LSU appeared poised to open up a two-score lead late in the third quarter Saturday with a second straight long, explosive drive in a season in which they have been at a particular premium.
The No. 11 Tigers (5-1, 2-1) instead came up empty inside the 10-yard line for the second time in the game and had to continue leaning on their disruptive defense to fend off visiting South Carolina (3-3, 1-3) until a late field goal could punctuate a tight, often-ugly grind of a 20-10 bounce-back victory.
“Look, we all watched the game,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “I was pleased with some things that we did that we hadn’t been doing. We ran the ball with much more effectiveness, right? We got the ball to Trey’Dez Green. I was pleased about that. But certainly you can’t get down on the 1-yard line three times and come up with three (total) points, and I think we all know that. But what I loved was our compete. I loved the way our guys competed for four quarters. Our fans stayed in there with us.
“Look, it is what it is: Find a way to win. And tonight we found a way to win, even though we had some mistakes out there that could at some time be catastrophic and we’re gonna have to eliminate ’em. But the bottom line is I love the way the kids competed today.”
The Tigers racked up 420 yards of offense — their most thus far this season against an FBS opponent — and a season-high 166 rushing yards.
Senior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier finished 20-for-33 (61%) for 254 yards and showed flashes of looking more like himself at times with zip on throws into tight windows and confidence to let the ball fly downfield.
And Green, the sophomore tight end out of nearby East Feliciana and Zachary, shook off an early drop to provide career highs of eight catches and 119 yards and a touchdown.
But miscues and missed opportunities continued to stall the unit’s attempts to turn a corner from early-season inconsistencies and frustrations.
A first-quarter fumble and third-quarter interception squandered potential points entirely, and another pair of red-zone trips in the first and fourth quarters settled for field goals.
“I think if we were much more efficient in the red zone and certainly if we took care of the football, there were some things that we just have to clean up that are very fixable,” Kelly said. “And if we fix those things, this offense can play to the level of its defense. And that’s what we need to get to. If we can get both groups playing to that same level consistently — we had some really good moments there offensively, but not consistent enough, and that’s what we’re about to work on.”
LSU harassed the Gamecocks and star quarterback LaNorris Sellers the bulk of the night, though, including five sacks, five other hurries and two fourth-down stops.
Sellers finished 15-for-27 (55.6%) for 124 yards and an interception and rushed 22 times for 55 yards.
“I think I said this in the Thursday’s press conference: When we get to him, we’ve got to make sure he feels us,” Kelly said. “Obviously he’s an extraordinary athlete, and we missed a lot of tackles where if we run our feet and do the things we’re supposed to do, we probably tackle more. But he felt this today. He felt our football team. He felt out defense. And we made it tough for him.”
Junior linebackers Harold Perkins Jr. and Whit Weeks, senior defensive linemen Bernard Gooden, Jack Pyburn and Patrick Payton and freshman cornerback D.J. Pickett all reached Sellers. And Weeks, Gooden, sophomore defensive lineman Ahmad Breaux and senior defensive end Jimari Butler all added additional hurries.
Senior safety A.J. Haulcy led the team with 11 tackles, and senior linebacker West Weeks added nine.
Senior safety Tamarcus Cooley intercepted a pass, and senior cornerback Mansoor Delane highlighted a largely lockdown performance with a fourth-down pass breakup.
“(Pressure up front) makes my job easier,” Delane said. “Again, that’s a reason why I came here was to play around elite guys like myself, so it just makes the game a lot more fun and a lot more interesting. And I just feel like when I’m in coverage like I was on that fourth down, I know the ball’s gotta come out quick because I have those guys up front.”
LSU struggled to move the football early, but was gifted a 3-0 lead when South Carolina fumbled away its first offensive snap to provide a short field and set up a 28-yard kick for Damian Ramos.
The Tigers finally started clicking on their third possession with a 71-yard march down to the goal line, but fumbled the opportunity away into the end zone.
Freshman running back Matt Fuller popped a 72-yard touchdown three plays later — the Gamecocks’ longest play of the season and far-and-away their longest run — to take a 7-3 lead into the second quarter.
“Even though we made mistakes, you can begin to question yourself and your confidence, but they kept playing,” Kelly said. “And I told ’em them that. I said, ‘ Listen, we’ve got plenty of time to go over the things that we’ve gotta correct on Monday. Everybody’s gonna remind you about ’em anyway. So I’m not gonna do that right now. All I’m comment on is I love the way you competed. You kept playing regardless of what happened.’
“And there were some things that were catastrophic if you will. Fumbling on the goal line, giving up a 75-yard run, those are catastrophic mistakes. But they overcame them, and they kept playing. That’s a great thing. I’m gonna build off of that, and we’re gonna clean up the other things.”
LSU answered with a 57-yard drive capped by a 6-yard touchdown from Nussmeier to Green for the only points of the quarter and a 10-7 halftime edge.
South Carolina tied the game on the opening possession of the second half, eating 6:21 off the clock before settling for a 47-yard William Joyce field goal.
The Tigers suddenly started striking explosive plays one after another on back-to-back third-quarter drives.
Eleven- and 19-yard passes from Nussmeier to Green helped set up a tiebreaking 43-yard catch-and-run for Kyle Parker on which the redshirt sophomore took a Nussmeier pass in stride over the middle, cut between multiple defenders and accelerated off to the 17-10 lead.
The play was the longest of Parker’s career and marked his second touchdown in the past three games.
“I feel like when we’re on one accord and we stick together and we’ve got each other’s back, I feel like we’re the best offense in the nation,” Green said.
After a quick Gamecocks three-and-out, a 21-yard Nussmeier scramble and 56-yard Ju’Juan Johnson dash moved LSU well into the red zone for an opportunity to blow the low-scoring battle open.
But junior safety Peyton Williams jumped a throw to Green in the end zone two plays later to snatch possession back for South Carolina, still on the Tigers’ heels.
LSU shut down the Gamecocks the rest of the way, though, continuing to harass Sellers and company.
And Nussmeier, Green and company finally mounted a 10-play, 64-yard drive that took nearly four minutes off the clock before settling for a 22-yard Ramos field goal to nudge the lead to 20-10.
“I think we saw the bits and pieces of what we were looking for — now we’ve got to put it together,” Kelly said. “It’s not good enough to say, ‘Hey, we’ve arrived.’ We certainly have not. And we’ve gotta do some things better on defense as well. It was some coverage things, some fits, but LaNorris Sellers is a difficult guy to corral. But we have to be cleaner in the scoring zone. As I mentioned, we’ve got three times inside the 5 to come up with three, those things are catastrophic. We’ve got to clean those up. We clean those up, we’re moving in the right direction.”