The worst SEC loss of Will Muschamp's tenure is officially in the books.
South Carolina lost 52-24 Saturday night in Baton Rouge, seeing a two-game win streak come to an end against a team starting a true freshman quarterback and plenty of defensive struggles.
With the loss the Gamecocks limp into the bye week, but before that it's time to hand out this week's report card.
Quarterback: D-
On the surface Collin Hill's stat line looks at minimum decently serviceable: completed over 50 percent of his passes, connected on a few big plays and averaged 10.6 yards per attempt. But, watching the game it was clear to see he struggled and looking deeper at the numbers proves that.
Also see: What Will Muschamp said postgame
Taking away the two longest throws of the night—passes of 57 and 44 yards to Keveon Mullins—Hill averaged a strictly average 6.7 yards per attempt. He'd also get sacked five times and a few of those were on him holding the ball too long.
Running back: A
This was an absolute bright spot offensively as the Gamecocks' run game continues to bulldoze through people. Kevin Harris averaged 10.5 yards on 12 carries and scored two more times Saturday, including on 45-yarder and Deshaun Fenwick averaged seven yards per carry.
Take out the sack yardage (five for 26 yards) and the Gamecocks averaged 9.3 yards per carry.
Wide receivers/tight ends: C+
Mullins had a phenomenal day, catching two passes for 101 yards, as did Shi Smith (two catches for 68 yards) but the group continues to struggle and find other guys who can consistently help.
Fenwick and Harris were the team's third and fourth-leading rushers and the rest of the pass-catching group outside of Mullins and Smith caught four balls for 33 yards and a touchdown, a five-yarder to Josh Vann in garbage time.
Also see: Instant analysis from Saturday's loss
Offensive line: D+
This is a double-edge sword here because the offensive line was really good run blocking, paving the way for 169 yards on the ground (almost 200 without sack yardage) but did allow 10 pressures on Hill and five sacks.
Since the offense really struggled to get going in the passing game, the offensive line's grade dips because of it.
Defensive line: F
Rush defense has worried Will Muschamp for three weeks now and it all came to a head Saturday. The interior line got pushed around and bounced out of gaps as LSU rushed for 276 yards (5.1 yards per carry) and three touchdowns.
The line also struggled to get any pressure on true freshman TJ Finley with only two tackles for loss Saturday.
Linebackers: C-
Goodness gracious, Ernest Jones is good and he's the primary reason the grade is so high. Jones put together a great game, racking up 19 tackles and half a tackle for loss but teh rest of the linebacker corps struggled in both the run and pass games.
Jahmar Brown did have six tackles, and that's an encouraging sign.
Also see: Insider notes from this week's baseball scrimmage
Secondary: D
Israel Mukuamu had an interception and returned it for 56 yards, and that's why this grade is so high. The secondary made a true freshman quarterback look like a Heisman contender.
Finley completed all but four of his 21 passes, averaged 12.1 yards per attempt and threw two touchdowns while rushing for another. Giving up plays defined the secondary again and it cost them.
Special teams: F
After a few early-season struggles, it looked like the Gamecock special teams turned a corner only to have it take a few steps back Saturday night. The good: Kai Kroeger had 50 yards on his only punt of the night. The bad: Parker White missed three field goals and the Gamecocks allowed a massively momentum-swinging kick return for a touchdown after bringing the game within two scores.
Coaching: D
A lot will get made of not going to another quarterback, especially when the game got out of hand, but there were a few other coaching decisions that ended up being questionable.
Muschamp opted to kick field goals twice, both times down 21 points. The thought process being, apparently, to go from three scores down to, well, three scores down still.
It was baffling and, after a big win last week, getting blown out by 28 points to a 1-2 team has to fall back on the coaching staff.