South Carolina football hosts Texas A&M on Saturday in Columbia. Here are your three keys to a Gamecocks victory.
By Don Yates
1. Stop Mond
Kellen Mond is one of the most prolific passers in Texas A&M football history. He’s also a threat to run. Mond is on pace to break several A&M career passing records. The Gamecock defense has to keep Mond in check and hopefully force poor decisions. Vanderbilt held A&M to 17 points in the opener so it is possible to slow down Mond and the Aggie offense.
2. Win the turnover battle
This is always important in any game but the Gamecock defense at times, like against Auburn, has been able to feast on turnovers. The Gamecocks have a +0.4 turnover ratio compared to A&M’s -0.2 ratio. That shows the Aggies are more turnover prone. USC needs to exploit that as they did against the Tigers of Auburn. A plus two turnover margin in this game could swing the victory to South Carolina.
3. Protect Collin Hill
South Carolina quarterback Collin Hill has played well for the Gamecocks this season. The Colorado State graduate transfer has completed over 61 percent of his passes for 1,075 yards and five touchdowns. However, Hill has been sacked 16 times this season. That’s way too many. We all know that sacks are often drive killers. That’s (probably) 16 drives that the Gamecocks have had quashed due to sacks. In this game, there can’t be more than one sack of Hill. Blockers must protect Hill and Hill himself needs to be wise on when to get rid of the ball.
Saturday‘s game kicks off at 6:00 PM CT (7:00 PM ET). You can watch this South Carolina football game on the ESPN Network.
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