Booger McFarland calls Texas A&M's win over South Carolina a 'true test of mental fortitude'

With all eyes on its first College Football Playoff berth in program history, No. 3 Texas A&M entered its third to last game of the season at home against 3-6 South Carolina on Saturday. In one of the most shocking first-half box scores of the season, the Aggies trailed 30-3 at halftime.

Dating back to 2004, teams in SEC play were 0-286 in games when trailing by 27 or more points, which meant that the Aggies were all but toast right? Wrong.

In an unbelievable second half, Texas A&M outscored South Carolina 28-0 to escape with an outrageous win in College Station. A&M out-gained Carolina 371-76 over the last two quarters, averaged 9.8 yards per play to their 2.9, and secured the largest comeback win in program history.

Aggie quarterback Marcel Reed enjoyed his best game of the season, passing for 439 yards and three touchdowns. Both of his interceptions came in the first half. Following the shocking win, ESPN‘s Booger McFarland raved over the Aggies’ comeback victory. He called the game a ‘gut-check’ and a program-defining win for the program.

“First of all, I’ll start with quarterback Marcel Reed. How many times have we seen young players go out and play bad and they hang their head and start feeling bad for themselves,” McFarland said. “They were down 27, 30-3. Not only did the quarterback not hang his head, the team didn’t hang their head, and they started believing. To me, this is a true test of mental fortitude. Don’t play the scoreboard, play the team in front of you. Go out and play the next play. As long as there’s a blade of grass to defend, defend it.”

“This was a gut-check. This win today will go a long way to defining the type of program they have. They didn’t quit, they kept fighting. They could have looked at the scoreboard and said ‘today is over let’s move onto the next week.’ When we talk about Heisman moments, yes, he put them in the situation with the turnovers in the first half. But I dare you to find a second half played by a quarterback this season better than what Marcel Reed played today.”

“So shoutout to Texas A&M and shoutout to Mike Elko. Regardless of the money he’s paid, to get a group of men to believe they did today, that’s a testament to the head coach.”