Signs and flags flew through the air in a misty Columbia, South Carolina, for College GameDay.
Thousands of people, mostly in garnet and black, some in purple and gold, huddled together to watch the names that carry college football each Saturday morning: Corso, Herbstreit, Fowler, McAfee, Howard, Davis and Saban.
At the end of the pregame show, college football legend Lee Corso wore the Mike the Tiger mascot head, and LSU went on to defeat the Gamecocks 36-33 in a back-and-forth battle.
After starting the game in a 17-point deficit, the Tigers came back and had an explosive second half.
With five seconds to go in the fourth quarter and trailing by three, the Gamecocks kicker Alex Herrera missed a 49-yard field goal.
“This group is going to battle,” head coach Brian Kelly said. “It may not be the cleanest. We’ll continue to coach them because they want to do so well for LSU. They want to do it the right way, and they are going to work at it.”
Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier led the Tigers with 285 passing yards and two touchdowns, which helped contribute to the LSU win.
Tiger freshman running back Caden Durham had two touchdowns and 98 yards, scoring his first career touchdown in the opening half.
To start the game, the Gamecocks powered down the field with ease to get to the Tigers’ four-yard line.
South Carolina Quarterback LaNorris Sellers ran the ball to the right for four yards, diving into the endzone for a touchdown. At the end of the first quarter, the Gamecocks had 127 yards of total offense. LSU only had seven.
A major theme throughout the first half was Sellers’ dual-threat capability. With an LSU defense that is still trying to find itself, Sellers created offensive opportunities with his legs multiple times.
However, Sellers left the game right before halftime with an injury and Robby Ashford took over.
Along with Sellers’ 88 rushing yards, South Carolina running back Raheim Sanders had 143 rushing yards.
When the Gamecock defense blocked a punt to set up its offense on LSU’s ten, Sanders ran the ball 10 yards to extend the lead by 17 in the second quarter.
“We believe it was an illegal block,” Kelly said of the punt. “We voiced our concern with it. We will address it with the SEC officiating crew.”
The Tigers finally responded with eight minutes left in the half. Freshman running back Caden Durham rushed the ball for 26 yards into the endzone. It was his first career touchdown.
“He did an unbelievable job tonight… especially as a true freshman, that’s unbelievable,” Nussmeier said about Durham.
After the Tigers kicked a field goal to make it 17-10, Sellers answered with a 75-yard run up the middle. It was the longest run by a South Carolina quarterback.
The Tigers then scored when Nussmeier threw a 12-yard pass to receiver Kyren Lacy. LSU was trailing by eight to end the half after a bad snap on the extra-point attempt.
The Gamecock defense continuously broke through LSU’s offensive line. With a Tiger offense that relies heavily on Nussmeier’s ability to move the ball forward, the constant pressure was setting LSU back.
To open the second half, the Tigers drove down the field to the two-yard line, but South Carolina forced a turnover on downs on 4th-and-goal.
The next LSU offensive drive, Durham rushed to the left to score a nine-yard touchdown, and LSU went for two, but Nussmeier was sacked.
The Tigers were still down 24-22 entering the fourth quarter. But then, Nussmeier threw a touchdown pass to Tight End Mason Taylor, and LSU took its first lead of the game.
Minutes later, Sanders rushed for a 66-yard touchdown. South Carolina went for two but couldn’t get it.
Down by one, the Tigers fumbled a snap on their own 24-yard line, and the Gamecocks went on to score a field goal with ten minutes left.
LSU then drove down the field. But in the red zone, Nussmeier threw an interception at the goal line.
The next drive, with a little less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Nussmeier threw a dart receiver to Kyren Lacy, which put the Tigers at 1st-and-goal.
“You would’ve never known that he made a mistake,” Kelly said. “He can forget those plays and move onto the next, and that’s what you have to be to be a quarterback in the SEC.”
Running back Josh Williams scored, and LSU took a 36-33 lead with a minute left.
“They fight like LSU Tigers,” Kelly said. “That’s what we want for our fans. That’s what they want for their family. That’s what they want for their teammates. They showed that today.”
