One of South Carolina’s most exciting plays Saturday was illegal, LSU’s Brian Kelly says

The Southeastern Conference office will be hearing from Brian Kelly this week.

The LSU football coach said he’ll contact the league office about a blocked punt that went against his team Saturday during the Tigers’ 36-33 win over South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium.

The play in question happened during the second quarter with South Carolina leading 10-0. LSU’s Peyton Todd dropped back to punt and Gamecocks tight end Maurice Brown went up the middle of the Tigers’ line and then jumped between and over two LSU players to block the punt. USC’s Buddy Mack scooped the ball up and returned it 16 yards to the Tigers’ 10-yard line.

Rocket Sanders scored on the next play, a 10-yard run, to give the Gamecocks a 17-0 lead with 12:39 left in the third quarter.

“The blocked punt, I am going to have to take it up with the SEC office,” Kelly said. “We believe it was an illegal block and we voiced our concern with it. We will address it with the SEC officiating and John McDaid. We believe we have an argument and we will bring it up with them.”

According to the NCAA rulebook, “No defensive player can run forward from beyond the neutral zone and leave his feet or leap into the plane directly above the frame of the body of an opponent to attempt to block a kick or apparent kick on a field goal try. It is not a foul if the player was aligned in a stationary position within one yard of the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped.”

The game featured 22 penalties (13 by South Carolina and nine by LSU). For his part, USC head coach Shane Beamer apologized to fans for the Gamecocks’ 13 penalties but did not directly criticize any calls.

The Tigers also shared concerns over another call that didn’t go their way. LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier had words for the officials after a fumble early in the fourth quarter.

Nussmeier was lined up in the shotgun position when the snap hit him in the facemask. South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart recovered it at the LSU 24. The Gamecocks got a field goal out of the turnover to give them a 33-29 lead.

“I didn’t call for the snap,” said Nussmeier, who finished with 285 yards passing and two touchdowns. “The ball was snapped. It wasn’t on (center) DJ (Chester). Sometimes in football, things are out of your control. I tried to give the refs my sense on what happened. It is what it is.”

Nussmeier was asked if they thought a Gamecock player might have tried to mimic his snap count.

“I’m not going to say that. I don’t want to send out accusations or anything. I don’t know if I could get fined,” he said. “But like I said, mistakes happened and you’ve got to learn from them.”

The Tigers were able to overcome those mistakes and missed opportunities throughout the game. LSU was stopped on fourth down at the USC 1-yard in the third quarter and Nussmeier was picked off with 5:58 left in the game and the Tigers trailing 33-29.

But LSU got the ball back and forced a South Carolina three-and-out. The Tigers drove down and took the lead on Josh Williams’ 2-yard run with 1:12 left.

“Our guys, they aren’t going to give up. That’s in their DNA,” Kelly said. “They aren’t going to let the rope slip and we are going to keep playing.”