5 things we learned from South Carolina football’s loss to LSU
South Carolina (3-3, 1-3 SEC) fell to No. 11 on Saturday. The 20-10 loss marked the program’s ninth-straight defeat to the Tigers (5-1, 2-1 SEC).
Here are five things we learned:
1. This one should sting
Three weeks ago, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer spoke after the Missouri game, telling reporters how he was surprised his football team didn’t lead a miraculous fourth-quarter drive and win the game.
Technically, the Gamecocks had a chance to win the game. But they were being severely outplayed by Missouri — and it felt like a matter of time before the Tigers won.
Fast forward to Saturday and Beamer again sat behind a podium saying that he’s “sick to my stomach we didn’t win that football game.” This time, it’s impossible not to agree.
It’s surprising the Gamecocks walked out of Tiger Stadium losers after:
- Outrushing LSU (193-166)
- Winning the turnover battle (3-2)
- Stopping LSU twice at the goal line.
All night, LSU tried to give this game away. Head coach Brian Kelly couldn’t go 15 minutes without ripping off his headset and slamming it to the ground in frustration. LSU had stupid turnover after stupid turnover. They were bad on special teams, managed the clock poorly, couldn’t stop the run and literally gave away touchdowns.
They were just short of handing South Carolina a victory. Even then, the Gamecocks might have walked right past.
This Carolina team had 13 penalties — nine of which were before the snap. QB LaNorris Sellers had two crucial grounding flags. He missed on a number of throws, including a fourth-down pass to a blanketed receiver. There was a 3rd-and-14 where USC’s top receivers Nyck Harbor and Vandrevius Jacobs were both on the sideline, and Sellers threw a pick on the play.
And, yes, running back Matthew Fuller produced the Gamecocks’ lone big play — a 72-yard touchdown run — then basically on the bench the rest of the half.
“He needed to be back there,” Beamer said. “I told the coaches at halftime: ‘Give the freaking ball to Matt Fuller in the second half.’ ”
Why should you have to tell the assistant coaches to keep the only productive player in the game? How does that happen?
2. Offensive line problems persist
Watching LaNorris Sellers retreat like he was running from a tsunami, it was hard to not get flashbacks to 2023 when Spencer Rattler was doing the same exact thing.
That 2023 offensive line was decimated with injuries. It also had plenty of young talent (Tree Babalade, Trovon Baugh, Cason Henry) and an incoming recruiting class that included five-star Josiah Thompson.
Time is a flat circle because South Carolina is in the same exact spot. Its quarterback has already been sacked 19 times — including five times against LSU on Saturday — and surely evaded a dozen more. For a second, forget any blocking. The O-line is struggling to get that far.
Of the 13 penalties on Saturday, the Gamecocks’ offensive line accounted for five of them, including two for an illegal snap. That’s not even counting the debacle of a first play, when — per Beamer — the entire offense knew the play cadence except for center Rodney Newsom. He snapped the ball late. Sellers fumbled. LSU jumped on it.
The obvious caveat: This offensive line is banged up. It came into the game missing two starters — Cason Henry and Nolan Hay — then lost starter Shed Sarratt early in the game. The Gamecocks had little depth to begin the season, but now they are beyond thin and forced to play guys who can’t hold up.
There is no easy fix. Certainly not one easy enough to implement before next week — and maybe not before next year.
3. Give props to this defense
Don’t look at the stats. Don’t mind that LSU racked up 420 yards, or averaged almost 7 yards a play, or didn’t allow a sack the entire game.
LSU only scored 20 points. That was enough to keep South Carolina in the game, to give the Gamecocks’ offense a tinge of hope that it would later flush down the drain.
This Gamecocks’ defense has a motto they like to say a lot: Put the ball down. And, boy, do they live it.
They forced an LSU fumble on the goal line. Safety Peyton Williams later picked off a pass just in front of the goal line. The Tigers offense went into the red zone five times and came out with just 13 points. South Carolina’s defense was great when it needed to be.
4. Mad at the play-calling?
Late in the fourth quarter, I wrote on X: “Dare I say it .... South Carolina’s offense looks really good on this drive.”
And then the Gamecocks got to the LSU 37-yard line and punted. Tale of the season, right?
But for all those attacking offensive coordinator Mike Shula, I don’t put Saturday’s loss on the play-calling. At times, it was really good. The running backs and tight ends were being utilized on dump passes. He was calling a multitude of designed runs for Sellers. Late in the game, they found a groove running inside zone with Rahsul Faison.
There was a lot of good.
There were also 10 offensive penalties. And two costly turnovers. And the fact that of South Carolina’s 16 third downs on Saturday, 11 of them were 3rd-and-7 or longer.
It’s impossible to sustain drives playing like that. You can have short moments where it looks like everything is clicking, but that penalty or sack is always lurking, ready to ruin a drive.
5. Hope for a turnaround?
It is hard to have much faith that the Gamecocks can right their season considering their next four games are: home against Oklahoma and Alabama, and on the road at Ole Miss at Texas A&M.
But South Carolina is 3-3 and 1-3 in the SEC. It’s the same record the Gamecocks had last season before they beat Oklahoma and won their final six games. Can that be any sort of motivation for this team?
“You draw on last year that we were 3-3 and we rallied and continued to get better,” Beamer said. “This team, I know it’s not pretty right now, but I feel like we’re getting better in a lot of areas.”
He continued: “Like I told our team in the locker room, ‘Quit kicking our own butts before we start kicking other team’s butts.’ And there was too much of that tonight.”
