Coming off a road loss to Ole Miss and then having last weekend off, the LSU Tigers returned home to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. LSU overcame three turnovers on homecoming night and beat South Carolina 20-10 to improve to 5-1 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Tigers received the ball first after the Gamecocks won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. LSU would go three and out and punt the ball to South Carolina. The Gamecocks lost possession on their first offensive play after quarterback LaNorris Sellers couldn’t cleanly handle the snap. Defensive lineman Patrick Payton recovered the loose ball and set up 1st & 10 at the 17-yard line for the Tigers.
Ju’Juan Johnson had a seven-yard carry on first down, but LSU was stopped after that as Trey’Dez Green couldn’t corral Garrett Nussmeier’s pass on third down. Damian Ramos knocked through a 28-yard field goal to put the Bayou Bengals ahead by three with 11:53 left in the first quarter.
South Carolina had a nine-play 46-yard drive following the LSU score. Sellers completed three consecutive passes of 11 or more yards to three different receivers to move the football to the LSU 33-yard line. The Bayou Bandits stood strong and forced the Gamecocks to go for a 48-yard field goal. The kick by William Joyce went wide right and set up LSU’s offense at the 38-yard line.
Nussmeier completed seven out of eight pass attempts on the drive, including a 19-yard connection to Green. That pass set up 1st & GOAL from the Gamecock seven-yard line. After a six-yard completion to Zavion Thomas, Johnson got the goal-line carry on second down and lost the ball before crossing the plane. Bryan Thomas Jr of South Carolina recovered the ball and set up his team’s offense at the 20.
Three plays into the possession, Matt Fuller rushed 72 yards to the house to put the Gamecocks ahead 7-3 with 25 seconds left in the opening quarter.
LSU responded with a 72-yard scoring drive and ended in six plays. Caden Durham had back-to-back carries, with one of them going for 23 yards. A pass interference call on defense set up LSU in the redzone. Nussmeier then went Green twice, once for a 14-yard gain and the other for a six-yard touchdown. Green was by himself on the goal line fade to the left side of the endzone.
After a pair of punts, both teams traded interceptions. On 3rd & 16, Sellers took a shot deep and was picked off by Tamarcus Cooley at the LSU 20-yard line. Then, on the next possession, Nussmeier airmailed his pass to Kyle Parker on 3rd & 12. DQ Smith came down with the turnover on the play and set up 1st & 10 at their 26-yard line.
Neither team scored any more points off the turnovers, and LSU went into the half ahead 10-7.
South Carolina opened the second half with another scoring drive, this time going 46 yards in 10 plays. Rahsul Faison had multiple 10+ yard runs that set up 1st & 10 in LSU territory. A holding penalty on offensive lineman Brady Hunt halted their momentum, and they would settle for a 47-yard field goal by Joyce to tie the game.
It didn’t take long for LSU to respond as they went 75 yards in four plays. Green came down with another jump ball catch, this time for a 19-yard gain, before a holding penalty was called on Weston Davis. Parker then outran everyone, taking a slant 43 yards to the house. That touchdown put the Tigers ahead 17-10 with 6:38 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers had some very effective running on their next drive. Nussmeier took off multiple times, including a 21-yard scramble up the middle. Johnson followed that up with a 56-yard run to set up 1st & 10 from the 11-yard line. Two plays later, Nussmeier opted to throw to a slant on an RPO and was intercepted at the goalline by Peyton Williams. South Carolina started its next possession at the one-yard line. Sellers and the offense got beyond midfield, but were called for another intentional grounding penalty and had to punt back to the Tigers.
The Gamecocks elected to go for it on 4th & 4 from the LSU 31-yard line. Mansoor Delane broke up Sellers’ pass to Vandrevius Jacobs to secure the turnover on downs.
Nussmeier connected with Green a couple more times to set up a 22-yard field goal by Ramos. South Carolina turned the ball over on downs one more time, and the Tigers went into victory formation.
LSU improved to 5-1 on the season with the 20-10 win on Saturday.
BIG NUMBER: 5
The Bayou Bendits sacked South Carolina’s dual-threat quarterback five times and held him to 124 yards passing on 15/27 attempts. Sellers also had 19 yards on the ground on 22 carries. The Gamecock offense turned the ball over a total of four times (one interception, one fumble, and two turnovers on downs).
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Trey’Dez Green
Garrett Nussmeier looked to his dual-sport tight end throughout Saturday’s game. By the end, Green hauled in eight passes for 119 yards and a touchdown as LSU took down South Carolina 20-10. Green also had four catches of at least 14 yards.
UP NEXT: The LSU Tigers will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. Kickoff inside FirstBank Stadium is scheduled for Saturday, October 18th, with the time TBD. The action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette & 104.1 Lake Charles.