South Carolina football is hosting the LSU Tigers this Saturday and will be looking to advance to 3-0 on the season, while hosting ESPN’s College Gameday in Columbia.
The Daily Gamecock spoke with Jason Willis, the sports editor of LSU’s The Reveille, to discuss the upcoming matchup between the Gamecocks and Tigers. Kickoff is set for noon at Williams-Brice Stadium, and the game will be broadcast on ABC.
The Daily Gamecock: What are your impressions of LSU football up to this point?
Willis: “It’s hard not to be disappointed so far, given the expectations that a lot of people have for LSU ... The first game obviously, they underestimated (the University of Southern California), and in that second game, you can kind of argue they also underestimated Nicholls State, because that was a pretty tight game for the first two quarters and change ...
"I think inside, there’s still confidence that they can be what they thought they could be at the beginning of the year. But it would be hard not to kind of change your expectations from a national title contending team to just a solid year. I feel like it’s definitely time to lower expectations a little.”
What are your biggest concerns with LSU ahead of the matchup with South Carolina?
“I would say in the trenches would probably be what I go with, just because (LSU has) this stunning lack of ability to run the ball so far, even though our offensive line is supposed to be one of the best in the country ... It was the case against (the University of Southern California), which I guess is a good defense this year ... but Nicholls State, when we can’t run the ball against them, that’s kind of when it becomes a concern. On the flip of the same coin, we couldn’t stop the run against Nicholls State. You know, and it's Nicholls State, it's a team that you’re supposed to have a talent advantage over and so to not be able to kind of push them around however you want, it’s disappointing."
How big of a loss is fifth-year defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory to the defensive front?
“I think Brian Kelly said today in his press conference, ‘We’re not going to replace what Guillory brings, from a run-stopping standpoint because he’s a huge body, and we don’t have many huge bodies on the defensive line' ... He was kind of making the point that we're not going to replace it with that same skill set. We're going to lean more into other skill sets we have ... They're going to be trying to lean more into what their strengths are now without Guillory. It could definitely hurt the run defense.”
Is Garrett Nussmeier worth the hype or sufficient enough to replace the likes of Jayden Daniels?
“I feel like a lot of people had ridiculously high expectations coming into the season for Nussmeier, like people saying he’s going to be a Heisman contending quarterback. I never really saw that, but so far, what we’ve seen is incredibly efficient, and that’s really all that we need him to be. The problem here with Nussmeier was always going to be his gunslinging nature. Can we get him to reign that in while also being aggressive enough to make big plays? So far, they definitely reigned it in, because he’s taking a lot of check downs, going through his progressions, but you’re not really seeing those big plays. So I'd say so far, it definitely looks like he can run a good offense ... I’m sure LSU is more than happy with what he’s given them so far.”
Is there anything else you would like to add about your expectation for LSU? Maybe a player to look out for?
“I would say (sophomore) cornerback Ashton Stamps is the guy you should look out for because last year he was kind of just settling into as a true freshman, and he only got three starts. Now he’s the number one corner, he’s taken a lot of strides, he’s definitely the most physical corner we have ... So if anyone is going to shake things up on the defense, then it's probably going to be Ashton Stamps.”
Score prediction?
“I think it will be lower-scoring than people think. Probably 23-17 LSU. That's my guess.”