NCAAF Game Recap - Texas A&M at South Carolina
Sat Oct 13, 2018 3:30 PM EDT

MIZ
10
Bama
39
F
UGA
16
LSU
36
F
MIN
14
OSU
30
F
Pitt
14
ND
19
F
WVU
14
IASt
30
F
Wash
27
Oreg
30
F OT
MSU
21
PSU
17
F
Bayl
17
Tex
23
F
UCF
31
Mem
30
F
Wisc
13
Mich
38
F
Fla
37
Vand
27
F
MiaFL
13
UVA
16
F
Colo
20
USC
31
F
Tenn
30
Aub
24
F
TxAM
26
SCar
23
F
SoFL
25
Tuls
24
F
App
35
ArkSt
9
F
GaSo
15
TxSt
13
F
TxTch
17
TCU
14
F
AF
17
SDSU
21
F
Ariz
10
Utah
42
F
Neb
31
NW
34
F OT
OkSt
12
K St
31
F
Rut
7
MD
34
F
Iowa
42
Ind
16
F
Toled
26
E Mi
28
F
Akr
6
Buff
24
F
Duke
28
GATec
14
F
Lou
20
BC
38
F
UAB
42
Rice
0
F
JMU
37
Vill
0
F
SMiss
7
NorTx
30
F
Troy
16
Lib
22
F
Kent
6
MiaOH
31
F
Ball
24
C Mi
23
F
WestMI
42
BGSU
35
F
Army
52
SJSU
3
F
Ohio
21
NIU
24
F
Purd
46
Ill
7
F
Marsh
42
OD
20
F
Temp
24
Navy
17
F
W Ky
14
UNCC
40
F
UNLV
28
UtSt
59
F
NM
18
ColSt
20
F
E Il
22
JacSt
49
F
AlaSt
7
SoAl
45
F
NMS
38
ULLaf
66
F
ULMon
45
CoCar
20
F
SamHu
42
NWSt
28
F
UCLA
37
Cal
7
F
LT
31
UTSA
3
F
VaTec
22
UNC
19
F
Hou
42
ECU
20
F
Miss
37
Ark
33
F
MidTN
21
FLInt
24
F
Hawaii
23
BYU
49
F
Boise
31
NEV
27
F
Wyo
3
Fres
27
F

Oct 13, 2018, 3:30 PM EDT

Final

1

2

3

4

T

(22) Texas A&M (5-2)

3

10

3

10

26

South Carolina (3-3)

0

0

16

7

23

Mond, Small lead No. 22 Texas A&M to 26-23 win vs. Gamecocks
Sat Oct 13, 2018 8:19 PM

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Tight end Jace Sternberger knew plenty of people were waiting for No. 22 Texas A&M to fall apart after its surprisingly strong start.

The Aggies showed Saturday they're not going away any time soon.

Sternberger had seven catches for 145 yards, Kellen Mond threw for 353 yards and Seth Small had four field goals as Texas A&M held off South Carolina 26-23.

Sternberger had heard too many comparisons with past Aggies teams who opened strong, then faded as the Southeastern Conference season wore on.

"We put a lot of pressure on ourselves this week," he said. "We knew everybody was waiting to see how we were going to respond."

The Aggies answered with a winning final quarter after squandering a 16-0 second-half lead.

"We were going to get over that hump and we were able to show that today," he said.

There are several more tests ahead for Texas A&M (5-2, 3-1), including road games with Mississippi State and Auburn and closing the regular season against LSU.

For now, though, the Aggies displayed the grit and resolve essential to succeed in the SEC.

"We've got some guys with heart and toughness, I can you that," first year Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said.

The Aggies won their third straight this season and moved to 5-0 against the Gamecocks (3-3, 2-3) since joining the league in 2012.

Mond also had a 4-yard touchdown pass to Sternberger in the second quarter and, when Small hit a 32-yard field goal on the Aggies' first drive of the second half to go up 16-0, it looked like more than enough to put away the Gamecocks, who managed just 102 yards of offense the first 30 minutes.

That's when Jake Bentley, returning after missing last week's win over Missouri with a knee injury, led a pair of third-quarter TD drives - and the two-point conversions both times.

Bentley had a 22-yard scoring pass to Shi Smith to start the comeback, then hit Chavis Dawkins for a 33-yard touchdown throw off a flea flicker.

Bryan Edwards caught both two-point tries, stretching second across the line before falling out of bounds to tie the game.

Texas A&M responded with the winning drive next time out, moving 45 yards to set Small up for a 39-yard field goal with 9:16 left.

The Aggies sealed things with Trayveon William's 3-yard scoring run with 1:36 left.

South Carolina got a final TD pass from Bentley to Samuel with 48 seconds to go, but could not execute an onside kick attempt. Texas A&M ran out the clock.

