Baton Rouge, LA (Sports Network) - Jacob Hester had a career-high 88 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown as second-ranked LSU earned a 28-16 victory over 12th-ranked South Carolina.

Matt Flynn went 8-for-19 with just 70 yards with a touchdown and an interception while Trindon Holliday had six carries for 73 yards and a score for the Tigers (4-0, 2-0 SEC), who had outscored their opponents, 137-7, heading into the contest.

"Considering it was a quality opponent, I thought our team played pretty well," said LSU coach Les Miles. "We had to deal with adverse conditions. As we continued to have bad weather, we went through the last two quarters with our footing a little shaky. I thought the defense played extremely well early on."

Chris Smelley went 12-for-26 for 174 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Gamecocks (3-1, 1-1 SEC).

"We didn't play well enough to beat LSU, and they are a big, strong team that obviously controls the line of scrimmage," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. "We couldn't run the ball very well at all. We finally hit a few passes."

After exchanging a pair of punts, South Carolina took the lead. On 3rd-and-16, Blake Mitchell connected with Mike Davis on a 21-yard play. Davis capped off the 12-play, 67-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead with 2:46 left in the first.

The Tigers, though, immediately responded on the fourth play of their ensuing possession when Holliday burst for a 33-yard touchdown run with just 1:18 left in the first.

After recovering a fumble from the Gamecocks on their next possession, LSU grabbed the lead on a nine-play, 67-yard drive as Flynn found Richard Dickinson in the end zone from a yard out for a 14-7 lead.

Towards the end of the first half, LSU drove down the field, but stalled at the South Carolina 16. The team lined up for the field goal and Flynn knelt and received the snap, then flipped the ball over his head toward Colt David, who raced down the right side and into the end zone for a 21-7 lead heading into the locker room.

"We were looking for a first down," said Miles. "We would have liked to have gotten the first down and march down the middle without having to use that play to score. It was there and certainly it was executed very well by (Matt) Flynn and Colt David."

In the third quarter, LSU stopped South Carolina on fourth down to get the ball back and then upped its lead. On 3rd-and-1, Hester punched the ball into the end zone on a nine-yard run for a 28-7 lead with 6:45 left in the third.

The Gamecocks turned the ball over on their next two possessions as Smelley was intercepted and the team turned the ball over on downs early in the fourth quarter.

Chris Hampton picked off a Flynn pass in LSU territory to give the Gamecocks good field position, but the team stalled at the six-yard line and a 23-yard field goal from Ryan Succop made it a 28-10 game with 7:44 to play.

South Carolina kept fighting and cut further into its deficit late in the game as Smelley hit Kenny McKinley in the back of the end zone on a one-yard score. However, the two-point conversion failed and it was a 28-16 game with 1:41 to play.

LSU, though, recovered the ensuing onside kick and killed the remainder of the clock.