LSU has no time to lick its wounds with No. 3 Gamecocks coming up

• After losing to Florida on Saturday, LSU welcomes now-No. 3 South Carolina
• South Carolina destroyed Georgia 35-7
• LSU QB Zach Mettenberger was 11 of 25 passing vs. Florida

BATON ROUGE - Perhaps now, LSU may welcome a Towson or a North Texas.

But the Tigers, who complained of a light schedule hurting their motivation earlier this season, now await the arrival of No. 3 South Carolina for a 7 p.m. game Saturday in Tiger Stadium.

The Gamecocks (6-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) are coming off a 35-7 demolition of No. 5 Georgia on Saturday. LSU (5-1, 1-1 SEC) lost 14-6 at No. 11 Florida on Saturday and fell from No. 3 to No. 8.

"Coldcocked," said the headline in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday morning about South Carolina's win. The Gamecocks terrorized Georgia's struggling defense for 402 yards, including 230 on the ground. They were up 21-0 in the first quarter on two touchdown passes by quarterback Connor Shaw and a 70-yard punt return by Ace Sanders.

This is may be Spurrier's best team in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks are No. 2 in the SEC in scoring defense and rush, No. 3 in total defense and Shaw is No. 1 in the league in passing efficiency.

LSU, meanwhile, has scored one touchdown in eight quarters of SEC play this season.

"There's still certainly a lot we can accomplish as a team," LSU coach Les Miles said. "I can't imagine this will be a group of men that will not be ready to go to work on Monday."

Miles will have to come up with a way to protect quarterback Zach Mettenberger from South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who is second in the SEC with 6.5 sacks on the season. Mettenberger was dropped four times on Saturday and was 0-for-13 on third down conversions as he completed just 11 of 25 passes for 158 yards with an interception.

There were some key drops, though, and a fumble by wide receiver Odell Beckham after catching a well thrown, 56-yard bomb from Mettenberger. Had Beckham held on, LSU would have been in range to take the lead as it trailed 7-6 at the time in the third quarter.

"I think Mettenberger - minus one throw (the interception) - played pretty well," Miles said. "I think he managed the situation better. He can make the throws. I think we can protect better than we did certainly. I saw at least two breakdowns that were absolute mistakes."

Defensive coordinator John Chavis, meanwhile, will have to try to stop South Carolina tailback Marcus Lattimore, who gained 109 yards in the Georgia win and has 549 yards on the season. Florida tailback Mike Gillislee gained 146 yards on 34 carries Saturday, including 112 on 12 carries in the second half.

"They kind of wore us down in the second half," defensive end Barkevious Mingo said. It was the exact opposite last season when LSU beat Florida 41-11.

"This is a different feeling," Mingo said. "This is a feeling that we don't want to have again. We need to work on those things that are stopping us from being a dominant team. We have a lot of work to do. We're making too many mistakes. We're not a different team. We're still the same team. We've just got to work on coming together."

ANOTHER SERIOUS INJURY: LSU continues to lose starters in an injury plagued season. The latest is true freshman outside linebacker Kwon Alexander, who started the last two games. Alexander left the Florida game with an apparent ankle injury, and there were reports that he broke the ankle and may be lost for the season.

LSU has already lost starting left tackle Chris Faulk and starting tailback Alfred Blue for the season due to knee injuries. And on Saturday, starting right guard Josh Williford left the game with an apparent concussion.