Mond got the Aggies going when he found his big tight end Sternberger. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound junior had a 53-yard reception where he dragged safety Steven Montac (some 65 pounds lighter) about 25 yards inside the South Carolina 10.

Asked if he'd ever carried a player that far, Sternberger joked, "Just my little brother."

Small opened Texas A&M's scoring with a 52-yard field goal, the freshman tying his career long kick.

South Carolina struggled with Bentley back behind center in the opening half. The junior, talked about at times this season as an NFL prospect, was 6 of 17 passing the first 30 minutes for 46 yards. He had an awful interception in the end zone to kill off the Gamecocks best scoring chance of the half.

"We didn't take advantage of opportunities," South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said.

Mond was 25 of 37 passing. His 353 yards was the second most of his career after throwing for 430 yards in a 28-26 loss to No. 4 Clemson last month.

THE TAKEAWAY

TEXAS A&M: The Aggies have found ways to hang in games and overcome opponents at the end. It happened a week ago in a 20-14 overtime victory against previously undefeated Kentucky. And they did it against the Gamecocks when momentum had switched in South Carolina's favor.

SOUTH CAROLINA: The Gamecocks played another in a series of terrible first halves. Bentley had only nine yards passing two weeks ago at Kentucky the first two quarters and South Carolina trailed 23-14 at the break against Missouri before rallying. The Gamecocks must figure out a way to start faster or risk more such defeats this season.

TOUGH PUNTER

Texas A&M punter Braden Mann, who led the Football Bowl Subdivision with a gross average of 54.9 yards coming in, had a long of 67 yards against the Gamecocks. He also caused a fumble with a hit on South Carolina returner Bryan Edwards. "He can sell popcorn, too," Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher said.

TARGETING

Two members of Texas A&M's secondary were ejected for targeting. Cornerback Debione Renfro was ejected in the first quarter while safety Donovon Wilson was thrown out in the final period. Fisher said he'll continue strongly reminding his players the right way to tackle.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M is off next week and plays at Mississippi State on Oct. 27.

South Carolina is off next week and returns to play Tennessee at home on Oct. 27.

---

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

TxAM Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
K. Mond 37 25 67.6 1 353 53 0 107.2
SCar Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
J. Bentley 35 17 48.6 3 223 33 1 85.8

Rushing

TxAM Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
T. Williams 19 78 4.1 16 1
K. Mond 13 25 1.9 15 0
SCar Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
T. Williams 7 48 6.9 27 0
R. Dowdle 7 19 2.7 5 0

Receiving

TxAM Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
J. Sternberger 7 145 20.7 53 1
Q. Davis 9 127 14.1 30 0
SCar Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
D. Samuel 7 88 12.6 32 1
S. Smith 3 51 17.0 22 1

Fumbles

SCar F FL
B. Edwards 1 1

Returning

TxAM KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
R. Paul 0 0 0 2 7.5 0 15
J. Corbin 2 24.0 0 25 0 0 0
SCar KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
D. Samuel 2 16.0 0 20 0 0 0
B. Edwards 0 0 0 2 17.0 0 32

Punting

TxAM Punt Yds Avg LgPu
B. Mann 4 209 52.3 67
SCar Punt Yds Avg LgPu
J. Charlton 6 304 50.7 61

Takeaways

TxAM Int Yds InTD
C. Oliver 1 0 0

Team Stats Comparison

TxAM SCar
Points For 26 23
Total Yards 458 299
Rushing Yards 105 76
Passing Yards 353 223
Passing Completions / Attempts 25/37 17/35
Turnovers 0 2
Interceptions Thrown 0 1
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 1/1
First Downs 25 19
Penalties - Yards 12/117 4/39
Time Of Possession 20:20 40:40
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 3/13 2/9
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 0/0 1/1
Punts - Average Yards 4/52 6/51

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter TxAM SCar
TxAM 14:29 FG Seth Small 52 yd FG 3 0
2nd Quarter TxAM SCar
TxAM 10:41 TD Jace Sternberger 4 yd pass from Kellen Mond (Seth Small kick) 10 0
TxAM 15:00 FG Seth Small 20 yd FG 13 0
3rd Quarter TxAM SCar
TxAM 06:24 FG Seth Small 32 yd FG 16 0
SCar 10:06 TD Shi Smith 22 yd pass from Jake Bentley (Bryan Edwards 2pt pass from Jake Bentley) 16 8
SCar 14:36 TD Chavis Dawkins 33 yd pass from Jake Bentley (Bryan Edwards 2pt pass from Jake Bentley) 16 16
4th Quarter TxAM SCar
TxAM 05:44 FG Seth Small 39 yd FG 19 16
TxAM 13:24 TD Trayveon Williams 3 yd run (Seth Small kick) 26 16
SCar 14:12 TD Deebo Samuel 6 yd pass from Jake Bentley (Parker White kick) 26 23

Game Information

Stadium: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, South Carolina
Attendance: 76,871
Game Time:
Weather: