BATON ROUGE, La. — South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore has earned the reputation as being one of the greatest closers in college football.
The former Byrnes star has been counted on time-and-time again to carry USC to victories down the stretch, putting the offense on his back and leading the Gamecocks to victory.
Saturday night at LSU, the Gamecocks appeared primed to run their horse down the stretch once again.
USC held a 14-10 third-quarter lead and took over at its own 42 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter but Lattimore didn't get a carry.
In fact, Lattimore didn't get a carry the rest of the game, rushing just three times for 10 yards and a touchdown in the second half, all in the third quarter, as the Gamecocks fell 23-21.
The junior finished with just 13 carries for 35 yards and a score. The Gamecocks have never lost when Lattimore gets at least 20 carries.
“He didn't get many (carries). He didn't make many yards when he got it early. Obviously you can go back, ‘We should've called this, we should've called that,' ” South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier said.
USC had the chance to ride Lattimore again early in the fourth quarter, taking over at its own 25-yard line with 10 minutes remaining. Instead, Connor Shaw threw three passes, the third of which was intercepted and returned deep into USC territory to set up a Tigers field goal that gave them a 16-14 lead.
Lattimore said after the game the Gamecocks' abandoned the run because there wasn't a whole lot of room.
“It just wasn't there, we had to try something different, so it's all good,” he said.
Shaw said the inability to establish a running game was one of the keys.
“The beat us. They ran it and we couldn't run it, that was probably the big difference in the game,” Shaw said. “I think it was tough. We couldn't really establish (the run) early on. They came out very physical.”
Lattimore said the LSU defensive line was doing a good job of closing the running lanes.
“Just a good D-line, one of the best D-lines we've seen,” Lattimore said. “We've just got to keep working. We've just got to keep working and we'll be all right,” Lattimore said.
The junior said despite the loss he expects the team to bounce back and be ready to play next week at Florida.
“It's tough. I can't hang my head down because we've done great. We've done great the whole season. It's just a setback for us. We're going to go to practice and get better.”
Link: http://www.goupstate...etter?p=1&tc=pg
The former Byrnes star has been counted on time-and-time again to carry USC to victories down the stretch, putting the offense on his back and leading the Gamecocks to victory.
Saturday night at LSU, the Gamecocks appeared primed to run their horse down the stretch once again.
USC held a 14-10 third-quarter lead and took over at its own 42 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter but Lattimore didn't get a carry.
In fact, Lattimore didn't get a carry the rest of the game, rushing just three times for 10 yards and a touchdown in the second half, all in the third quarter, as the Gamecocks fell 23-21.
The junior finished with just 13 carries for 35 yards and a score. The Gamecocks have never lost when Lattimore gets at least 20 carries.
“He didn't get many (carries). He didn't make many yards when he got it early. Obviously you can go back, ‘We should've called this, we should've called that,' ” South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier said.
USC had the chance to ride Lattimore again early in the fourth quarter, taking over at its own 25-yard line with 10 minutes remaining. Instead, Connor Shaw threw three passes, the third of which was intercepted and returned deep into USC territory to set up a Tigers field goal that gave them a 16-14 lead.
Lattimore said after the game the Gamecocks' abandoned the run because there wasn't a whole lot of room.
“It just wasn't there, we had to try something different, so it's all good,” he said.
Shaw said the inability to establish a running game was one of the keys.
“The beat us. They ran it and we couldn't run it, that was probably the big difference in the game,” Shaw said. “I think it was tough. We couldn't really establish (the run) early on. They came out very physical.”
Lattimore said the LSU defensive line was doing a good job of closing the running lanes.
“Just a good D-line, one of the best D-lines we've seen,” Lattimore said. “We've just got to keep working. We've just got to keep working and we'll be all right,” Lattimore said.
The junior said despite the loss he expects the team to bounce back and be ready to play next week at Florida.
“It's tough. I can't hang my head down because we've done great. We've done great the whole season. It's just a setback for us. We're going to go to practice and get better.”
Link: http://www.goupstate...etter?p=1&tc=pg
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