Where: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, S.C.

When: Saturday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m. Eastern time

Weather: Clear, temperatures in the low 70s at kickoff and dropping into the 60s

TV: ABC (Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy and Molly McGrath)

Passing: Sellers, 88-140 (62.9%), 968 yards, 5 TD, 4 INT

Ashford, 20-28, 301 yards, 2 TD

Rushing: Sanders, 96 carries, 426 yards (4.4 YPC), 6 TD

Sellers, 84 carries, 247 yards (2.9 YPC), 3 TD

Ashford, 36 carries, 183 yards (5.1 YPC), 1 TD

Receiving: Bennett, 19 catches, 270 yards (14.2 YPC), 3 TD

Simon, 20 catches, 185 yards (9.3 YPC), 2 TD

Jacobs, 10 catches, 170 yards (17 YPC)

Tackles: York, 47

Brooks and Williams, 31

Lee, 30

Tackles for loss: Scourton, 12.5

Turner, 5.5

Brooks and Williams, 4.5

Sacks: Scourton, 5

Howell and Turner, 2

Kennedy, Stewart and York, 1.5

Interceptions: Ratcliffe, 3

Mayes, 2

Six players with 1

Forced fumbles: Five players with 1

Fumble recoveries: Williams and Hill, 1

Run the ball consistently, hopefully open up the passing game some and keep Sellers upright.

South Carolina is a run-heavy team, like A&M, but they rely almost exclusively on Rocket Sanders and the quarterback running game. They're averaging 3.7 yards a carry -- 3.4 in conference play -- so they're not always successful. But they've got to be good at it Saturday.

Sellers had his best game against Alabama, when he threw for 238 yards -- but that's the only time he's been over 200 yards in his career. They tend to throw short, high-percentage passes that are almost an extension of the running game, then go off play action to take some deep shots.

The Gamecocks want to grind this thing out, make consistent forward progress so that they are put in short third downs and keep the Aggie offense on the sideline. They also want to find ways to minimize A&M's pass rush, which has 16 sacks in conference games and doubled LSU's sacks allowed total last weekend (South Carolina had the other two). That may require keeping the tight ends in and even shorter pass patterns than usual.

This isn't anything exotic or even surprising: get South Carolina in second and third and long situations and force the Gamecocks to throw. That's when bad things happen. South Carolina is next to last in sacks allowed nationally, and Sellers has been sacked 10 times in the last two games. A&M's pass rush is on another level from Alabama's and Oklahoma's.

But to get to those situations, the Aggies have to shut down the running game, first and foremost. It should be pretty similar to what A&M would run with Marcel Reed, so they have the advantage of seeing it more in practice than they would otherwise. Sellers isn't as fast as Reed, but he's a lot bigger and tough to bring down.

A&M has to be disciplined and not have slow starts. Mississippi State scored on its first possession and LSU on its second before the defense clamped down. In this environment, against a defense that is just about as good, there can't be any busts, mental mistakes or letdowns in intensity.

The Aggies have allowed 21 yards rushing after halftime in their last two games -- all of that was by Mississippi State. LSU had 23 yards rushing in the game last week, and just one yard after their second drive. So A&M has had slow starts where they've been sloppy and tackled poorly. They have to be on it from the first snap in a rock fight like this one. If they are, and they get pressure on Sellers the way it seems they should, they can keep the Gamecocks offense in check.