Following a tough loss, LSU took the bye week to rest, recover and prepare ahead of South Carolina.
The defense needed to rest after being on the field for over 50 plays against Ole Miss.
The offense needed to recover after giving the Rebels the game 24-19, letting an attainable ranked road win slip out of its hands.
The team as a whole needed to prepare for a hungry South Carolina team, also fresh off a bye, but unlike LSU, got to sit with a 35-13 home win against Kentucky.
LSU’s focus was all about playing complementary football — and that it did. Although unpretty, LSU’s offense outlasted South Carolina’s while the defense held off momentum-swinging plays, leading to the 20-10 Tiger win.
“What I loved was our compete,” Head Coach Brian Kelly said. “I loved the way our guys competed for four quarters, our fans stayed in there with us.”
When LSU and South Carolina met in Week 3 at Williams-Brice Stadium last year, the two programs were still easing into the transition of new quarterbacks, given that it was so early in the season.
Garrett Nussmeier spent three years on the bench and trained behind Heisman winner Jayden Daniels. LaNorris Sellers was coming off a redshirt season, eager to take the offensive reins after the New Orleans Saints drafted former starter Spencer Rattler, in the 2024 NFL Draft.
But this time, it’s Week 7, and both quarterbacks have starting experience rather than just weeks of practice under their belt.
Nussmeier outplayed Sellers in almost every category. The fifth-year senior finished the night with 254 yards on a 61% completion rate after throwing 20 for 33. The only faulty side of Nussmeier’s play was his two interceptions in comparison to Sellers’ one.
Sellers was 15 of 27 to finish with a 56% completion rate and 124 yards. He rushed for 19 yards of his own, but took 22 attempts to garner that amount. Nussmeier rushed for 30 on four attempts.
The performance from Nussmeier goes hand in hand with his receivers, who all played a vital role in the 420 yards of offense in comparison to South Carolina’s 317.
“I thought he was a lot more aggressive,” Kelly said about Nussmeier’s performance. “He had the kind of demeanor you want out of your quarterback… he’s competing his tail off for us.”
The offensive line still showed its typical signs of weakness, allowing four quarterback hurries and two forced fumbles from the Gamecock defense.
In comparison, LSU’s defense continued to put the offense in good field position, especially after Patrick Payton recovered the fumble on South Carolina’s first play of the game.
Despite a strong play from the defense, the offense failed to complement it and settled for a field goal, even though it started at South Carolina’s 17-yard line. LSU once again found itself letting a good scoring opportunity go to waste, only making four plays the entire drive and failing to convert on third-and-3 on South Carolina’s 10-yard line.
The weak drive left an even worse taste in LSU fans’ mouths, when the Gamecocks followed this up with a scoring drive consisting of three plays total. A 72-yard rush up the middle by redshirt freshman running back Matt Fuller led to South Carolina being up 7-3 early in the game.
Still, the receiving corps held out and delivered in crucial times. This would be the last time South Carolina had control of the contest.
Sophomores Ju’Juan Johnson and Caden Durham highlighted LSU’s run game. Johnson averaged 13.2 yards per carry on five attempts to accumulate 66 yards on the night. Durham contributed with both rushing and receiving yards, finishing with 70 rushing on 15 attempts and 17 receiving on one catch.
Although he finished the night without a touchdown, Durham’s consistent scrambling set up scoring opportunities for LSU.
To start the second quarter, Durham rushed up the middle for 23 yards, his most on the night, during the third play of the first drive. A 14-yard pass completion to sophomore Trey’Dez Green followed, and the drive was ended by Nussmeier’s 6-yard completion to Green for LSU’s first touchdown.
Green made his presence known greatly against the Gamecocks. Along with the touchdown, Green led all receivers with 119 yards on eight catches, with his longest catch being 24 yards to get within first-and-1.
“He’s pretty good at football,” Kelly said with a laugh. “Clearly, he’s a mismatch… He’s a unique talent and we need to continue to feature him in our offense.”
But with LSU’s strengths will always come its weaknesses, which seems to be the most complementary part of its play thus far. The drive, right within reach of another touchdown, ultimately ended with a good field goal, putting LSU up 20-10 with 1:50 to go in the game.
Sometimes you just have to take the easy points in football, but for a team with talent like LSU, executing and finishing in situations like this is the expectation, not the dream. Still, Kelly knows rather than to drill his players in the moment, push them to move on and compete.
“Those are catastrophic mistakes, but they overcame them and kept playing,” Kelly said.
Regardless of how the last LSU drive ended, bright spots were seen in other players. Sophomore Kyle Parker hauled in LSU’s only other touchdown, finishing the night with five catches and 75 yards. His touchdown was set up by two high-yardage gains by Green.
LSU still has its work cut out for it if the team wants to reach the complementary play it so desperately needs to stay in playoff contention. The next test will be on the road at Vanderbilt, which will be the Tigers’ earliest kickoff of the season so far. LSU has a chance to show whether it can fight on the road or not, and it’ll surely be a battle test ahead of Texas A&M, too.
LSU and Vanderbilt will kickoff at 11 a.m. or 11:45 a.m. on ABC or SEC Network on Oct. 18.
“I think we saw the bits and pieces that we’re looking for, now we gotta put it together,” Kelly said. “It’s not good enough to simply say, ‘Hey, we’ve arrived.’”
