Leonard Fournette vs. South Carolina: Stats, Highlights and Reaction

Use whatever word you would like. Whether it be mastery, command, domination or superiority, there's no denying that LSU Tigers running back Leonard Fournette has taken college football by storm this season. 

Entering his fifth contest of the year Saturday against the South Carolina Gamecocks, the sophomore had recorded three consecutive games in which he rushed for over 200 yards. 

The Gamecocks proved to be Fournette's next victim. Here's a look at his stats from LSU's 45-24 win Saturday:

Attempts	Yards	Average	Long	TD	Receptions	Yards
20	158	7.9	87	1	3	25

It was a slow start for Fournette, who recorded just 59 yards in the first half. Of course, if he had replicated that output in the second half, he would have finished the day with 118 rushing yards, a number many running backs would take.

But when speaking about Fournette, who has been bruising his way through defenses all season, that number seems low. Luckily for college football fans, he didn't stay quiet for long. 

On his second touch of the second half, Fournette came alive, as ESPN showed:

The 87-yard score not only put LSU up 24-10, but it also put Fournette over the 1,000-yard mark for the season in less than five full games. According to LSU's official Twitter account, he is the fastest Tigers player to reach 1,000 yards in school history and officially has 1,022 through five complete games.

Also catching passes out of the backfield, Fournette had 183 total yards, compared to South Carolina's 189, by the end of the third quarter. His performance had Bleacher Report's Matt Miller on the cusp of breaking his personal rules:

As a sophomore, Fournette is not eligible for the NFL draft until 2017, something that Newsweek's John Walters called "un-American."

Fournette did not see much time on the field after the third quarter as LSU's win was in hand. As a result, he was unable to reach the 200-yard mark for the fourth consecutive game. He would've been the first FBS player to do so since Matt Forte at Tulane in 2007, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Fournette's time on the sideline also ensured that he wouldn't end the game as LSU's leading rusher. Freshman Derrius Guice came in and recorded 164 yards on 17 carries. 

Even though it's just Week 6 of the college football season, it already seems like we are watching the coronation of Fournette's Heisman Trophy-winning year. With six games remaining on LSU's schedule, it might not be far-fetched to start thinking about Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record of 2,628 yards in 1988.

Stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.