LSU and South Carolina have more in common than hyped up, underachieving quarterbacks and widely disparaged offensive coordinators. Both teams are coming off a bye and are desperate to clean up deficiencies that have led to a few disappointing losses.<\/p>\n
The Gamecocks\u2019 two losses leave them with less margin for error moving forward. Fortunately for them, their offense seems to have found its identity after an impressive win against Kentucky. So how can LSU get back on track against a confident South Carolina team? Let\u2019s dig into it.<\/p>\n
The similarities continue with the Tigers and Gamecocks when realizing they make up the last two teams in the SEC\u2019s rushing offense statistics. Yes, the LSU program, once known to field big, physical bullies, is currently 15th<\/sup> in the SEC in rushing yards per game. Somehow, South Carolina, led by possibly the most physically gifted quarterback in the nation in LaNorris Sellers<\/a>, is dead last.<\/p>\n The difference is that the Gamecocks looked more like the version of themselves we expected to see in their last effort against Kentucky before the bye. Sellers rushed for an encouraging 81 yards, surpassing his previous season high of 25 yards rushing. Crazy concept, but giving more carries to dynamic athletes lends to positive results. On that note, Harlem Berry has earned more carries even with the return of Caden Durham<\/a>. There\u2019s no better time for the Tigers to get going on the ground.<\/p>\n When comparing the two teams\u2019 struggles, it appears that South Carolina\u2019s rushing attack likely has a higher ceiling. But that doesn\u2019t mean LSU can\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t run. Whether Garrett Nussmeier<\/a> is healthy or not, the LSU offense must keep the heat off him by forcing defenses to play honestly. The Tigers had 22 carries as a team against Ole Miss, and that won\u2019t lead to favorable looks in the passing game. Besides, an offensive line that struggles to get a push won\u2019t improve its run blocking by constantly moving backwards in pass plays.<\/p>\n LSU\u2019s group of receivers was easily one of its most impressive units coming into the season. The talent and depth showed up every day in practice, but there haven\u2019t been many explosive plays to show for it. Sure, we\u2019ve seen a few drops. But we tend to see that happen more often to players who don\u2019t get the ball often \u2013 they\u2019re too eager to make a play.<\/p>\n The big \u201cif\u201d here goes back to the first key. If the Tigers can demonstrate a willingness to run, the numbers in the box will change, resulting in coverage more conducive to shot plays. South Carolina likes to play man and has impressive corners to do so in Brandon Cisse and Judge Collier<\/a>. But Barion Brown<\/a> and Chris Hilton can get behind the best with no safety help.<\/p>\n An effective rushing attack can create opportunities. Talented wideouts can get open. The key (literally) word here is opportunistic. LSU needs to take shots, but only when they\u2019re good decisions, which leads us to our next point.<\/p>\n Sellers was well on his way to embarrassing LSU when he left the game due to injury in 2024 with 113 passing yards and 88 rushing yards. While he hasn\u2019t appeared to have developed much as a pocket passer in 2025, he\u2019s as dangerous as ever when things break down.<\/p>\n Trinidad Chambliss<\/a> of Ole Miss converted in a few critical third-and-long situations against LSU<\/a> by running once lanes opened on pass plays. Sellers can do the same, but he is 10 times tougher to bring down. Even worse, he keeps his head up while buying time to hit receivers down the field in scramble drills. The South Carolina offense has been inconsistent so far, but there\u2019s a case to be made that it\u2019s at its best when plays break down.<\/p>\n If you somehow haven\u2019t noticed by now, we\u2019re not overly concerned about the LSU defense. Which means much of this game will hinge on Nussmeier and the Tiger offense. In a season in which Nussmeier hasn\u2019t looked overwhelmingly great at any point, we recently saw his worst outing by far. It won\u2019t help to spend too much time speculating on the LSU quarterback\u2019s health. But we lean towards the extra week being beneficial to any potential ailments.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the more troubling issue \u2013 the decision-making is still inadequate. Now a fifth-year senior, excuses won\u2019t fly for unforced throws into triple coverage. LSU can win with a solid defense and an efficient quarterback who got the win at Clemson. We\u2019re not so sure if the indecisive, impulsive, and inaccurate Nussmeier, who struggled against Louisiana Tech and Ole Miss<\/a>, can win on Saturday night.<\/p>\n The Tigers are the more talented team in this matchup. It\u2019s quite possible that they reassessed their approach and are better prepared to take on a solid South Carolina team. None of this will matter if the Tigers are off target on short throws and reckless on deep passes. LSU needs the good Nuss to show up in Tiger Stadium.<\/p>\n Main Image: Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LSU and South Carolina have more in common than hyped up, underachieving quarterbacks and widely disparaged offensive coordinators. Both teams are coming off a bye and are desperate to clean up deficiencies that have led to a few disappointing losses. The Gamecocks\u2019 two losses leave them with less margin for error moving forward. Fortunately for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4690,"featured_media":76974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,35584,17,35577],"tags":[729,149],"class_list":["post-81031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-featured","category-lsu-tigers","category-news","category-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-brian-kelly","tag-shane-beamer"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81031"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81045,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81031\/revisions\/81045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Opportunistic Shots<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Prevent the Off-Script Chunk Plays<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Getting the Good Nuss<\/strong><\/h3>\n