Football is back in Columbia, and it's a doozie of a game.

The Gamecocks welcome in No. 7 Texas A&M, the third in a string of four straight games against SEC West opponents.

South Carolina hasn't beaten the Aggies in six tries since they joined the SEC and Will Muschamp's team gets another crack this week. Before that, though, there are a few things to watch as the Aggies get into town.

Can the Gamecocks get the monkey off their back?

The Bonham Trophy is up for grabs, ladies and gentlemen.

What's that? Oh, it's the trophy South Carolina and Texas A&M play for. Don't worry, honestly most folks don't know it exists, and the Gamecocks haven't possessed the trophy at all since they started playing the Aggies in 2014.

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South Carolina is 0-6 against the Aggies all-time and Saturday could be the first time they get a win in the series. The big question is obviously if they can pull the upset over another top 25 team.

They did already this year, taking care of No. 15 Auburn, the first time they beat the Tigers since joining the SEC.

It's been a weird year for a lot of reasons, so why can't the Gamecocks finally take care of the Aggies?

Will Muschamp bye week magic

The Gamecocks are 5-1 under Muschamp coming off a bye week, including going down to Athens last year and upsetting No. 3 Georgia. The biggest question is if they can replicate that this season against another top 10 team.

A lot will have to go right for the Gamecocks to beat the Aggies, but if history in the series—most games here are close entering the fourth quarter—and history coming off the bye week hold true, then Saturday's game will be decently close.

Also see: Buy or sell against Texas A&M

Will the rush defense bounce back?

This is the talk of the week for South Carolina's defensive players. We've written about it exhaustively over the last two weeks, but it's the biggest issue plaguing South Carolina's defense.

The good news is they get a bad rush defense this week? Incorrect. A&M is the best rushing yards per attempt (5.3) team in the SEC and if the Gamecocks haven't shown even a marginal improvement up front it could be a long day.

Kellen Mond vs. South Carolina's defense

It seems like Mond's been at Texas A&M since *checks notes* the late 1990s but he is entering his fourth start against South Carolina. Mond isn't a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination, but he can hurt defenses with his arm and his legs. Plus, he has a stable of athletic receivers he's throwing to.

The Gamecocks have struggled preventing big plays this year, especially in the pass game, and Mond could exploit that.

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Baton Rouge bounce back

Putting it nicely, LSU wasn't kind to Collin Hill. Hill turned in probably his worst performance of the season in the blowout loss. He's had two weeks to iron out the kinks and needs to be better throwing the ball if the Gamecocks want to win.

South Carolina will probably have to score in the high-20s, if not the 30s, to win this game and that will happen only if Hill is more efficient with the ball and gets the offense running smoothly.

A better performance from South Carolina's offensive line will also help with that.