South Carolina Gamecocks pregame notes

Here are the South Carolina pregame notes from the Gamecocks Sports Information department.

The South Carolina Gamecocks (2-0, 1-0 SEC) return to Williams-Brice Stadium (77,559) on Sat- urday, Sept. 14, to open the home portion of their 2024 SEC schedule when they host the LSU Tigers (1-1, 0-0 SEC). LSU enters the contest ranked 16th in the Associated Press poll and 17th in the coaches’ poll, while South Carolina is receiving votes in both polls.

For the second week in a row, the Gamecocks will have a national television audi- ence watching on ABC. Chris Fowler will handle the play-by-play with Kirk Herbstreit providing the color commentary. Holly Rowe will work the sidelines. ESPN Radio will have a national broadcast with Mike Couzens and Max Starks in the booth and Mike Peasley on the sidelines.

ESPN’S College GameDay returns to Columbia for the eighth time and for the first time since 2014. For the first time they will be located in Gamecock Park after making its four broadcasts from the State Fairgrounds and the last three from the historic Horseshoe in the middle of the Univer- sity’s campus.

The South Carolina Gamecocks are off to a 2-0 start this season and post- ed the first win in the newly formed 16-team Southeastern Conference to take sole possession of first place in the league’s standings. The Gamecocks have opened the 2024 season with back-to-back wins for the first time since the 2021 season when they defeated Eastern Illinois at home and went on the road to win at East Carolina. The Gamecocks also opened the 2024 SEC slate 1-0 for the first time since 2017 when they won at Missouri. Prior to last week’s win at Kentucky, they had lost their last six SEC openers to Georgia (2018, 2021 and 2023), Alabama (2019), Tennessee (2020) and Arkansas (2022).

South Carolina has one of the nation’s toughest schedules in 2024, as seven of its 12 regu- lar-season opponents were ranked in the nation’s preseason top-20. The Gamecocks’ 2024 slate includes contests against preseason top-20 teams Alabama (5/5), Ole Miss (6/6), Missouri (11/11), LSU (13/12), Clemson (14/14), Oklahoma (16/16) and Texas A&M (20/20).

2024 marks year four of the Shane Beamer Era and the 131st season of intercollegiate football at the University of South Carolina, dating back to 1892. It is the 118th-consecutive year in which South Carolina has competed on the gridiron. The University did not field a team in either 1893 or 1906. Carolina owns an all-time record of 636-613-44, a .509 winning percentage. Since the start of the 21st century, the Gamecocks are 170-131 record, a .565 winning clip. In four seasons under Coach Beamer, the Gamecocks are 22-18, a .550 winning percentage, including wins in five of their last six games.

Each of the last three meetings between the Gamecocks and Tigers (2012, 2015 and 2020) have been in Baton Rouge with LSU's last trip to Columbia coming in the 2008 sea-son. The 2015 game was originally scheduled for Columbia but was moved the week of the game due to massive flooding in the Midlands. That 2015 game is also notable in that it would be Steve Spurrier's last game as the Carolina head coach.

Last meeting: LSU scored in all three phases of the game, including a 45-yard interception return and a 95-yard kickoff return, en route to a 52-24 win over South Carolina on Oct. 24, 2020 in Death Valley. The Gamecocks had 403 yards of offense on just 51 plays, an average of 7.9-yards per play, but were unable to slow down the Tigers.

Kevin Harris had a big day, rushing a dozen times for 126 yards and two scores. Keveon Mullins had his best day as a Gamecock, catching two passes for 101 yards. Ernest Jones logged a career-high 19 tackles in the loss.

South Carolina's last win over LSU was in Baton Rouge on Oct. 1, 1994 and escaped with an 18-17 win. The Gamecocks trailed the entire contest until Stanley Pritchett plunged in from the one-yard line with 12:52 remaining in the game for the deciding points. Pritchett finished the day with 18 carries for 90 yards. LSU held a 14-12 lead at the intermission in front of 63,281 rain-soaked fans and built the lead to 17-12 entering the final stanza. Carolina quarterback Steve Taney-hill was 23-for-30 for 157 yards and a touchdown, as the Gamecocks rolled up 262 yards of offense compared to 209 for LSU. It was just the Gamecocks' second win over LSU in school history.