The LSU Tigers looked rested and ready to pounce after the bye week as they pick up a 20-10 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks.
All eyes were on LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier heading into this game. He entered the year with high expectations, but did not look like himself during the Tigers' first five games.
A graphic shown by ESPN during the game stated that Nussmeier was ranked No. 172 out of 177 qualified quarterbacks in terms of arm strength. Anyone who watched him in 2024 knows just how shocking that is.
The senior passer suffered a torso injury during fall camp, which hindered him for weeks. The offense looked out of sync, and the deep pass was essentially nonexistent.
This was still not a night to write home about for Nussmeier. He went 20-for-33 with 254 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He did, however, look much more comfortable throwing the ball deep.
The No. 18 recipient's deep passes came with much more ease and zip, even though they didn't actually turn into many big plays. Chris Hilton Jr. had a tough drop on one of them.
Nussmeier still needs to be better. He had two fairly bad interceptions, one due to a poor decision and the other to a poor throw. His placement wasn't perfect. It was a step in the right direction for him, at least.
The wide receiver room was thinned out due to Aaron Anderson being out, but Trey'Dez Green and Kyle Parker stepped up in big ways.
Green led the team with 8 catches for 119 yards and a touchdown. He was utilized well in the red zone, with his big body leading to an easy score in the corner of the end zone.
Parker had his best game in purple and gold, picking up five catches for 75 yards with a touchdown.
LSU's run game was also much better in this one, but still has some room to grow.
The short-yardage game was unimpressive. There were multiple plays where the offensive line created some push for Caden Durham, which led to big gains, however.
Ju'Juan Johnson had the biggest rush of the day at 56 yards. He was also used in a wildcat formation, which is an interesting wrinkle to this Tigers' offense.
Jumping over to the defensive side of the ball, they did a much better job of containing LaNorris Sellers as a runner than Trinidad Chambliss.
Sellers ended with 22 rushes and 19 yards. Part of that came from the five sacks that LSU's defense had.
Through the air, Sellers was just 15-of-27 for 124 yards with an interception caught by Tamarcus Cooley.
The only real big play that the Tigers gave up was a 72-yard rush by redshirt freshman Matthew Fuller.
It was another staple performance by the defense and an underwhelming offensive night for LSU, but the offense did have some glimpses of what was expected from them.