The Skirmish That Sparked The Gamecocks

South Carolina and Texas A&M came into Saturday night's matchup feeling the pressure to win, culminating in a dust-up that saw the Gamecocks harness their emotions and use it on the field.

When looking at what South Carolina and Texas A&M were trying to accomplish on Saturday, maybe in hindsight, we should've seen a tenuous interaction. The Aggies were trying to avoid a three-game losing skid while the Gamecocks were trying to win for the first time against the Aggies.

The pressure was insurmountable, and it all came to a head at the end of the third quarter when a skirmish broke out near the Gamecocks' sideline, escalating to a point where there was no one on South Carolina's sideline. Texas A&M support staffers scrambled to get their players away from the mixup.

This kind of event can be significant, as it can serve as a test to see which team can utilize the emotions permeating from an occurrence like this to help them perform better on the field.

In this case, the Gamecocks went on to extend their lead to nine in the fourth quarter and win 30-24 at the end of Saturday night. When asked about this event after the game, corner Darius Rush chalked it up to emotions running high.

"I mean, when it gets chippy like that, it's just a bunch of emotion. For us, we don't do that, we're a disciplined football team, and I believe that that was just a lot of passion. You see, there was no flag thrown, so it shows how much discipline we have not to throw a punch."

The near fight scene did wind up getting the Gamecocks riled up, according to Rush, due to the fact it all took place near their sideline, almost as if the Aggies didn't care where they were playing, and it helped push the Gamecocks to victory by the end of Saturday night.

"[We] felt a little disrespected. I mean [it's] our home turf, and they come [chirping] at us. Like I said, it's just an emotional game, but the passion that those guys [had] in that huddle, it was like, 'Alright, they coming [over here] and doing that? Alright, let's go.' like there's smoke in the air, we're going to give them some smoke. So the defense went over there cause we told [the offense] we're going to get them the ball every chance that we get, and that's what we did, we got them the ball every time. So for those guys to go out there and finish the game as they did, we were very appreciative of them."

You Might Also Like:

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• South Carolina Vs. Texas A&M: The Halftime Report

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