Nussmeier and No. 11 LSU overcome mistakes to beat South Carolina 20-10
BATON ROUGE, La. -- — Garrett Nussmeier passed for 254 yards and two touchdowns, LSU's defense contained South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, and the 11th-ranked Tigers overcame three turnovers to defeat the Gamecocks 20-10 on Saturday night.“We found a way to win, even though we had some mistakes out there that could at some time be catastrophic,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “The bottom line is: against an SEC opponent, we held them to 10 points and really, except for our own mistakes, we controlled the flow of the game.”
The victory arguably should have been easier for LSU (5-1, 2-1 SEC), which twice lost the ball right at the South Carolina goal line on a fumble and an interception. The first of Nussmeier's two interceptions also occurred on the Gamecocks' side of the field.
LSU tight end Trey'Dez Green, a 6-foot-7 former college basketball player, caught eight passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.
“Clearly he is a mismatch,” Kelly said. "He is a unique talent and we need to continue to feature him in our offense.”
Green, who received a game ball, said he has largely recovered from a knee injury that occurred during LSU's home opener on Sept. 6.
“The ball came my way tonight a lot,” he said. “I wasn’t going to waste that opportunity.”
Kyle Parker had five catches for 75 yards, highlighted by his 43-yard score on which he snagged a short slant pass in stride and ran away from everyone.
LSU also rushed for a season-high 166 yards, led by Caden Durham’s 70 yards on 15 carries.
Damian Ramos' second field goal of the game all but sealed it with 1:46 left, capping a drive that started after LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane had broken up Sellers' fourth-down pass with 5:43 left.
Sellers passed for 124 yards, took five sacks and was intercepted once by LSU safety Tamarcus Cooley.
“Sellers is a difficult guy to corral,” Kelly said. “I’m proud of the way our guys attacked him. … He will leave here feeling the game against LSU.”
South Carolina (3-3, 1-3) drove into Tigers territory six times, but four of those possessions produced no points. One fruitless drive ended with a missed field goal, two ended with punts and the last with a turnover on downs.
“I’m sick to my stomach that we didn’t win that football game,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said, noting the Gamecocks finished with 193 yards rushing. “When we ran the ball, when we won the turnover battle, win time of possession — when you do all that, you should win the game.”
LSU was on the brink of taking a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter as running back Ju'Juan Johnson fought through tacklers to try to reach the goal line. But defensive tackle Monkell Goodwine dislodged the ball and edge rusher Bryan Thomas Jr. recovered in the end zone.
Three plays later Matt Fuller, who entered the game with 71 yards rushing this season, broke loose for a 72-yard touchdown run to give the Gamecocks a 7-3 lead.
The Tigers responded quickly, driving 72 yards in six plays for Green's leaping 6-yard touchdown catch on a fade pass.
Beamer said officials told him the snap came before officials had given the signal that both teams had finished changing personnel. But after looking at a replay, Beamer began yelling and angrily gesticulating at officials for several minutes.
“In 26 years of coaching I’ve never seen that," Beamer said. "There was (no official) standing over the ball.
“I don’t know how the punter, the personal protector who is making the call, and the snapper are supposed to know to not snap it when the referee is standing behind the punter,” he continued. "Somebody is going to have to explain that one to me.”
LSU: Inconsistent execution continues to plague a Tigers' offense that saw several promising drives come to nothing. LSU had seven possessions end with four punts and three with turnovers. They've scored an average of 19 points in their four power conference games.
LSU: Visits Vanderbilt next Saturday.
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