Injuries slow USC's defense at key time

South Carolina’s postgame injury report consisted of one player: left guard Jamon Meredith with a left ankle.

The report was a lot longer during the game.

After skating through the first seven games with minimal injuries, USC was bitten in a big way during a 24-17 loss to LSU on Saturday night.

When LSU scored its game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter, starters Captain Munnerlyn, Eric Norwood and nickel-back Carlos Thomas were on the sideline.

At other points, safety Emanuel Cook was out. And tailback Eric Baker didn’t play after fumbling in the second quarter; he took a big hit to the head on the play.

Munnerlyn and Cook suffered from cramps. Norwood missed time after getting the wind knocked out of him.

Defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson saw it as little excuse.

“Those other guys got scholarships, too,” Johnson said. “They’ve gotta step up and play. But we didn’t get that kind of performance from the second-team players in a number of series out there.”

This wasn’t Munnerlyn’s first issue with cramps. Johnson wondered whether the problem was a product of the junior being on the field so much: He also serves as the team’s punt returner.

“There comes a point in time where you’ve gotta figure out how much can he do and how much can he not do,” Johnson said. “Obviously, he just ran out of gas.”

But Johnson said he would not ask for Munnerlyn to be taken off special teams.

“That’s not my job,” Johnson said. “He belongs to this football team. He doesn’t belong to me.”

Substituting it up. LSU’s constant substitutions on offense and subsequent quick snaps, often prevented South Carolina from bringing it its subs. And that grated on Johnson.

“I don’t mean to sound like sour grapes. I think the game right now is about to get too gimmicky. It’s more about what coaches can do to trick each other than it is about players performing.”

Johnson pointed out that the NFL doesn’t allow the offense to substitute without the defense having a chance to match.

“A lot of the things tonight did not have anything to do with football. It had to do with trickery,” Johnson said. “But certainly there were times when they lined up and controlled that line of scrimmage and whipped us.”

Speaking of the rules. Coach Steve Spurrier said he learned something new on Saturday: When there are offsetting penalties and one is a personal foul, they still cancel each other out.

That occurred in the third quarter, when an illegal snap led to Stephen Garcia rolling out and being hit late by an LSU player.

“You mean if somebody jumps offsides you can go clobber somebody and it’s offsetting?” Spurrier said. “I did not know that, but I guess that was right. I thought one was five, and one was 15.”

Hitting the face mask. McKinley couldn’t haul in what would have been a long fourth-quarter catch. After Garcia scrambled out and saw a wide-open McKinley, the senior receiver came back and slipped. The ball hit him in the face mask.

But Spurrier wasn’t mad at his receiver.

“Who knows what would have happened after that,” Spurrier said. “He had a good game; he always does. He made some good plays for us.”

Extra points. Cook tied his career high with 11 tackles. ... McKinley moved into second place in school history with 2,422 receiving yards. He trails Sterling Sharpe by 75 yards.

Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.