Losing or record or not, there’s still a banner hanging in Death Valley with “2019 national champions” stitched onto it.

And, if the Gamecocks happen to forget that as they head down to LSU this weekend to take on the Tigers, it could result in snapping their two-game win streak.

“They are the defending national champions. That’s a fact regardless of if you look at it in that way or not. They have talent,” Brad Johnson said. “They have guys that can make plays, but so do we. We have to step up this week and play every game like it’s a nameless, faceless opponent. We have to attack regardless of what team.”

And looking at LSU’s body of work through three games, it’d be easy to get sucked into the moment.

After a historic 15-0 season last year culminating in a national championship, the Tigers haven’t looked good defensively, dropping games to Mississippi State and Missouri with the only win this season coming over Vanderbilt, 41-7 in Week 2.

Most of the struggles come on the defensive side of the ball with the Tigers giving up point totals of 44 and 41 points in their two losses.

Offensively LSU is 15th nationally in points per game at 38.7 but are starting a true freshman at quarterback instead of Myles Brennan, who’s injured.

Despite the record, the Tigers have talent and the Gamecocks know that. They understand if they take LSU lightly they could ultimately lose.

They’re definitely national champions, so we have to respect that. It makes it that much more of a game, that much more exciting the fact they just won a national championship,” Deshaun Fenwick said. “It would be nice to beat a national championship team at home at one of the best stadiums in college football.”

This week Will Muschamp has emphasized that and knows this could be a trap game for the Gamecocks if they don’t take care of business during the week.

When asked if he’s concerned about players not taking LSU seriously this week, Muschamp was quick to put those worries to bed.

“We don’t need to worry about anything. We need to worry about preparing extremely well for a very good LSU team,” he said. “I would be shocked if anyone in our locker room feels that way.”

While this week is pretty pivotal for LSU needing a win to avoid its third loss, it’s just as important for South Carolina.

A win Saturday would mean the first three-game win streak since and the first time the Gamecocks started 3-2 in the SEC since 2017.

“We view them as the next team on the schedule,” John Dixon said. “We’re going to do what we have to do Saturday to get another win.”