South Carolina football: Game time set for matchup with LSU

The South Carolina football team now knows the start time for its week 5 matchup.

On Monday, the Southeastern Conference released game times and TV schedules for its week five list of games. These matchups will take place in two weeks, on the weekend of October 24th.

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1315699625395924992

The Gamecocks are set to face LSU in Baton Rouge at 4 pm on the SEC Network. It will be the first meeting between the two schools in five years.

The last time these two teams met, South Carolina had Steve Spurrier roaming the sidelines, while Tigers were headed up by Les Miles. The game was originally scheduled to be played in Columbia, but major flooding in the state of South Carolina forced the matchup to be moved to Baton Rouge.

LSU would win 45-24 behind a couple of big days from star running backs Derrius Guice and Leonard Fournette. It was the Tigers’ sixth consecutive win in the series.

LSU leads the all-time series by a wide margin of 18-2-1. Both of South Carolina’s wins were by just a single point, with the latest being an 18-17 victory in the 1994 season. That’s the Gamecocks’ only win over the Tigers since joining the SEC.

This year, LSU has lost some luster from the national championship season of 2019. Gone are five first-round draft picks, including top choice and Heisman trophy winner Joe Burrow.

Expectedly so, the Tigers have struggled to replace all of that talent, and enter this weekend sitting at 1-2. LSU lost to Mississippi State in week one, allowing Bulldogs quarterback KJ Costello to pass for an SEC record 623 yards. After taking down Vanderbilt in its second matchup, the Tigers were upset in CoMo by Missouri.

LSU currently ranks third in total offense, and they’ve scored 34 or more points in each of their first three contests. Myles Brennan has done a nice job guiding the unit in his first season under center.

The defense, though, has let the Tigers down. They’ve surrendered 96 points over their first three games and rank 12th in the league, giving up 494.7 yards a game. LSU takes on Florida this Saturday before its matchup with the Gamecocks.

South Carolina, too, sits at 1-2, with losses to Florida and Tennessee, and a win against the Commodores. They’ve gotten a big boost from the running game this year, averaging 165 yards on the ground. Transfer quarterback Collin Hill has done a nice job of leading the offensive attack, and has the Gamecocks averaging more than 30 points a contest.

On defense, the Gamecocks currently rank third in the SEC in yards allowed and fourth in points surrendered. They’ll take on Auburn this weekend before travelling to Death Valley.