LSU planned for both its freshman quarterbacks to have nearly equal opportunities Saturday.

Unless T.J. Finley played so well that coach Ed Orgeron and his staff couldn't take him off the field.

And that's exactly what the Ponchatoula product did Saturday, completing 17 of his 21 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers' 52-24 defeat of South Carolina.

"He was on fire," coach Ed Orgeron smiled. "I was planning on playing T.J. the first quarter and playing Max (Johnson) the second quarter, if I could, and see who the best one was to end the game, but T.J. got hot."

With junior starter Myles Brennan sidelined by a lingering injury, the competition between the two first-year passers for the first snaps in his place overtook LSU's early-season defensive struggles as the week's dominant storyline.

And Finley rose to the occasion enough to carry that trend through a much-needed victory.

"Were we perfect tonight? No," the coach said. "We've got a lot of things still to sure up on defense. Guys were running wide-open. We've still gotta continue to fix it. I thought our pass-rush was outstanding, led by defensive end) B.J. Ojulari. I think he had three sacks. What a tremendous freshman.

"And then we're really proud of T.J."

The offensive line and running game were Finley's best friends in his debut.

Sophomores John Emery Jr. and Tyrion Davis-Price combined to rush 10 times for 50 yards on the game's first possession to begin ramping up easily the team's best rushing performance of the season.

Davis-Price more than doubled his career high with 135 yards on 22 attempts, including a late score, and Emery added 88 yards and a touchdown on 18 touches.

"We just wanted to come out and show that we had a run game for sure," Emery said. "Me and Ty always motivate each other. All the running backs in the room motivate each other. We know we have the abilities. We just have to go on the field and show what we have, so it was great."

Finley completed all three of his passes for 19 yards and barreled the final inches across the goal line to cap the Tigers' 16-play, 75-yard march to open the game.

The freshman connected on 12 of his first 14 passes for 129 yards, distributed among six different receivers, on the Tigers' first three possessions — all scoring drives.

"I had no question about the strength of his arm, but he made great decisions tonight," Orgeron said. "I think that's the thing I was most impressed with. He was not nervous at all."

South Carolina answered the first by torching its hosts for 75-yards in three plays for a game-tying 45-yard dash by Kevin Harris.

The sophomore running back's 146 yards on just 12 carries led a 403-yard Gamecocks' offensive performance that thrived on explosive plays.

Coach Will Muschamp's team gained 320 (79.4 percent) of its total offense on nine plays of 15 yards or more and averaged nearly 12 yards on first downs.

"I knew this going into the game: South Carolina's strength was running the football, and I thought that we could rush the passer," Orgeron said. "And we did. We did a good job of that. But there's still some things that we've gotta sure up — especially in our coverage part."

A five-sack performance, led by Ojulari's three, helped limit South Carolina's consistency, with the Gamecocks finishing just 3-for-10 on third downs.

And LSU, which converted a much improved 8-of-10, capitalized on its opportunities to pull away.

The Tigers had to settle for a 27-yard Cade York on its second possession to regain a 10-7 lead, but would never again lose even a share of its lead.

South Carolina came up short on a 54-yard field goal attempt.

And Finley extended the advantage to 17-7 with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Terrace Marshall Jr., who led the team with 88 receiving yards.

"I entered this contest really relaxed," Finley said. "My quarterback crew did an amazing job supporting me throughout the week. (Offensive coordinator) Steve Ensminger was amazing in prepping me for this game. A lot of preparation went into this game.

"Coach Russ Callaway did an amazing job preparing me for the blitzes, the pressures and things of that nature. So I would say that I didn't have many pregame jitters, but if I did, it was very quick."

Marshall's former high school teammate Israel Mukuamu intercepted Finley early in the second quarter to set up a 45-yard Gamecocks field goal by Parker White.

But five plays later, the Tigers' duo linked up again for a third-down conversion that Marshall then took winding to the end zone for a 51-yard score and 24-10 edge.

"He never blinked," Orgeron smiled again. "T.J. showed us a lot of confidence throughout camp," Orgeron said. "He lost some weight. I thought he did a tremendous job of leading the team today and you see how has a tremendous arm. He can scramble and made some plays on the run and made some good decisions.

"He threw an interception, but we were gonna be patient."

Another true freshman, cornerback Elias Ricks, intercepted quarterback Collin Hill on South Carolina's next possession and returned the ball 45 yards to stretch the margin to 31-10 at halftime.

The Gamecocks scored on their first possession of the third quarter with a 49-yard run by Harris help setting up his eventual 1-yard touchdown.

But Trey Palmer returned the subsequent kickoff 93 yards for LSU's first kickoff return for a touchdown in Tiger Stadium since 1981.

And Davis-Price and Emery capped the next two possessions with scoring runs to blow open a 52-17 rout.

Hill found Josh Vann for a 5-yard touchdown with 7:39 remaining for South Carolina's final touchdown.

"We had to get that nasty gut feeling out of our stomachs," Emery said. "We really needed this win. And for South Carolina to beat Auburn and us to beat South Carolina, it's a huge confidence boost for us going into Auburn week. And it just was an important week, and we stayed focus as a team."