That was fun, wasn’t it?

Well, check that. That was fun for those of us who didn’t have a dog in the LSU-South Carolina fight at Williams-Brice Stadium. For those of you who did have a vested interest, LSU’s 36-33 victory in Columbia was pure torture.

LSU rallied back from a 17-0 deficit, and with a slew of controversial calls down the stretch, it avoided loss No. 2.

Here were 3 takeaways from the thriller in Columbia:

1. That was pure chaos

I mean, goodness gracious. Where should we start? What about the fact that besides LSU overcoming a 3-score deficit, we saw South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers leave the game with an ankle injury. We watched a seemingly phantom pass-interference penalty negate a massive pass play in the middle of the 4th quarter.

And yet, after 5 combined turnovers and a go-ahead LSU touchdown late, South Carolina had a chance to tie the game with a 49-yard field goal attempt. But the kick went wide left and LSU somehow survived.

The Gamecocks had a chance to enter into the AP Top 25, where they’ve only played 3 games since they last hosted College GameDay. But instead, they couldn’t get the breaks down the stretch.

2. LSU found a running back and his name is Caden Durham

Up until Saturday, Durham had 5 carries for 4 yards on his 12 snaps. He was third in the pecking order even after the season-ending injury to John Emery Jr.

But boy, did Durham make a case to be at the top of the LSU backfield.

Durham was exactly what the Tigers needed to take some heat off the LSU passing game. The true freshman had a career high 98 yards and 2 rushing scores. Durham showed the burst with a 26-yard run that jumpstarted the LSU offense after it fell behind 17-0. Meanwhile, Kaleb Jackson and Josh Williams were limited to 17 carries for 47 yards, but it’s worth noting that Williams had LSU’s go-ahead score late.

By day’s end, it was clear — Brian Kelly would be wise to make Durham the bell-cow back moving forward.

3. LSU now will be unbeaten in SEC play until … mid-October?

Wait, how is that possible?

Well, LSU faces UCLA next week, then it has a bye and it’ll face South Alabama to round out nonconference play. So a 1-0 mark in SEC play will be good until at least Oct. 12, which will be the showdown against Ole Miss in Death Valley.

LSU certainly has its issues to correct, with those 2 favorable matchups on the way, there’s fairly good chance that LSU and Ole Miss are playing in a game with major 12-team Playoff stakes.