COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Kellen Mond threw four touchdown passes to become Texas A&M’s career leader, Isaiah Spiller ran for 131 yards and the No. 7 Aggies routed South Carolina 48-3 on Saturday night.
Mond moved past Jerrod Johnson with the 68th touchdown pass of his career, a 52-yarder to Devon Achane in the third quarter with the game long decided.
Mond also ran for a score to help Texas A&M improve to 5-1 — all in the Southeastern Conference — for its best start since opening 6-0 in 2016. The Aggies are 7-0 against the Gamecocks.
Mond and Spiller helped the Aggies open a 21-0 halftime lead and cruise to their fourth consecutive victory since a loss at Alabama last month.
Spiller had two short pickups for first downs — one on a fourth-and-1 with Texas A&M in chip-shot field goal range — before Mond flipped a 4-yard TD pass to Ainias Smith.
Mond found tight end Jalen Wydermeyer for two first-half scores. Wydermyer was left all alone and walked into the end zone on a 15-yard scoring grab. Right before half, Mond hit Wydermyer on a crossing route near the goal line to go up three scores.
South Carolina (2-4), coming off an off week, had no answer.
Quarterback Collin Hill was 8 of 21 for 66 yards and two interceptions before getting lifted in the fourth quarter for last year’s starter and current backup, Ryan Hilinski.
Kevin Harris, the SEC’s second-leading rusher coming in, was limited to 39 yards on 13 carries.
Mond had a 15-yard scoring run to start the third quarter before his long TD pass to Achane gave him his latest school record. Mond already holds career Aggies marks for completions, passing yards and total offense — probably with more on the way as his senior season continues.
He finished 16 of 26 for 224 yards.
Spiller also had two catches for 46 yards before limping off the field in the third quarter. The tailback went into the Aggies’ medical tent and came out running on the sidelines. But with Texas A&M’s big lead, he was not needed in the second half.
South Carolina has surrendered 1,071 yards and 100 points in losses to LSU and the Aggies its past two games.
The Gamecocks avoided their first shutout since 2018 on Parker White’s 48-yard field goal with less than six minutes left.
Team Notes
- For the fifth straight game, the Texas A&M offensive line did not allow its opponent to get to the quarterback, making it five straight games and 171 pass attempts without allowing a sack.
- The A&M defense only allowed South Carolina to post 150 yards of total offense on the night, the second-lowest total allowed by the Aggies since joining the SEC (Vanderbilt 2015, 148).
- South Carolina’s three points in the game were the fewest scored against the Aggies in an SEC game since A&M topped Vanderbilt 25-0 on the road in 2015.
- A&M racked up over 500 yards of offense for the second time this season (Florida, 543) finishing with 530 yards.
- The Aggies moved to 15-4 when scoring first and a perfect 15-0 when leading after the first quarter in the Jimbo Fisher era.
- A&M remains unbeaten by South Carolina in the series, making it seven straight wins against the Gamecocks.
- Today’s captains at South Carolina were LB Buddy Johnson, OL Carson Green and OL Ryan McCollum.
Individual Notes
- Senior QB Kellen Mond broke the Texas A&M career passing touchdowns record with a 52-yard throw downfield to freshman RB Devon Achane in the third quarter. Mond’s 68 career passing TDs bests Jerrod Johnson’s (2007-10) previous mark of 67.
- The record-setting pass was his fourth of the game to the end zone, setting a new regulation career high for the signal caller.
- Mond now holds the all-time program records for career passing TDs (68), passing yards (8,847), completions (730), attempts (1,243) and total offense (10,273).
- Mond made the 40th start of his A&M career, tying him with Corey Pullig (1992-95) for the most career starts at quarterback in program history.
- Mond scored his first rushing TD of the season on a 15-yard sprint to the end zone. He is one rushing touchdown away from becoming the fourth quarterback in the history of the SEC to pass for 60-plus touchdowns and rush for 20 more.
- Mond has now rushed and passed for a touchdown in the same game an SEC best 16 times in his career.
- Sophomore RB Isaiah Spiller’s 131 yards on the ground against South Carolina marked the fourth time this season and the eighth time in his career he has passed the century mark.
- Spiller upped his career rushing yards total to 1,589, making him the 34th Aggie to reach the 1,500-yard mark in their career.
- Spiller has rushed for over 100 yards in four of A&M’s six games this season. As a freshman, Spiller only passed the 100-yard mark once against an SEC opponent, tallying 129 yards on 24 carries against South Carolina.
- Sophomore TE Jalen Wydermyer made it back-to-back games with multiple receiving touchdowns for the first time in his career, hauling in a pair of passes in the end zone in the first half against South Carolina. This is the third time in his career he has scored multiple times in a game.
- Freshman RB Devon Achane recorded the first multi-touchdown game of his career scoring on the ground and through the air for the first time this season. Sophomore RB Ainias Smith is the only other player on the roster to record a rushing and receiving TD in the same game this season.
- Smith got A&M on the board first against the Gamecocks, scoring his fifth receiving touchdown of the season on a 3-yard grab in the end zone.
- TE Max Wright, who made the move to the position from DL in the offseason, scored his first career touchdown on a 42-yard pass from freshman QB Haynes King, his longest pass and first scoring throw this season.
- Senior LB Aaron Hansford led the defense with a career-high 1.5 tackles for loss in the win.
- Freshman Jaylon Jones broke up a team and season-best two passes against South Carolina.
- The Aggie defense picked off a pair of passes against South Carolina, marking the second time this season A&M has had multiple interceptions in a game.
- Senior S Keldrick Carper recorded the first interception of his career, while junior S Leon O’Neal Jr. made his second interception of the year, fourth of his career.