South Carolina comes out of their bye week to take on the number one team in the SEC standings, the Aggies of Texas A&M. Last time we saw the Gamecocks, they were fresh off a dominant defensive performance against Oklahoma. As they enter the final stretch of their season, can South Carolina pull off the upset or will the Aggies continue to separate themselves in the conference?

Coming off a big win ove the LSU Tigers, Texas A&M is riding high this week as they travel to Columbia, South Carolina. Like the Gamecocks, the Aggies deploy a strong defense under new head coach Mike Elko, but an intriguing offense that could give South Carolina issues. The Aggies currently have two quarterbacks who offer different styles of play, but both have been effective at times so far this season. The Gamecocks will have to play a clean game on both sides of the ball to come away with a win on Saturday.

In a matchup that has a lot on the line for btoh squads on Saturday night, here’s how the SI Staff believes this one shakes out:

Alex Joyce: South Carolina 27, Texas A&M 24
I’ve gone back and forth on this game for a while now. I expect to see both Marcel Reed and Conner Weigman play on Saturday, but genuinely believe that Reed playing favors the Gamecocks defense more. South Carolina has one of the best defenses in the conference with veterans loaded everywhere. Offensively, the Gamecocks have to limit turnovers. That has been a big ask this season, but you can’t afford mistakes against this Aggie team. Ultimately, I think South Carolina plays complementary football on Saturday night. That combined with what will be an exciting home crowd and a little Beamer Ball, the Gamecocks pull off the upset for the signature win of the season at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Jonathan Williams: Texas A&M 30, South Carolina 24
South Carolina has certainly proved they are more than capable of competing with the top teams in this conference, however, this game boils down to the Aggies defense for me. I think both defenses are going to make plays on Saturday, but Texas A&M’s defensive front against South Carolina’s offensive line is the keynote matchup. I think the Aggies are going to cause some problems for the Gamecocks to cleanly operate on offense, and that’s going to be the deciding factor for this game.

Fisher Brewer: South Carolina 28, Texas A&M 21
The Gamecocks are riding a wave of positive momentum and have plenty of bulletin board material to fuel them in this matchup. Heading into a high-energy night atmosphere against a strong Texas A&M team, I believe South Carolina will come away with the win, making up for games they narrowly missed earlier in the season. Their defense has shown impressive ability to contain dual-threat quarterbacks, successfully limiting some of the nation’s most elite, which could be a key factor in this game.

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According to the latest available IRS tax return data, South Carolina saw a net gain of nearly 33,000 households in 2022 — and a handful of states lost far more residents to the Palmetto State than others.

Using analysis by SmartAsset, we mapped the net number of households that moved into South Carolina from the rest of the US in the 2022 tax year.

South Carolina attracted more people from New York than anywhere else, with 5,476 Empire State households making the move. North Carolina (3,252), New Jersey (2,978), Pennsylvania (2,657) and California (2,563) followed behind.

At the other end of the ranking, just three households from the District Of Columbia joined the state.

The highest-earning households to relocate to South Carolina came from Arkansas, and brought an average adjusted gross income of $202,256 with them.

The only state to take more residents from South Carolina than it gave was Tennessee, who saw a net of 51 South Carolinian households move in over the year analyzed.

Via SmartAsset.

[Image credit: Ben Baker]

SEC women’s basketball is back in more ways than one.

With newcomers Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC is looking stronger than ever, and it shouldn’t really be a debate about if it’s the best conference anymore. The last three national championships were won by SEC teams, including South Carolina going 38-0 last season, and the conference is only going to get more dominant.

Now, onto the preseason power rankings:

1. South Carolina

What to know: Dawn Staley’s daycare has a year of experience – and by experience, I mean an undefeated national championship run – to their credit. I have no reason to doubt the Gamecocks here.

2. LSU

What to know: Kim Mulkey’s strategy of pulling big names out of the portal has worked, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work once again, especially with Flau’jae Johnson leading the charge.

3. Texas

What to know: I’m high on Texas as Vic Schaefer returns to the SEC, but he has to face Staley and the Gamecocks twice. Just ask him how that went when he was at Mississippi State.

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4. Oklahoma

What to know: The Sooners have enough redshirt seniors to fill a starting lineup, and with their experience, they’ll make a splash their first year in the SEC.

5. Ole Miss

What to know: Coach Yo has turned the Rebels into a solid SEC program, which makes it all the more confusing why she was desperate enough to hire someone on staff who would only pass an Ole Miss basketball background check.

6. Kentucky

What to know: Kentucky is ranked this high purely because of Georgia Amoore. No, I will not be explaining further.

7. Alabama

What to know: Alabama brings back all but one of its starters, so if it can’t keep its place in the upper half of the SEC, things are looking bleaker in Tuscaloosa than I thought.

8. Tennessee

What to know: There’s a new kid on the block – well, actually, make that two – at Tennessee, which is about to find out if going young and bold is the path to national relevance again.

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9. Auburn

What to know: Johnnie Harris’ defense paired with a pure scorer in Taliah Scott? Yeah, sign me up. Don’t be surprised when Auburn wins some big games this season.

10. Florida

What to know: The Gators have always been a middle of the pack, not horrible, but not great, type of team, and that hasn’t changed under Kelly Rae Finley. Here’s to hoping her talented youngsters can shake things up in a good way.

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11. Vanderbilt

What to know: Everyone messed around and let Shea Ralph get a roster with more depth than she has ever had at Vanderbilt. Women’s basketball might be on a Vandy football vibe this season.

12. Texas A&M

What to know: The Aggies never really reached their full potential last year and lost two starters. I can’t guarantee they’ll be exciting, but I’ll bet Joni Taylor’s defense will still give a lot of teams problems.

13. Mississippi State

What to know: I can count on one hand how many returners Mississippi State has. And maybe that’s a good thing based on how last season ended.

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14. Georgia

What to know: Georgia was abysmal last season and didn’t add the players to make me believe it will be any better this season in a loaded SEC.

15. Arkansas

What to know: Mike Neighbors went international to fill some holes left by a mass exodus after last season. That’s one way to not have to deal with NIL, I guess.

16. Missouri

What to know: Missouri went from being the last team to hand South Carolina a loss in SEC play to last in the conference in two seasons. My, how times have changed and the coach hasn’t.

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.