Two Truths and a Lie: LSU vs. South Carolina

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

By Chris Marler

South Carolina and LSU played in a bit of a 20-10 snooze fest Saturday night. Still, there were plenty of positives and objective truths to take away from the game. Here’s this week’s edition of two truths and a lie.

Truth No. 1 – That Should have been a blowout

There’s been a lot of pessimism around LSU dating back to the Florida game. Most of that is warranted. However, if we are going to view the Florida game as a game where “the defense had five interceptions and you still only won 20-10” then objectively speaking this game could, and should, be looked at through a lens of “LSU had three turnovers including two on the one yard line and they still won by ten.”

Not only that, but the only touchdown that South Carolina scored all night was a 72 yard run. Outside of that, the offense generated very little. Both times South Carolina scored, the LSU defense responded, limiting the Gamecocks to four drives each of 60 and 69 yards respectively and zero points. The Gamecocks also had seven trips across into LSU territory. Those seven drives yielded just three points.

LaNorris Sellers is 8-for-17 (47%) at halftime for 66 yards and an interception. Has 15 yards on 12 rushes.

LSU defense getting after him just about all night, including two sacks (Harold Perkins + Payton/Pyburn) and five hurries.

South Carolina’s offense outside of the 72-yard… https://t.co/Cv8RHlDb7i

— Jerit Roser (@JeritRoser) October 12, 2025

LSU’s defense held South Carolina to just 4.6 yards per attempt. And, for the first time all season Mike Shula decided to run LaNorris Sellers. The quarterback ended the game with 22 rushing attempts. To put that in perspective, that’s one more than he had in the first three games of the season combined and eight more than he’s had in any game this season.

He finished with just 19 yards on the ground.

Truth No. 2 – If there are questions about the offense, Trey’Dez Green is your answer

A healthy Trey’Dez Green is a problem for everyone not wearing purple and gold. At this point of the season it’s fair to say that the receiving corps has underachieved. Getting a healthy Trey’Dez Green involved in the passing game is a massive help.

One of the hopes going into the season was that Joe Sloan and Garrett Nussmeier would be able to find a way to share the wealth in the passing game and to keep arguably the deepest group of receivers in America happy and productive. After five games of struggling to get the downfield passing attack going, it was nice to just see a pass catcher get fed, fed consistently, and finally go off on the stat sheet, especially with Aaron Anderson out.

A 6-foot-7 tight end is a cheat code in general, but that’s especially the case in the red zone. Green finished Saturday night with eight catches for 119 yards and one touchdown.

He’s 6-7
Ya can’t guard @TreyDez_Green

📺 SEC Network pic.twitter.com/YaRZWuc9Ki

— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) October 12, 2025

The Lie – The offense didn’t make progress

There are still frustrations with this offense. It is not always very pretty, and it’s rarely been fun to watch for all 60 minutes of a game. But there were clear signs of progress made last night against South Carolina.

The offense put up 420 yards against South Carolina. That’s the only game this season where the Tigers offense has gained more than 400 yards against a Power 4 opponent. The 254 yards passing was also the most against any P4 opponent, and the 166 rushing yards was the most in any game this season.

There were several plays, especially in the second half, where Caden Durham was able to break to some daylight for big gains. One thing that Vanderbilt and Missouri with Ahmad Hardy were able to do to South Carolina was lean on them in the run game until they essentially beat them into submission.