On the most perfect Saturday in South Carolina, a day that began with students up before dawn ready to yell for a TV show, it felt like the football game would turn into a four-hour after-party.
What became a 36-33 LSU victory started as a 17-0 South Carolina lead. For a second, it seemed like there would be no tension, just a extended party with Sandstorm occasionally playing in the background. Unfortunately, things can’t be that easy.
On a day when South Carolina starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers missed almost the entire second half with an ankle injury. When the Gamecocks blew a 17-point lead with its backup quarterback. When they racked up over 100 penalty yards. When they had two defensive touchdowns called back because of those penalties.
“I want to apologize to our fans,” coach Shane Beamer said. “Thirteen penalties. You’re not going to win football games in the SEC with 13 penalties.”
When it just felt like South Carolina was holding on for dear life, and they just might hold on long enough, Alex Herrera’s 49-yard field goal just missed and the clock expired.
South Carolina’s defense almost saves the day
The Gamecocks (2-1, 1-1 SEC) nearly held onto their biggest win in two years because of a hyped-up defense met the moment.
They held LSU scoreless in the first quarter. They stopped the Tigers on 4th and goal from 1-yard line to start the second half. They forced two turnovers in the fourth quarter to keep the game alive. This was tug-of-war and South Carolina was outnumbered 2 to 1 somehow willing themselves to not letting go.
Until, finally, LSU found the end zone.
After an 8-play, 55-yard drive that seemed to last an hour put really only took two-and-a-half minutes off the clock, LSU tailback punched in a short touchdown on 3rd and goal. The rope slipped.
It totality, it doesn’t look like the greatest day for the Gamecocks defense. They gave up over 400 yards to the Tigers and over 130 rushing.
But to watch the game was to know it could have been a lot worse, to know that the rope should’ve slipped long before it actually did.
LaNorris Sellers goes down again
On the second-to-last play of the first half, Sellers was sacked and came up hobbling with pain in his right ankle. Backup Robby Ashford came in for the final play of the half ... then started the second half as Sellers talked with trainers on the sideline and tried to test out his ankle.
This was after perhaps his best full half of football as a college quarterback.
In the first half Saturday, the redshirt freshman from Florence completed just 8-of-15 passes for 112 yards but was remarkable with his legs. He got South Carolina on the board with a 4-yard score in the first quarter before busting out a 75-yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter — the longest scoring run ever by a USC quarterback.
Then his ankle got banged up. He kept working on the sidelines, putting pressure on his ankle and running around. Eventually, he felt good enough to give it another go and went back in the game.
“We said, ‘Let’s just give it a shot,’ ” Beamer said. “’Maybe LaNorris will get out there, and the adrenaline will kick in, and he’ll feel OK.’ ”
Sellers’ return lasted three plays — two runs and negative four yards. The Gamecocks quarterback didn’t look right, forcing Ashford to finish the game for the Gamecocks.
“(We) felt like Robby could give us a better opportunity,” Beamer said, “because LaNorris certainly wasn’t 100 percent there in the second half.”
Rocket Sanders has breakout game
With Sellers out, South Carolina became a one-dimensional offense. All 79,531 folks packed into Williams-Brice Stadium knew the Gamecocks were going to run the ball on almost every play in the second half.
Which is OK. Offenses don’t have to be surprising to be effective.
But South Carolina couldn’t find any semblance of rhythm. In the third quarter, as it tried to hang onto a lead Sellers had built in the first half, South Carolina gained one yard. One!
By the time the Gamecocks got the ball back in the fourth quarter, they were down by five points. There was no more lead to hang on to — a fact that became scarier when it was clear offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains would rather run the ball a million times in a row before letting Ashford start throwing the ball around.
Then — at long last — Rocket Sanders broke one.
The prized Arkansas transfer had shown flashes of his old self, but nothing that made your eyebrows rise, nothing that made you think South Carolina had one of the best tailbacks in the SEC. Through two games with the Gamecocks, Sanders had accumulated 142 yards on 37 carries.
Against LSU, though, he rushed for over 130 yards, a majority of those on a go-ahead 66-yard run in the fourth quarter — the lone spark of offense for the Gamecocks in the final two quarters on Saturday.
Next Gamecocks game
Who: South Carolina vs. Akron
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC
TV: ESPNU
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