Unsung hero delivers MVP performance to cap off stunning Texas A&M come from behind victory over South Carolina
A key unlikely playmaker stepped up in a big way for the Texas A&M Aggies in their comeback win over South Carolina.
The Texas A&M Aggies were in dire straits against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday. The team was down 30-3 at halftime after arguably the worst half of Aggies’ football in years. A team that has steamrolled competition looked completely hapless against a 3-6 South Carolina team going through plenty of turmoil of their own.
After halftime, however, the game completely flipped the script. Quarterback Marcel Reed converted a fourth and long with his legs, and from that point on, the Aggies completely overwhelmed the Gamecocks, resembling a Maroon tidal wave on Kyle Field. The Aggies had just 150 yards of offense at halftime. They finished with 503 on the day.
Marcel Reed will get his well-deserved flowers for leading the comeback after an uncharacteristically disastrous first half, but an unsung hero emerged for the Aggies who could be a star playmaker in the near future the more involved he grows.
Ashton Bethel-Roman has a day for the ages
There were just four minutes left in the third quarter with the Aggies 30-10. A&M scored a touchdown out of halftime and forced a turnover on downs, but needed to continue to score to close the gap on the Gamecocks. They had just converted a crucial fourth-down but needed an explosive to start catching up. Marcel Reed dropped back, scanned the field, and delivered a strike to redshirt freshman wide receiver Ashton Bethel-Roman down the field for a massive 40-yard touchdown that made the game 30-17 and gave A&M all the momentum in the second half.
Amazingly, Bethel-Roman delivered once again just one drive later. A&M forced a South Carolina punt, and two plays later, Bethel-Roman broke free for a 76-yard play that set up a touchdown to tight end Nate Boerkircher to make it 30-24. On the ensuing touchdown, ABR caught a 15-yarder to help the Aggies drive down the field 98 yards to score the game-winning touchdown.
On the day, Bethel-Roman finished with four catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. KC Concepcion and Ashton Bethel-Roman combined for 297 receiving yards, which is officially the highest total for an A&M wide receiver duo since Christian Kirk and Jhamon Ausbon combined for 301 in the 2017 Belk Bowl against Wake Forest. After the game, Bethel-Roman described the Aggies’ receiver room as “dawgs behind dawgs”. Safe to say they backed that up today.
With Mario Craver nursing an injury and clearly not operating at 100%, Bethel-Roman stepped up to deliver as the big-play threat the Aggies needed. South Carolina simply could not handle the explosiveness of both him and KC Concepcion, and his efforts on the day sparked the best comeback in Texas A&M history and one of the best perhaps of all time. He deserves his flowers.
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