How Rare is an LSU Versus South Carolina Football Game?

The LSU Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks are both members of the SEC, and they seem like they'd make for great rivals. In sports like Women's Basketball, that's what has happened. But on the football field, a meeting between the two programs is actually a little rare.

LSU will travel to South Carolina for a Week 3 matchup in the 2024 college football season, which makes this matchup even more rare.

The last time these two connected on the field, barely anyone was there. It was October 24th, 2020...the pandemic season. The game was played in Baton Rouge and LSU won 52-24. But can you remember the game before that?

You have to go all the way back to October 10th for 2015 for the last non-pandemic meeting of these two football programs. The leading passer for LSU in that game was former Parkway Panther Brandon Harris, who threw for 228 yards and 2 touchdowns. The LSU running attack was led by Derrius Guice (161 rushing yards in the game) and Leonard Fournette (158 yards rushing yards in the game), both with a touchdown each.

Before that, it was an October 13th, 2012 matchup between the Tigers and Gamecocks, another LSU win. That game had a 23-21 final and was a massive matchup between the undefeated 3rd ranked Gamecocks and the 9th ranked LSU Tigers. South Carolina was coming off a huge 35-7 win over the 5th ranked Georgia Bulldogs. LSU was led by a breakout performance from a Freshman running back; Jeremy Hill ran for 124 yards and two touchdowns. The LSU receiving core was pretty amazing, led by Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr...even though it was a tough night for the duo. Neither scored, and they only had 6 catches between them. Most of that was due to quarterback Zach Mettenberger having a very inconsistent night. After the game, LSU coach Les Miles dropped his catchphrase "That was the place where opponents' dreams come to die". South Carolina Coach, the legendary Steve Spurrier, didn't make excuses after the game, just pointed out there was a reason LSU came into the 2012 season at the top ranked team in the country.

All of those games were played in Baton Rouge. To find the last time LSU went to Columbia, South Carolina to play football, you have to go all the way back to 2008.

On October 18th, 2008, the LSU Tigers went to South Carolina and beat the Gamecocks 24-17. See how many of these names you remember from LSU history...The leading passer was Jarrett Lee who threw for 189 yards and no touchdowns. The leading rushers were Keiland Williams and Charles Scott, and the leading receivers were Demetrius Byrd and Brandon LaFell. The defense was getting a boost from Freshman defensive back Patrick Peterson.

That's how rare this trip to South Carolina is for the LSU Tigers. You have to go all the way back to Patrick Peterson's Freshman year to find the last time the Tigers made this trip.