What a rush! South Carolina stuns No. 10 Texas A&M for big-time SEC win

Saturday was a do-over. A rewrite. Bleaching the mistakes of the past with the success of the present.

For two months now, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer has declared that his team is close. Close to turning the corner. To finishing a close game. To not just hanging with the best teams in the SEC, but actually beating them. Still, close is a relative term, impossible to really quantify.

You are just close … until you’re not.

Inside a blackout at Williams-Brice Stadium, South Carolina proved that it’s no longer just close.

The Gamecocks, having lost their past nine games against a ranked opponent, finally beat one, knocking off No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday, 44-20.

Late into the night, when the clock hit zero, the students flooded out of the north end zone, spilling onto the field to really, truly celebrate a Gamecocks victory for the first time in nearly two years.

South Carolina (5-3, 3-3 SEC) has been phenomenal this season at providing hope. In September, with the excitement of “ESPN College GameDay” a magical precursor, the Gamecocks led by 17 over LSU … and lost. Last month, South Carolina had a fourth-quarter lead at No. 7 Alabama … and lost.

This fan base was harboring all this built-up fever and, on Saturday, the levee broke. The field rush was the real-life depiction of all the hope spilling into the limelight. Hope was no longer scary. It was rewarded.

All because South Carolina found a way to finish.

“I told the team there they will remember November,” Beamer said, “and this is a great start. But we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got four games left and I hope we continue to get better.”

South Carolina vs. Texas A&M recap

This game, in the words of the late Yogi Berra, felt like deja vu all over again. South Carolina, just as it was against LSU, got up 14-0 via a methodical opening drive that finished with a LaNorris Sellers touchdown run, a defensive stop on fourth-and-1, then Sellers flicking a pass to Joshua Simon in the end zone.

Williams-Brice was on earthquake watch. Those white towels were pumping. “Sandstorm” was blaring. Could the Gamecocks maybe, just maybe, blow this A&M team out? Of course, it can’t be that easy.

Just like the LSU game, the visiting team responded. It wasn’t just that Texas A&M scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, but the Aggies (7-2, 5-1 SEC) just looked a step quicker.

Think about this: South Carolina racked up 255 total yards in the first half without committing a single penalty and the Gamecocks weren’t even winning. They were merely tied, 20-20.

On a normal night, being tied with the No. 10 team in America at halftime should be celebrated. Yet, in a way, it felt like the Gamecocks were playing as well as they possibly could and still couldn’t get over the hump. They were just close … again.

Not on this night, though. Something was different. Perhaps it was an extra oomph from the first SEC night game of the year — maybe something cosmic or just a few extra hours to tailgate. Whatever it was, fate changed.

South Carolina’s defense, which came into Saturday’s contest touting a sack-happy, vicious pack of hunters, failed to record a sack until midway through the fourth quarter.

Running back Rocket Sanders, who has looked hampered and slow for weeks coming off an ankle injury, looked different. It’s hard to explain. Things just looked easy for him. He weaved through defenders like they were 100-year-old oaks. His instincts were quick. His cuts were lightning. And his speed — well, we have sufficient evidence that he’s faster than any Texas A&M DB.

Then there was Sellers. Touted as South Carolina’s next big thing, he had been leading one of the worst offenses in America. He was completing passes here and there, but nothing more.

Sellers, with the aid of a masterclass in play calling from offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, played his best game of the season Saturday. He threw for 244 yards, rushed for 106 and, miraculously, was not sacked.

It was as if Sellers had been doused in canola oil. Texas A&M did not have a single sack despite having him dead to rights seemingly a dozen times. They were acts of illusion, magic, whatever you believe in. None of it made any sense.

It was just that those Texas A&M defenders were close … until they weren’t. Funny how that works.

Next South Carolina football game

Who: South Carolina at Vanderbilt

When: 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9

Where: Commodore Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

TV: SEC Network