Texas A&M vs. South Carolina: How Early Upset Shakes Up SEC Landscape

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The South Carolina Gamecocks quickly saw their championship aspirations dampened after suffering a 52-28 loss to Texas A&M to kick off the 2014 NCAA college football season. Just like that, the SEC looks much different after Thursday night's rout.

Steve Spurrier's squad looked to cement itself as a legit SEC contender. Instead, Texas A&Mcame out smelling like roses following a magnificent outing from Kenny Hill, who quickly has fans at College Station renaming their old quarterback "Johnny Who?"

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Johnny Manziel never completed so many passes in any start, let alone his first.

That number, by the way, soared all the way up to 44 before the night ended. Hill finished the evening with 511 passing yards and three touchdowns.

"We were ready to prove everyone wrong," Hill said after the game, according to an Associated Press report, via ESPN. "We were ready to show we could play without Johnny."

The lesson here: Kenny Hill is really good, and the Aggies still must be feared after losing Manziel and wideout Mike Evans to the NFL. The team didn't miss a beat without that duo, either. If anything, the Aggies look stronger.

Without Evans grabbing jump balls, senior Malcolme Kennedy played first fiddle, reeling in 14 catches for 137 yards. A year after catching 97 passes for 1,083 yards, the senior looks poised for a monster season.

ESPN.com

Josh Reynolds, Edward Pope and Ricky Seals-Jones all added a touchdown each to the cause. Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports argued this batch of wideouts is even better than last year's.

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Texas A&M vs. South Carolina: How Early Upset Shakes Up SEC Landscape