1. South Carolina (3-2, 2-1) was considered to be the one team in the SEC East before the season that could challenge Georgia for the top spot. They returned most of their key players from a 9-4 outfit that beat Michigan in a New Year’s Day bowl game and got the Bulldogs at home early in the season. Will Muschamp had a couple of recruiting classes in place and everything appeared to be on the upswing.

2. However, things haven’t gone according to plan at all. The Gamecocks wound up using a last second drive against Missouri last weekend in a 37-35 win. The game featured multiple rain delays and backup quarterback Michael Scarnecchia threw three touchdowns in place of the injured Jake Bentley. It was a heroic performance and the drive basically saved the Gamecocks’ season. Even so, South Carolina has a lot of issues that won’t be going away any time soon.

3. Their troubles began when they came out with four and five receiver sets to spread the field against Georgia, Bentley threw an interception early on that was returned for a touchdown, and they never mustered much of a challenge in a 41-17 loss. That game established the tone for the season…this isn’t a very physical football team on either side of the ball. They are 11thin the SEC in rushing the football and 13thagainst the run on defense. Bentley has carried the offensive burden this season and has thrown six interceptions because he has to take chances on offense, especially versus the better teams on South Carolina’s schedule. He was knocked out of the Kentucky game with a sprained knee, missed the Missouri game, and may miss the A&M game as well (a determination on his status will be made later in the week). In his place, Scarnecchia (a senior who had thrown all of seven passes in his career prior to the Missouri game) not only didn’t turn over the ball but led the Gamecocks on two late game drives with their season on the line. They have a couple of really good receivers in Bryan Edwards and Deebo Samuel who can generate touchdowns in the red zone but don’t get a chance for a lot of explosive plays.

4. Muschamp has usually been a two high safeties kind of coach which means that teams don’t generate a lot of big plays against his defenses. They’re second in the SEC in long passing plays allowed over 20 yards but the flip side is that those safeties have to cover a lot of ground in run support. As a result, they give up a lot of rushing yardage (211 yards a game in SEC play).

5. Their special teams play has been abysmal. They rank in the lower half of the SEC in all special teams categories except for field goal kicking where Parker White has hit eight of nine this season including some clutch kicks last weekend.

6. On the surface, South Carolina doesn’t match up well with A&M at all. The Aggies run the ball and stop the run very well and the Gamecocks don’t do either. South Carolina is playing at home and that means something in the SEC. In addition, they may need to win against A&M just to make a bowl game given the rest of their schedule so they’ll be plenty motivated just like they were last week. Even so, Jimbo Fisher has built the Aggies to be able to travel via a defense and the running game and win games like this. Given the fact that the Aggies’ next three games are on the road, this may be a truer test of where they stand as a program than the win over Kentucky would indicate.