COLUMBIA, S.C. — In his first collegiate start, quarterback Stephen Garcia couldn't deliver South Carolina a victory over 13th-ranked Louisiana State but he might have provided a glimpse of the Gamecocks future.

Louisiana State used a pair of grinding second-half touchdown drives to escape noisy Williams-Brice Stadium with a 24-17 victory tonight.

It was a disappointing near miss for the Gamecocks against an LSU team that had been ranked No. 4 in the country before a lopsided loss at Florida a week earlier.

Having won four in a row, including consecutive SEC road wins at Mississippi and Kentucky, South Carolina (5-3, 2-3) couldn't finish it off against LSU (5-1, 3-1) despite leading at half time.

Midway through the fourth quarter, however, LSU churned through the South Carolina defense, taking 11 plays to cover 83 yards for the decisive touchdown, a 2-yard Charles Scott run with 4 minutes, 16 seconds left for a 24-17 lead.

Frustrated by the inability of Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley to energize the South Carolina offense, coach Steve Spurrier handed the offense to his redshirt freshman, whose young career had been speckled with off the field incidents.

Garcia emerged in the Gamecocks' victory at Kentucky a week ago, providing an offensive spark that had been largely missing this season.

Though he was erratic in his decision making and threw a critical fourth-quarter interception, Garcia gave the Gamecocks a presence at quarterback.

He kept the LSU defense on edge with his ability to run and showed an ability to improvise when necessary.

Garcia completed 14 of 26 passes for 215 yards with one touchdown and one interception. It was offset by the fact South Carolina managed just 39 yards rushing. The Tigers took advantage of Garcia's relative inexperience, also, sacking him six times. LSU had nine sacks entering the game.

LSU tied the game 17-17 with a strong third-quarter drive against the nation's third-ranked defense. Doing most of their damage through the air, the Tigers scored with 44 seconds remaining in the third quarter on a 7-yard pass from quarterback Andrew Hatch to Richard Dickson.

The Gamecocks hit the Tigers with a pair of stinging punches late in the first half to go from trailing to a 17-10 lead at the break.

It began after LSU had taken a 10-3 lead late in the second quarter. South Carolina answered with its first touchdown of the game, using a 41-yard pass completion from Garcia to Kenny McKinley to set up the score.

Garcia found tight end Wesley Sanders wide open for a 26-yard touchdown pass with 2:38 remaining in the half.