Breaking down LSU's biggest takeaways from win over South Carolina

LSU escaped Columbia with a narrow 36-33 win over South Carolina in one of the most thrilling matchups of the weekend. Improving the Tigers’ record to 2-1 on the season and securing their first SEC win of the year.

It wasn’t the prettiest win, but LSU will certainly take it as they now head into a breif hiatus from conference play. And at the On3 Roundtable, Shae Dixon from The Bengal Tiger recapped the game and revealed his biggest takeaways from LSU’s road victory

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“I think we knew a lot of things going in,” Dixon said on Monday. “We knew that the defense could struggle, obviously, in spots. I think we knew that their pass protection, LSU’s, had been very good so far, and this would be their biggest test yet and South Carolina was just teeing off on Garrett Nussmeier at times. So obviously you’d like to see some better play from your o-line, but they were up against maybe one of the best front sevens and certainly defensive lines that they’ll face all season.”

LSU found themselves with their backs against the wall early in against the Gamecocks, down 17-0 to start the game in a hostile environment. But they eventually got the ball rolling and got some help on the ground from an unexpected breakout player in Saturday’s comeback win.

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“Caden Durham, the true freshman who was a top five running back on the On3 Industry Rankings coming out of Duncanville just this past cycle, he gets his first real opportunities. He had had one carry before that, it came at Nichols, so putting him on the big stage in the SEC like that, he delivered early, got him on the board first, and then ran for nearly 100 yards on just about 10 carries,” Dixon explained. “So a really nice performance from him and you wonder if that doesn’t spark something for the running back room, or at least the running game moving forward.”

Durham has the potential to fill the void left in the LSU running back room left behind by John Emery Jr. following his season-ending knee injury in Week 1. Leading the Tigers to their strongest performance of the season on the ground with 132 rushing yards against South Carolina.

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The Tigers gave up numerous give plays on defense and allowed 398 yards of total offense along with their 33 points allowed. A game where Nussmeier was sacked twice and under constant duress all night. But winning SEC road games aren’t easy, a feat the Tigers overcame along with the fourth quarter woes from their season opener.

“We saw the other USC score with a minute left, eight seconds left, to beat LSU in that opener. This time it’s the inverse, LSU scores with a minute left. They get down there and they [South Carolina] missed the field goal, and LSU walks off with an SEC win,” Dixon said. “And I’ll say this, you get 12 games a year. Eight of them are conference games, four of them are on the road. They’re never easy.”

LSU started off their SEC schedule on the right foot and now have a three-week hiatus before they step back into conference play. Giving the Tigers even more time to clean up their mistakes and improve before they host Ole Miss on October 12.