BATON ROUGE, La. - Nobody is claiming that Perry Orth's march to the Heisman Trophy started Saturday in Tiger Stadium, or even that he's necessarily the long-term solution to USC's search for a quarterback.
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But the former walk-on sophomore from Ponda Verde, Florida, had his moments in the Gamecocks' 45-24 loss to LSU. And several of those moments came in the third quarter.
When the Tigers first two second-half possessions expanded a 17-10 halftime edge into a 31-10 bulge, Orth jump-started the Gamecock offense. His two completions on the next drive totaled 58 yards, the last 36 of them to tight end Jerell Adams, who ran through safety Jamal Adams' tackle attempt to score. It was the second touchdown of the season for both the passer and the target, having previously hooked up in the Kentucky game.
When LSU scored again on its next possession, the Orth-led Gamecocks struck back, with two completions, the last allowing Pharoh Cooper's speed to take it 43 yards for Carolina's final score of the day. For the quarter, he was 5-of-7 for 132 yards and two scoers.
On USC's opening drive, when Orth dropped one over Cooper's shoulder to the sideline, leading to Elliott Fry's 21-yard field goal. Orth, who played all but Carolina's final possession, finished 14-of-28 for 200 yards, two TDs and one interception.
"They showed what they had been running on film today," Orth said. "I missed some passes early, but the third quarter, they were just short, easy passes. The one to Jerrell, it was just reading the middle linebacker, and he came down on an under route and Jerell was wide open. I threw a 2-yard route to Pharoh, and he did the rest. It's awesome having guys like that. It was just short, easy passes that helped me get comfortable."
Orth entered the contest 23-of-47 for 283 yards, a TD and two interceptions in five games. It had not gone especially well in his only other start, a 52-20 loss at Georgia, when he was 6-of-17 for 66 yards and was pulled in favor of freshman Lorenzo Nunez after throwing a second-half interception.
Nunez got the lion's share of the action in the Central Florida and Missouri games, but injured his throwing shoulder last week at Missouri.
"He made a lot of good plays … for a walk-on kid, made some good passes in the second half," USC coach Steve Spurrier said.
Having been coy on the subject leading into the LSU game - naming Orth the starter, but suggesting Nunez might see action - Spurrier indicated Orth will almost certainly start and play without looking over his shoulder next week against Vanderbilt.
"Nunez couldn't even raise his arm this week, so I doubt if he'll be able to throw next week."
Orth doesn't wish that fate on his teammate, but he enjoyed being in a game in which he was counted on from start until the outcome was decided.
"It was awesome," he said. "I'm not sure how long Lorenzo is going to be out for. It was nice to get a full game and let me try to attempt to get in a rhythm. We came out hot on the first drive and couldn't punch it in, and then kind of stalled a little bit. But when we got the ball back in the second half and started going back to the things that were working originally, and coach called a good game. We executed the first drive and the third quarter as well."
Though Orth will never make Gamecock fans forget Connor Shaw, Orth also showed some nice footwork, scrambling for 11 yards to convert a third-down in USC's opening drive, and made a 9-yard run up the middle in the fourth quarter.
"That's one thing I worked on this offseason a lot was my speed and athletic ability just for plays like that," he said. "I know I'm not going to be called upon to do sweeps and all that stuff, but on scramble plays I'm capable of getting 10 yards and getting the first down."