BATON ROUGE: For the second time this season, South Carolina took a SEC opponent at their place to the fourth quarter with a chance to win, but just as at Missouri, the Gamecocks made too many mistakes they could not overcome and were sent packing with a 20-10 defeat at LSU Saturday night.
The Gamecocks committed 13 penalties, many of them of the pre-snap variety. They gave up five sacks and had two turnovers.
LSU led 10-7 at the half. USC tied the game with a third quarter field goal. That would be the extent of their second half points. Their final four possessions ended with two punts and two turnovers on downs.
The Tigers went ahead for good on a 43-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and added a field goal in the final two minutes to clinch their ninth straight win over the Gamecocks.
One bright spot for USC was the running game. The Gamecocks rushed for a season high 193 yards against a defense that had been giving up just 84 yards per game on the ground. That included a 72-yard touchdown run by Matthew Fuller in the first quarter.
But they could not compliment that with a strong passing game. LaNorris Sellers was just 15 of 27 for 124 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Sellers was forced to run the ball 22 times, most of those on scrambles away from pressure. He was sacked five times leaving him with a net gain of just 19 yards.
LSU did rush for a season high 168 yards, but two turnovers in the red zone were costly to the Tigers. One was a fumble at the Gamecock one, the other was an interception by Peyton Williams at the USC one.
The Gamecocks are 3-3 at the halfway point of the regular season, and 1-3 in the SEC. They will host Oklahoma next Saturday for a 12:45 kickoff on the SEC Network.
Final Stats
My View from Tiger Stadium
