5 things we learned from South Carolina’s 36-33 loss to LSU

South Carolina lost on Saturday, which is still hard to believe.

The Gamecocks, methodical out of the gate, jumped to a 17-0 lead and looked like they might hang 50 on the 16th-ranked Tigers. Of course, LSU fought back took the lead in the fourth quarter, retook it with 72 seconds left and watched USC kicker Alex Herrera’s last-second kick sail left.

It is hard to sift through all that transpired in a game as anxiety-inducing game as the one LSU and USC played, but we’ll try. Here are some things we learned.

1. Stop blaming the refs

There has been much discourse about the officiating on Saturday and, really, folks are talking about two plays. Both involved penalties on edge rusher Kyle Kennard that negated pick-6 touchdown returns.

The first: In the first quarter, it looked like O’Donnell Fortune had a pick-6, but Kennard was flagged for a horse-collar tackle.

The second: In the fourth quarter, it looked like South Carolina iced the game on a Nick Emmanwori interception return for a TD, but Kennard was called for unnecessary roughness for hitting LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier following the pick.

You could make an argument the first one was a 50-50 call. The second one seems soft, especially given South Carolina was in possession of the ball when Kennard laid the hit. And, yet, it was not one ref that thought it was too much. Three (!) refs threw flags simultaneously. That’s not nothing.

“Any time there’s an interception,” Beamer said, “we tell our guys, ‘Find the quarterback, and make sure we get him blocked.’ And it wasn’t vicious by any stretch of the imagination.”

Perhaps.

But here’s the main point: Neither should’ve mattered.

South Carolina was up 17-0 ... at home. Elite teams get their opponents in that spot and squash them. Even if you don’t agree with those calls, that doesn’t make up for the other 11 penalties South Carolina had. Or the 400 yards it allowed. Or the missed kick. Or the one offensive yard it gained in the third quarter.

2. Odd end-of-game clock management

South Carolina was down 36-33. The Gamecocks offense was at the edge of kicker Alex Herrera’s field goal range with 23 seconds left and one timeout.

What transpired next was a bit odd. South Carolina only got off two plays and gained just one yard before Herrera tried a 49-yard field goal.

Asked why South Carolina couldn’t get another play off, Beamer pointed to the fact the Gamecocks had to burn a timeout earlier in the drive to avoid the 10-second runoff brought on by a false start penalty. So, first, he planned on an extra timeout.

And then there was Sanders’ run on second down. He hardly got a yard, a run he later criticized himself. That gave Beamer some worry.

“I was just concerned with the getting up there and something happening where we go backwards and don’t get into field-goal range,” Beamer said. “So, hindsight being 20/20, you try and run one more play right there because you have a timeout. But also, like it was 20 seconds and we’ve got our backup quarterback in there.”

3. Jared Brown might be the No. 1 wide receiver, if healthy

Many wrote off Coastal Carolina transfer receiver Jared Brown after one game. Not even. One play.

Yes, he dropped a beautiful deep ball in the season opener against Old Dominion and, yes, it was not a great first impression. But Brown has slowly not just begun to earn back the trust of the fan base, he might have emerged as the top receiver on this squad.

Against Kentucky last week, Brown had a team-high four catches for 50 yards. Against LSU on Saturday, the redshirt junior hauled in three passes for 48 yards, including a 39-yard grab late in the second quarter that looked very similar to the one he dropped two weeks ago.

Problem is: All of Brown’s production came in the first half and, according to Beamer, Brown left the game with an injury. His health, of course, will have to be monitored but his absence may have also played a part in the second half offensive struggles.

4. South Carolina’s pass rush was humbled

The most-intriguing matchup of Saturday was South Carolina’s edges against LSU’s offensive tackles.

In other words: Kennard and Dylan Stewart vs. Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr.

And the winner is ... LSU’s tackles.

The Tigers offensive line was spectacular for most of the game on Saturday, giving quarterback Garrett Nussmeier what felt like 15 seconds on a number of dropbacks.

South Carolina did record two sacks — one from illegal grounding and another from a beautiful blitz by Kennard and LB Bam Martin-Scott. But Stewart, who was celebrating his 19th birthday on Saturday, failed to record a tackle all day.

5. The Gamecocks can hang with anyone

South Carolina committed 13 penalties. Two pick-6s got called back. Its starting quarterback missed an entire half. It lost the turnover battle (3-2).

And the Gamecocks still nearly beat the 16th-ranked team in America. Heck, a lot of folks watched on national TV and thought South Carolina was the better team all day. That’s a good thing.

Should Beamer and the Gamecocks still be livid about the outcome? Of course. But, until Sellers went down, there didn’t seem to be any talent gap. Nothing about what the Gamecocks were doing seemed fluky.

It was an efficient offense mixed with an aggressive defense. And it had LSU on the hopes. And, if not for injuries or some iffy flags, it would’ve had South Carolina at 3-0.