ESPN FPI Predicts Outcome of LSU Football vs. South Carolina Gamecocks in Week 7

No. 11 LSU (4-1, 1-1 SEC) will square off against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium with an opportunity to bounce back from the program's Week 5 loss.

After opening the 2025 season with four consecutive wins, Brian Kelly and Co. dropped an SEC matchup to the Ole Miss Rebels with the Bayou Bengals looking to bounce back.

"Our defense is playing well, and in particular, you just look to the Ole Miss game where we did not play efficiently enough offensively to start the game," Kelly said on Monday,

"In the first half, got ourselves behind and then played well in the second half and had an opportunity to win the game. You can't leave yourself open to the last play of the game, the last series of the game, a key stop.

"We just need to play a complete game where our offense complements our defense and special teams. That hasn't shown itself yet, but it will. We've worked hard on that. Our players have committed to that, and now we'll get an opportunity to show ourselves against a really good South Carolina team."

LSU will take on a LaNorris Sellers led South Carolina squad in Week 7 with a challenging task ahead for the defense in order to slow down the dual-threat signal-caller.

Kelly and Co. have seen success in limiting opponents quarterbacks in 2025, but Saturday night at Tiger Stadium presents a unique challenge.

For the Bayou Bengals, the program will be looking to see better quarterback play of their own this weekend from Garrett Nussmeier after a sluggish start to the season.

"He's feeling better, and you know we didn't do a lot with him last week. We wanted to use that as a recovery week. Obviously, he did a lot with VR," Kelly said.

"He stayed involved in everything that we're doing: run game checks, splits checks, things of that nature. But we just cut him down from the throwing.

LSU Tigers Football: Garrett Nussmeier. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Football.

"Obviously, we're going to go out today. We'll get a bonus day in terms of being able to practice today, so our expectation after talking to him is he feels good, and he's ready to go."

With an SEC showdown ahead, what are the expectations heading into the matchup? We turned to the ESPN Football Power Index to get a better feel for the game.

The ESPN FPI Prediction: LSU Handles Business at Home

According to the ESPN Football Power Index, the LSU Tigers have a 73.0 percent chance of walking out of Tiger Stadium with a victory.

Kelly and Co. enter the matchup as double-digit favorites with an opportunity to make a statement and get back on track with the backend of the schedule arriving.

No. 11 LSU and South Carolina will kickoff at 6:45 p.m. CT from Death Valley on Saturday night with the game live on ABC.

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