The No. 21 Texas A&M Aggies will travel to Williams-Brice Stadium this Thursday night to open the 2014 season against the SEC rival South Carolina Gamecocks in a huge matchup of preseason ranked teams. Kickoff for this conference clash is slated for 6 p.m. (ET) and the game will be broadcast nationally on the SEC Network. Texas A&M at South Carolina Game Overview The brief Johnny Manziel era at Texas A&M is over so it will be up to Kenny Hill to take over the reins as the Aggies new starting quarterback. Last season he was third on the depth chart and only threw 22 passes for 183 yards while adding 37 yards on the ground, but he is more than poised to try and fill the void. Do you like giving money away? Why bet football games at -110 this season when you can beat the very same game at -105? Click Here. While everyone remembers just how potent the Aggies’ passing game was last season, they still managed to average 185.1 yards a game on the ground, which was ranked 45th in the nation. The big issue for this team heading into its third season in the ultra-competitive SEC is a defense that was ranked 96th in the country in points allowed (32.2). This was a big reason why Texas A&M went 9-4 SU last season with a 4-4 record in conference play. The Gamecocks will also have a new face under center to start the 2014 season with the departure of Connor Shaw, but head coach Steve Spurrier has all the confidence in the world that Dylan Thompson can hit the ground running as the team’s starting quarterback this season. He did throw for 783 yards as a backup last year while completing 52-of-89 attempts. South Carolina will also have Mike Davis back to anchor the ground game after leading the team with 1,183 rushing yards in 2013. Spurrier will also have to fill a huge hole on defense with the departure of Jadeveon Clowney moving onto to the NFL, but this unit does have some key players back from the one that finished the 2013 season ranked 12th in the nation in points allowed; giving-up an average of 20.3 a game. Texas A&M at South Carolina Game Betting Trends The Aggies are 0-4 ATS in their last four road games and they went just 1-6 ATS in their last seven conference games last season. The total has gone OVER in seven of their last nine games in SEC play. The Gamecocks are 4-1 ATS in their last five games at home and they went 5-1 ATS in the last six games of the 2013 season. The total has stayed UNDER in their last four conference games. This will be the first meeting between these two teams in recent years.
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