BATON ROUGE – What the LSU-South Carolina series lacks in number of games played between the teams, the storylines created through the years have more than made up for it.
The series resumes on Saturday when the Tigers make a rare trip to Williams-Brice Stadium. Kickoff between the Tigers and Gamecocks is set for 11 a.m. CT and will be televised on ABC. ESPN’s College Gameday will also be on hand to preview one of college football’s top Saturday matchups. LSU enters the contest with a 1-1 mark following last week’s 44-21 win over Nicholls., while South Carolina is coming off a 31-6 win over Kentucky and stands at 2-0 overall.
Although South Carolina has been a member of the SEC since 1992, Saturday’s matchup between the 16th-ranked Tigers and Gamecocks will be only the 10th between the teams as conference foes and just the eighth in Columbia.
LSU enters the game with a 19-2-1 mark against South Carolina in a series that dates back to 1930 when the Gamecocks edged the Tigers, 7-6, in Columbia. LSU and South Carolina met four times from 1930-33 before the series resumed in 1960 when LSU won 35-6 in Tiger Stadium.
LSU won again in 1961, 42-0 in Columbia followed by a 21-7 victory in Tiger Stadium in 1965.
The 1966 game took on a significant meaning when former LSU coach Paul Dietzel returned to Tiger Stadium – this time on the opposing sidelines as head coach of South Carolina. Ironically, Dietzel’s return to Tiger Stadium was prompted in 1959 when he suggested to athletic director Jim Corbett that LSU should schedule a four-game series with the Gamecocks. Corbett obliged and scheduled a 3-for-1 series with the Gamecocks – LSU hosting games in 1960, 1965 and 1966 with South Carolina serving as host in 1961.
By the time 1966 rolled around, Dietzel had left LSU, first to become the head coach at Army for four years before taking over at South Carolina in 1966. The 1966 game against LSU in Tiger Stadium was Dietzel’s first as the Gamecock head coach and quickly became a sellout when it was learned he was returning to coach against the Tigers. LSU won easily, 28-12.
The teams met in the 1987 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville as the Tigers, behind the play of quarterback Tommy Hodson, rolled to a 30-13 victory over the eighth-ranked Gamecocks.
South Carolina, in just its third season as a member of the SEC, beat the Tigers for only the second time in 1994 in Tiger Stadium. LSU managed only three second half points as the Gamecocks won, 18-17.
A year later in Columbia, the teams battled to a 20-20 tie in what still remains the final tie in LSU football history. The NCAA added overtime in 1996. The tie however went a long way in keeping the Tigers’ bowl hopes alive as LSU finished with a 6-5-1 mark and appeared in the Independence Bowl that year.
LSU’s winning streak over South Carolina dates back to 2002 in Tiger Stadium when the 14th-ranked Tigers turned to first-time starter Marcus Randall – who replaced injured quarterback Matt Mauck – and beat the Gamecocks, 38-14. Down 14-6 at halftime, LSU exploded for 25 third quarter points and the Tiger defense held South Carolina scoreless and to only 63 total yards in the second half.
The Tigers last visited Williams-Brice Stadium in 2008 when quarterback Jarrett Lee engineered a 6-minute scoring drive late in the fourth quarter to break a 17-17 tie. Charles Scott scored the game-winning points on a 2-yard run with 4:16 left in the contest. The Tigers intercepted a South Carolina pass on the ensuing possession and burned the final four minutes that remained on the clock to seal the victory.
The LSU winning streak reached five straight in 2012 when the ninth-ranked Tigers knocked South Carolina from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 23-21 win in Tiger Stadium. South Carolina entered the game coming off a win over No. 5 Georgia and ranked No. 3 in the nation. Down 7-3 at halftime, true freshman Jeremy Hill scored on runs of 7 and 50-yards in the second half and the Tiger defense held the Gamecocks to only 34 rushing yards in the victory.
The 2015 game between LSU and South Carolina, originally scheduled for Williams-Brice Stadium, was moved to Tiger Stadium the week of the game due to catastrophic flooding in Columbia and surrounding communities. Running back Derrius Guice and Leonard Fournette combined to rush for 319 yards and two scores as the Tigers piled up 624 total yards in the 45-24 victory.
Little did fans know at the time, but the LSU-South Carolina contest in 2015 would serve as the final game on the sidelines for Hall of Fame coach Steve Spurrier, who announced his retirement two days later.
During the Covid-shortened season in 2020, South Carolina returned to Tiger Stadium, dropping a 52-24 decision to LSU before an announced crowd of 21,855. LSU again turned to a first-time starter at quarterback as TJ Finley threw for 265 yards and a pair of TDs in the victory in what stands at the last meeting between the teams until Saturday when third-year LSU coach Brian Kelly faces South Carolina for the first time.
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