Overshadowed by an atrocious defensive performance, the Gamecock receiving core was one of the only bright spots for the team against Texas A&M.
South Carolina’s receivers hauled in four touchdowns from quarterback Dylan Thompson, accounting for all of the team’s points, but it was not nearly enough to match the Aggies’ 52-point explosion.
Redshirt senior Nick Jones had the best game of any receiver, and statistically the best game of his career, with five catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
Jones was asked if he could assess his performance while ignoring the results, which was something the Gamecock veteran couldn’t do.
“It’s kind of hard to take away the results because this is a team sport and I’m a team type of guy,” he said. “Even with what I did, it wasn’t enough for the team.”
Jones had the Gamecocks’ first big offensive play with a 69-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter, putting his team back in the game after a rough defensive start that never ceased.
Head coach Steve Spurrier named Jones as pretty much the only bright spot of the game.
“Nicky’s a good player,” he said. “He can get open, he made some big plays. We’re going to use him.”
The Head Ball Coach did mention that Jones almost had a crucial touchdown catch before halftime, but he couldn’t hang on after getting clobbered in the end zone as the ball reached him.
He expected a bigger game from sophomore Pharoh Cooper, who still performed serviceable after three catches for 58 yards and a touchdown on the day. Cooper caught a five-yard pass over the middle in the end zone through traffic to complete the score in the third quarter.
Damiere Byrd gave the Gamecocks their other huge offensive play, burning the Texas A&M secondary for a 46-yard touchdown on the senior’s only catch of the day.
One player who needs to bounce back in the receiving core is junior Shaq Roland. He said he only cares about the team’s performance and not his own numbers, but it is tough for the South Carolina offense when Roland’s output is one catch for two yards. The junior had trouble getting separation from Aggie defenders all night and should look to build confidence against East Carolina next week.
Because the Gamecocks were playing from behind the whole game, the running game was not much of a factor.
Junior Mike Davis did not get the first carries for South Carolina because he missed a decent amount of practice over the past couple of weeks while redshirt junior Brandon Wilds was healthy all of preseason.
Wilds had a better game of the two backs with nine carries for 45 yards as well as two catches for 32 yards.
Davis had a subpar six carries for 15 yards before he left the game in the third quarter after re-aggravating a rib injury sustained in preseason. According to Spurrier, Davis took himself out because he did not feel healthy enough to play.
The coaching staff also figured if the offense was going to be in passing situations a lot, it would probably be better to hold the junior out.
The Gamecocks have nine days to prepare for East Carolina, which could help get the offense more in sync. While the receivers did make some big plays, Thompson only completed 20-of-40 passes, which is not good enough if the Gamecocks want to rebound and contend in the SEC.
Jones was still getting over the shock of defeat after the game.
“It’s a huge wakeup call,” he said. “Everybody knew the hype we had coming into the season. We didn’t live up to that tonight so we got to get back to the drawing board and get back to work.”