. Keep him in the pocket. Make him throw the ball. I believe we did that tonight.”

4. Maybe this was a healthy Rocket Sanders

This section could have been about the two most-maligned entities of South Carolina football showing out: offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and the offensive line.

Loggains was masterful on Saturday. For as much as fans piled on in prior weeks, it was never a question of whether the dude knew football, but was he putting his players in the best spot? His game plan Saturday was great at giving Sellers easy options, getting receivers open via misdirection and not getting too cute.

It also helps when the offensive line, which didn’t change, opens more holes. And it really helps when the gem of the transfer portal class looks like himself.

Raheim “Rocket” Sanders, the Gamecocks’ starting running back, was injured against Akron. And it’s easy to forget, because he only missed that Akron game. Perhaps he was more hurt than it seemed.

In the three games post-injury: 39 rushes, 140 yards, 2 TDs

Then came a bye week. And against Texas A&M: 20 rushes, 144 yards, 2 TDs.

He was night and day. Faster. Shiftier. He gave the impression of Benjamin Button, just aging back to his 2022 self.

“Big time,” Sanders said of his recovery during the bye week.

If South Carolina can get this Sanders for the rest of the month — hoo boy.

5. You can’t let this be a one-hit wonder

These are the days you dream of as a college student. Tailgate all day. Go to a night football game. Rush the field. Go celebrate. And, because it’s the perfect daylight savings day, you get an extra hour at the bar. The Class of 2025 will remember Saturday for a long, long time.

If they remember this entire season is to be determined.

The task will start next week, against a bowl-eligible Vanderbilt team in Nashville before home games vs. Missouri and Wofford, then a road finale at Clemson.

Every one of those games in winnable. Truly — especially after Clemson laid an egg Saturday against Louisville. But sometimes these field-storming wins are flashes in the pan. A game after Kentucky knocked off Ole Miss earlier this year, it lost to Vanderbilt. Arkansas followed up an upset of Tennessee with a 24-point loss to LSU soon after.

Beating Texas A&M is great. It guarantees nothing and, yet, you can’t win every game in November if you didn’t win Saturday.

“We’ve got the first one,” tight end Joshua Simon said. “Now we’ve got to get the next one and the next one and the next one and the next one”