Bucey, Brady and what could have been a bust: Wrapping Gamecocks' win over A&M

Nov. 8—COLUMBIA — Shane Beamer hugged his father, Frank Beamer, in the postgame and remarked that South Carolina's win over Texas A&M was just the kind his old man liked during his lengthy career — low-scoring and ugly. However they're coming these days, the No. 21 (and rising) Gamecocks will take 'em. "I think we had 86 plays ran against us, and they just kept making stops," the younger Beamer said after his fourth straight win and the clinching of his fourth postseason trip in six seasons. "To have 86 plays ran against you and only give up nine points, it's freakin' awesome." Analyzing a 17-9 back-alley brawl that made the College Football Playoff wishes a bit brighter and also nudged LaNorris Sellers toward his own could-be pot, or trophy, o' gold: The most Gamecock (stuff) ever, twice I mention it a lot. Anything that seems like it was cooked up by Danny Ford in Ben Tillman's kitchen to eventually doom USC gets added to the list. The Gamecocks nearly had two of them, although one would have begat the other, each created from Sellers' touchdown run. No. 1: Sellers scores and re-injures his ankle in the process, but now the defense is going to allow a touchdown and a two to tie the game and send it to overtime. USC doesn't have its QB at the top of its game and its defense has been bad all night, Gamecocks lose. Goodbye, playoffs — bowl eligibility has to wait a week and Arkansas becomes the biggest trap game in the history of the sport. No. 2: Sellers scores and re-injures his ankle in the process. Gamecocks win but now he's really hurt — leaving the question if he'll be able to play in the final three games that could mean a playoff berth. Sellers was relaxed and calm in the postgame and said he was fine. But that was before they cut the tape off and the adrenaline subsided. Beamer said he wasn't worried, and why should he be, with a cyborg directing his offense on the field? But if we all hit the teleconference tomorrow and he says that Sellers didn't practice because there's a black-and-blue cantaloupe where his ankle used to be ... It would be one more example of how Jason Autrey should never again be allowed in Williams-Brice Stadium. He calls games here, Sellers hurts his ankle and USC loses its chance at the playoff. Autrey did call it by the rule on that fumble recovery that wasn't. Cost me a perfectly good lede (opening paragraph) that would have labeled Nyck Harbor as Nyck "Hands" Harbor. I wanna go fast The Gamecocks have gone up-tempo at times this season, but I don't believe I've seen them go as fast as they did on their first touchdown drive. Eight plays, 75 yards, 2:54, and A&M was so discombobulated it had one man trying to cover three receivers on the touchdown, a screen to Mazeo Bennett. With the Aggies' ball-control offense having just used 6 1/2 minutes in 15 plays to kick a field goal and it was the second quarter, perhaps Kendal Briles said, "Let's get some points on the board and let them play catchup. We're goin' ludicrous speed." Huge-a-gest You always find these on the rewatch: Notes you jotted down, plays you forgot, moments that loomed large. How about David Olano running a fake field goal on A&M's first possession and USC sniffing it out? "That was a great job (by) our guys. That's a fake that they've, their special teams, I'm not even sure it's the coordinator. It's like they're analysts that they have on the staff," Beamer said. "Maybe it is the coordinator, but they, not just A&M, but previous schools that those guys have been at, they had run that fake in the past. And something that we looked at this week and talked about, 'Be ready for it.'" A&M was all about the field goals. Olano missed an attempt after the Aggies had a first-and-goal on the 7-yard line and proceeded to: Drop a touchdown. False-start. False-start. Drop a swing pass. Run middle to keep the ball in the middle. D-flated Clayton White's defense has played very well the last three games. Against A&M, it was bullied. The Aggies' offensive line blew USC off the ball. It opened more holes than a false election claim. The Aggies averaged nearly 5 yards per rush and rolled up 457 total. But as White has said, and many others have as well, "Yards ain't points." One can deal with looking bad as long as it looks bad between the goal lines. You hang a zero on somebody when it comes to scoring touchdowns, you've done your job. Color wheel I'm not sure who decides on the uniform combos. The seniors have done it before. The greatest coach USC ever had thought it was stupid to waste time picking uniforms, so he said, "This one for home, this one for away, this one for big games, ohhhhkay?" Saturday's pick was abhorrent. Not just the fit but the way it was picked, which continues to ignore something we all learned in first grade. The Gamecocks have handsome colors (garnet, black and white). They can use one as a base and the other as trim, and hardly ever have a wrong combo. The only problem is when they use a garnet as a base and match it with a black base. To be nice, the dominant colors clash with each other. To be me, the players looked like 74 scabs a week after you wiped out your skateboard on asphalt while wearing shorts and caught yourself with your shins. Brady Bucey Brady Hunt, blocking tight end for the stars, caught three passes for 51 yards when he'd had 14 for 118 all year. David Bucey, the safety many thought was just filling space until J'Zayvien Currence took over, had seven tackles and a pass breakup, one stop on that fake field goal. He had 22 tackles with another PBU in the previous eight games. It isn't bench strength because both have been starting all year. It's vet strength. Hog-scaldin' time I said in the preseason that if USC went to Arkansas needing a win for bowl eligibility, it would become a trap akin to an SEC TV personality and Arch Manning's recruiting profile. So next week's game isn't quite that bad; the Gamecocks are bowl eligible. But of course there's so much more now. Gamecocks have to win this to keep the CFP dream alive, to bring forth a week of hype against (presumed) No. 1 Georgia in two weeks that hasn't been seen around here in decades. Arkansas is an awful team, mired in its first year under a new coach with a squad that's won five conference games over the past four years. It should be easy. Even if Sellers doesn't play (worst-case), it shouldn't be that big of a deal. But as good as November has been to Beamer's Gamecocks (now 15-7), a loss here would cost them more than a motorcycle ride on a spring day through the Ozarks with a shapely but unlisted passenger riding shotgun. Don't get caught. Follow David Cloninger on X @DCPandC. Want the latest updates on Gamecock athletics sent straight to your inbox? Subscribe to Gamecocks Now!