First Glance: Texas A&M Aggies vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

What You Need to Know:

• South Carolina is 3-2 on this season (2-2 SEC). The Gamecocks had the Marshall game cancelled in week 3 due to Hurricane Florence. The Gamecocks have lost to Georgia and Kentucky, but have beaten Vanderbilt and most recently beat Mizzou on a game-winning field goal with 2 seconds left.
• South Carolina’s remaining schedule includes Tennessee, @Ole Miss, @Florida, Chattanooga, and finishing up with in-state rival @Clemson. The Marshall game has not been rescheduled at this time. If South Carolina falls out of the SEC East race, I anticipate a make-up game announced for December 1.
• South Carolina sits at 46th in over-all S&P rankings. Offensively the Gamecocks are nicely sitting at 69th in the S&P; while 36th defensively in the S&P.
• The Aggies are currently 17th in the S&P. The Aggie Offense sits at 33rd while the Defense sits at 23rd.
• The trip to Columbia, South Carolina is the first of a three game road stretch for the Aggies.
• Association of Former Student Events: Midnight Yell will be on the steps of the South Carolina State House. The All-Aggie Tailgate will be located at the Corner of National Guard Rd. and Bluff Rd.
• To check out more on the Gamecocks, go visit Garnet and Black.

Betting Lines:

• Edit: Lines posted at 12:10 pm with A&M as a -2 point road favorite.
• South Carolina is 3-2 against the spread while being 2-1 ATS at home. The Aggies are 5-1 ATS and 1-0 ATS on the road.

Historical Notes:

• Texas A&M is 4-0 all-time against SEC cross-divisional rival, South Carolina. All four wins came in the Kevin Sumlin era.
• Jimbo Fisher is 1-0 against South Carolina when he lead Florida State to a 26-17 win over a Steve Spurrier coached Gamecock team in the 2010 Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
• Jimbo Fisher holds a 2-1 record over Will Muschamp. All three games involved Florida State and Florida.
• South Carolina and Texas A&M are contrived cross-divisional rivals in the SEC. The teams play for the James Bonham trophy named for James Butler Bonham, a native South Carolinian, who rode back into the Alamo to inform commander William Travis that no assistance would be coming for the Texan independence fighters.
• Famous Gamecocks include Darius Rucker, Jadeveon Clowney, Sterling Sharpe, Lauren Michelle Hill, Ainsley Earhardt, Robert McNair, Zig Ziglar, and Good Bull Hunting favorite Stephen Garcia. Feel free to leave more in the comments.
• Sir Big Spur is South Carolina’s live mascot and is an Old English black-breasted red gamecock. This is the second live Mascot A&M has faced this season (Tusk - Arkansas), and the Aggies are currently 1-0 against teams with a live mascot.

Gamecocks to Watch:

The Starting Quarterback

Michael Scarnecchia started in place of injured QB, Jake Bentley, in the Battle of the Columbias (South Carolina vs Missouri). It took a half for Scarnecchia to get settled, but came out after half time to lead the Gamecocks to 21 points in the third quarter in the the rain. He ended the day with 249 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air with no interceptions. Head Coach Will Muschamp stated that Bentley was able to play Saturday, but would have been limited. Bentley banged up his knee late in the Kentucky game. He has thrown for 928 yards with 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions (3 in the Kentucky game). A starter has not been named at this time, but look for either quarterback to be able to play if Bentley is cleared to play.

Parker White - K

Parker White is now 8/9 on field goals (perfect on extra points) this year and has two game winners in his career with the second coming last Saturday against Missouri. He also is a team first kind of guy and will not get distracted by his girlfriend.

Media Blitz:

• Venue: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, South Carolina
• When: Saturday, October 13th at 2:30 pm CT
• Channel: SEC Network

Newsreel:

• The win over Kentucky is Coach Jimbo Fisher’s first SEC win at Kyle Field
• The Aggies improved to 13-6 all-time in overtime, while currently on a 6 straight overtime winning streak. (Kentucky ‘18, Arkansas ‘17, Tennesse ‘16, UCLA ‘16, Arkansas ‘15, and Arkansas ‘14.) The last overtime game the Aggies lost was against Kansas State in 2011 (4OT)
• Punter Braden Mann had an 82 yard punt that is the longest in FBS this season and is the third-longest in A&M history and is the longest by an Aggie in 74 years.

Weather:

• Weather for Saturday in Columbia, South Carolina looks to be sunny with a high of 77 degrees.