South Carolina football (3-2) looks to earn its second conference win of the season this Saturday as it travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on No. 11 LSU (4-1).
Following wins over Virginia Tech and South Carolina State, the Gamecocks rose to No. 10 in the AP Poll for their highest ranking since 2014. South Carolina's momentum ended with back-to-back losses against No. 18 Vanderbilt and No. 20 Missouri. The team has not returned to the AP Top 25 since.
LSU is the highest-ranked team out of the Gamecocks' opponents this season, and South Carolina isn't unfamiliar to the history of the rivalry. The Gamecocks have dropped the past eight matchups against the Tigers and haven't secured a win in Death Valley since 1994. The Tigers, however, are coming off a 24-19 loss to No. 13 Ole Miss, a win that moved the Rebels into the No. 4 spot in the AP rankings.
The Gamecocks snapped a two-game losing streak with a win over Kentucky at home on Sept. 27. South Carolina’s 35-13 win over its SEC rival pushed the team one game over .500 entering the bye week.
“I feel like as a team (we’re) hot," redshirt senior edge rusher Jatius Geer said after the win. "I feel like we’d be ready to play tomorrow if we had to, but I feel like this bye week is gonna be good for guys who need to heal up ... and for us to continue to hone in more on the playbook so we can fix the little stuff.”
Geer’s 41-yard scoop-and-score touchdown in the win continued a trend of "Beamer Ball" that's worked as a driving force in the team’s success through five games. The team has six non-offensive touchdowns this year thanks to defense and special teams, the most in the country.
“When we’re able to do that on offense, defense and special teams, every team can’t do that,” redshirt junior defensive back Gerald Kilgore said. “That’s the way you pull out games … and that’s what allowed us to come through with this win.”
In South Carolina's last matchup against LSU, junior tight end Maurice Brown II’s blocked punt in the second quarter helped the Gamecocks jump out to a quick 17-0 lead.
“Last year, they blocked a punt. Generally, as you know, if you block a punt in a game, you stand a great chance of winning the game. We were still fortunate enough to win that game,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said.
In South Carolina's latest win over Kentucky, the Gamecocks notched 341 yards of offense while allowing 232 yards on defense. Both marks are the best each unit has achieved this season. Kelly said he hopes for his Tigers to achieve the same this Saturday.
“Certainly, what we’re looking for is a complete game. We have not played a complete game … I’m referring to offense, defense and special teams complementing themselves and each other, "Kelly said. "Now we’ll get an opportunity to show ourselves against a really good South Carolina team.”
In the close game against the Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium last year, redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers’ 201 total yards and 2 touchdowns helped an offense stack up 243 yards on the ground and another 155 in the air.
“A really good South Carolina team that I think many know is led by LaNorris Sellers, who's an outstanding athlete, incredible arm, has the ability to change a game," Kelly said. "We saw what he did against us last year, certainly somebody that we have to make sure does not wreck the game for us.”
The Tigers' offense this season has been powered by their rushing attack. Sophomore running back Caden Durham is averaging 4.1 yards per rush on 52 carries this season, complemented by freshman Harlem Berry's 5 yards per rush on 22 carries. Berry, a former five-star recruit, was the nation’s top-rated running back and the top-rated player in the state of Louisiana for the class of 2025, according to on3.
Coming off a bye week, Kelly has the Tigers looking to rebound from the loss to Ole Miss. Four of the Tigers' remaining seven games are against ranked teams.
“Six SEC games in seven weeks, and I think we’ve all realized that each and every week if you do not play your best against an SEC opponent, you leave yourself vulnerable," Kelly said. "This is the part of the season now where teams begin to show what they’re made of.”
Saturday's game against the Tigers kicks off a five-game stretch against five top-11 opponents. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer said his team is embracing the difficulty of the team’s upcoming slate.
“'If you don’t want to play that schedule,' I told our players, 'Y’all chose the wrong conference to come play in, you should’ve gone to play in another conference,'” Beamer said.
What's next?
The South Carolina football team (3-2, 1-2 SEC) will take on the LSU Tigers (4-1, 1-1 SEC) on Oct. 11 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Kickoff is set for 7:45 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.