Thursday, August 28, 2014 06:00 PM (ET)

Recap: Texas A&M 52, South Carolina 28

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Aug 28, 2014


No. 20 Texas A&M 52, No. 9 South Carolina 28: Sophomore Kenny Hill was spectacular in his first college start, throwing for a school-record 511 yards and three touchdowns as the visiting Aggies opened the post-Johnny Manziel Era by annihilating their Southeastern Conference rival.

Hill finished 44-of-60 without an interception and Texas A&M (1-0, 1-0 SEC) scored on seven of its first eight possessions - excluding a kneel-down - to snap South Carolina's nation-best 18-game home winning streak. Tra Carson had three short scoring runs and Malcome Kennedy had 14 catches and 137 yards for the Aggies, who also received touchdown receptions from Ricky Sealy-Jones, Edward Pope and Josh Reynolds.

Dylan Thompson threw for four touchdowns and 366 yards on 20-of-40 for the Gamecocks (0-1, 0-1), who also had their string of 14 consecutive season-opening wins halted. Nick Jones had five catches for 113 yards and a pair of scores for South Carolina, which was shredded for 680 yards - 393 in the opening half alone.

Texas A&M put together scoring marches of 67, 75, 85, 75 and 80 yards in a dominant first half, getting a pair of short touchdown runs by Carson sandwiched around scoring strikes from Hill to Sealy-Jones and Pope for a 31-14 edge at the intermission. South Carolina's touchdowns came on a pair of bombs by Thompson - a 69-yarder to Jones and a 46-yarder to Damiere Byrd on a busted coverage.

The Aggies kept their foot on the throttle in the second half, going 66 yards in eight plays on their first possession capped by Hill floating a pass to Reynolds in the right corner of the end zone. The Gamecocks answered with Thompson's 5-yard pass to Pharoh Cooper, but A&M recovered the ensuing onside kick and turned it into Carson's third TD on a 2-yard run for a 45-21 cushion with 5:06 still to play in the third quarter.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Hill eclipsed Manziel's single-game record of 464 yards passing as Texas A&M improved to 11-2 on the road since joining the SEC. ... Gamecocks RB Mike Davis, who rushed for 1,183 yards last season but has been dealing with a rib injury during the preseason, played sporadically while dealing with a rib bruise and finished with 15 yards on six carries. ... Aggies sophomore linebacker A.J. Hilliard was carted off the field early in the third quarter with a right leg injury while TE Cameron Clear hurt his ankle on Texas A&M's second possession and did not return.
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