The game was over. No. 16 LSU was about to be down 40-29 at South Carolina with 5:58 to play Saturday afternoon.
South Carolina defensive back Nick Emmanwori had just intercepted a pass from apparently blind LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who threw it right to him at the goal line as the Tigers had faced a 3rd-and-11 from the USC 13. Nussmeier was throwing toward the end zone for wide receiver Kyren Lacy, who was well covered. Emmanwori, on the other hand, was wide open and returned the interception 100 yards for an apparent touchdown.
But a flag had flown before he reached the end zone on South Carolina defensive end Kyle Kennard, who knocked Nussmeier to the ground during the return in what was a block as possession had switched to the Gamecocks. It was a rough block, but it didn’t appear to be unnecessary roughness on multiple replays.
Officials still nullified the touchdown with an unnecessary roughness call against Kennard, adhering to a rule from 2019 against blindside blocks that are very common on interception and fumble returns. Players are often defenseless when blocked from the blindside. Hence, the rule, never mind that players can be coached to not be blindsided. As in, turn your head and look. That’s football.
Defenders are coached to become offensive players and block on a turnover return. That’s also football. Blocks such as Kennard’s used to happen all the time legally.
Sure, he didn’t need to block Nussmeier to preserve the pick six. Nussmeier’s not that fast. And technically, it may have been the right call by the book, but it was a cheap call and dramatically changed the game. LSU got extremely lucky.
USC took over on its 10-yard line ahead by only 33-29 instead of celebrating a TD, and LSU’s new and improved defense – albeit with issues up the middle – forced a key punt three plays later. LSU took over at its 45 with 3:46 to play and promptly drove 55 yards in eight plays for the winning time touchdown and 36-33 lead with 1:12 left. South Carolina drove to a 49-yard field goal attempt, but Alex Herrara missed it by a few yards left as time expired.
And LSU (2-1, 1-0 SEC) escaped with its season, while South Carolina (2-1, 1-1 SEC) just missed its first 3-0 start since 2012 when it opened 6-0 and finished 11-2 under coach Steve Spurrier.
“The one at the end, I watched it,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said. “And any time there’s an interception, we tell our guys, ‘Find the quarterback, and make sure we get him blocked.’ It wasn’t vicious by any stretch of the imagination.”
He’s right, and had the same thing happened to LSU, Baton Rouge would be burning right now.
Instead, it’s thanking its lucky stars the Tigers are not 1-2 and 0-1 in the SEC with fans poring over LSU coach Brian Kelly’s contract and pouring adult beverages.
How often does a quarterback throw two pick sixes that are called back? Nussmeier threw one midway in the first quarter, too, to defensive back O’Donnell Fortune, who returned it 25 yards for what would’ve been a 14-0 lead that would have been 17-0 and then 24-0 in the second quarter. But Kennard tackled Nussmeier with an illegal horse collar as he released the ball on the pick. That was the right call, but also so lucky.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen two defensive touchdowns come back because of penalties,” Beamer said.
How lucky LSU was. The fact that it couldn’t block Kennard on two plays freed him up so much that he committed two penalties that cost his team 14 points. If LSU blocks him well, the Tigers lose.
Wait, there’s more.
Nussmeier and LSU also dodged a bullet after he wasn’t ready for a shotgun snap and fumbled it off his face on his own 24-yard line, and South Carolina recovered. But the Tigers’ defense bailed him out by forcing a field goal and turning a possible 37-29 deficit to only 33-29.
And on LSU’s winning drive, it turned the ball over on downs after Nussmeier threw incomplete on 4th-and-3 from the South Carolina 38 in the final minutes. But the Gamecocks were offsides, and the five yards gave LSU a first down at the 33-yard line. Then Nussmeier hit Lacy for 29 yards on a critical pass to the 4-yard line to set up the winning TD.
Lucky, yes, but when it needed to on both sides of the ball, LSU and Nussmeier made the winning plays. They also never gave up after dropping behind 17-0.
“I thought we did a really good job coming together and finishing,” said Nussmeier, whose game was all over the place with turnovers and would-be turnovers. But he did hit 24 of 40 for 285 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and fumble around two sacks and a lot of pressure.
“It got tough, but we got it done,” he said.
ESPN’s Holly Rowe pointed out Nussmeier’s patience in avoiding the portal at LSU while he waited behind other quarterbacks since 2021. He can now start for two seasons.
“Those fans over there, this state,” the Lake Charles native who played in high school in Flower Mound, Texas, said. “This team, this school, it means everything to me, my teammates, my coaches, it’s unbelievable. God is good, and I’m so thankful.”
You should be.
“We want to play cleaner,” a weathered Kelly said with his hair a mess. “We want to do things better and execute better. Yes, we’ve got some work to do. We had some gap issues on defense, but they’re playing their tails off. You go on the road, and you find a way to win a game against a veteran team.”
LSU was more lucky than good clearly, but it will be 4-1 soon and in the top 10 after home wins over UCLA (2:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC) and South Alabama on Sept. 28. And when it does get cleaner and better and finds itself down and almost out against an Ole Miss or an Alabama, it will remember that it did what it takes at the end to win at South Carolina.
That’s why LSU made its season so far on Saturday, lucky or not, and ready or not, here it comes.
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