LSU freshman Jeremy Hill scored two times in the second half in a win over South Carolina.
The 9th ranked LSU Tigers extended the longest active FBS home winning streak in the nation to 22 straight, with a 23-21 victory over the 3rd ranked South Carolina Gamecocks at Tiger Stadium, before a crowd of 92,734 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Trailing 3-0 late in the first quarter, Jimmy Legree intercepted LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger. Legree returned the pick 70 yards, to set up a Connor Shaw to Ace Sanders 2-yard TD pass, to give the Gamecocks a 7-3 halftime lead.
LSU took a brief lead in the third quarter. Freshman running back Jeremy Hill scored on a 7-yard TD run to make it 10-7 Tigers.
The Gamecocks came right back. Central of Pageland product Justice Cunningham caught a 29-yard pass from Connor Shaw to set up a 2-yard TD run by Marcus Lattimore. South Carolina took a 14-10 lead.
LSU countered with a pair of Drew Alleman field goals in the fourth quarter to take a 16-14 lead. Hill iced the game on a 50 yard TD run with 5:03 remaining.
The LSU defense bottled up Lattimore, holding the Heisman Trophy candidate to just 35 rushing yards on 13 carries. South Carolina had only 34 net yards on the ground against a stout Tigers defense that allowed just 211 total yards.
LSU's offense dominated time of possession, holding the ball 36:57 to just 23:03 for South Carolina. The Tigers rolled up 406 yards of total offense, most of it on the ground.
The Gamecocks pulled within two points with 1:41 left in the game. Shaw threw a short TD pass to Bruce Ellington. South Carolina got the ball back with 35 ticks left on the clock, but LSU's Craig Loston picked off a Shaw pass on the final play of the game.
Darlington High grad Victor Hampton had one of his most productive games at South Carolina, registering 10 tackles.
South Carolina falls to 6-1 overall, 4-1 in the SEC. LSU improves to 6-1 overall, 2-1 in the SEC. Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier said, "Tonight I realized why LSU was a pre-season number one."
