Handing out Game Balls to LSU Football's top players in win over South Carolina

The LSU Football team just picked up an incredibly gritty win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in a game that had a ton of buzz as College Gameday made it's first stop in Colombia in ten years. The Tigers won sloppy and that's okay as LSU will continue to correct their mistakes and grow as they build chemistry. While this game was sloppy, a few LSU stars had games worthy of receiving a game ball.

Offense: Caden Durham, Aaron Anderson, and Kyren Lacy

At halftime, it looked like the LSU Football team still couldn't run the football as they had just 41 yards rushing but, there was a clear glaring difference. True Freshman Caden Durham had 32 yards at the half including a massive 26-yard touchdown. In the second half, Durham was electric and broke tackle after tackle finishing the game with 98 yards on 11 carries with a pair of touchdowns adding another yard as a receiver.

Kyren Lacy has been incredible this season but, you can argue that Aaron Anderson has been the best receiver for the LSU Football team. If not for injuries to Chris Hilton Jr and Kyle Parker we likely hardly see Anderson. Instead he's turned in solid performance after solid performance catching five passes for 98 yards in today's game.

Finally, we get to Kyren Lacy whose transformation to wide receiver one has gone seamlessly. Lacy was quiet for most of this game but, when LSU needed him most Garrett Nussmeier gave him a shot and Lacy delivered making a spectacular catch on the sideline to set the Tigers up in the red zone. Lacy finished the day with five catches for 63 yards and a score which is impressive given how stagnant this offense was early on.

Defense: Bradyn Swinson, Sai'vion Jones, Paris Shand, Zy Alexander, and Sage Ryan

We start with the three guys up front as LSU's defensive front provided pressure all day. Bradyn Swinson was the player of the game recording three sacks and a forced fumble late in the game when the defense needed it the most. Sai'vion Jones was right there with Swinson constantly applying pressure forcing a fumble of his own while recording a sack. Paris Shand's numbers won't pop off the page with two tackles and only one for a loss but, he too got after the quarterback and was able to provide the defense with some reps inside after losing Jacobian Guillory last weekend.

This week we saw a swap as Sage Ryan moved to safety while Zy Alexander moved into the starting lineup for LSU. When LSU was trailing early, Alexander made an impressive play picking off a deep pass from LaNorris Sellers keeping points off the board. Sage Ryan got in on the action forcing a turnover of his own landing a strip sack on LaNorris Sellers at the end of the first half helping LSU score points. On the next drive, a Ryan missed tackle did lead to a touchdown but, it was massive for LSU to create a turnover.

Special Teams: Damian Ramos and Aeron Burrell

While LSU missed an extra point it wasn't on Damian Ramos as Slade Roy had the first bad snap of his LSU career. Damian Ramos finished the game 3 for 3 on extra points and made his only field goal attempt from 28 yards out.

When you look at the box score for South Carolina, they had no yards on kick returns. Aeron Burrell did an excellent job keeping South Carolina from attempting a return which helped LSU as you don't want to give up any momentum-changing plays occurring on special teams.

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Note: stats via Stat broadcast