Gamer: Ole Miss loses early lead and Tigers come roaring back to win, 45-20
BATON ROUGE, La. – Unfortunately, the Lane Train has a brakeman.
For the second consecutive week, Ole Miss took a commanding early lead only to see it evaporate. While at home, the Rebels were able to hold on against Auburn last week but Saturday at Tiger Stadium, Ole Miss could not hold off LSU as the Rebs took their first loss, 45-20.
Ole Miss falls to 7-1, LSU improves to 6-2 and seems to be on a roll.
“We’ve got to regroup,” Rebels’ head coach Lane Kiffin said postgame.
“Give them credit, those guys played really well. I thought their QB played great. (You) can’t come in and lose the turnover points and give up 35 first downs in the game….We have a loss like a lot of people in the country. So we don’t have time to sit around and mope. We’ve got to go play another group of elite players at a very hard place to play next week.“
Coach Kiffin on the Rebels’ first loss of the season
Ole Miss scored touchdowns on its first two drives but did not see the end zone again in the game.
After falling behind 17-3, LSU outscored the Rebels 42-3 and was held scoreless in the second half.
But early, it was all going the visitor’s way.
First-half action
It only took five plays for Ole Miss to get on the scoreboard. With LSU expecting a heavy dose of runs, the Rebels took to the air in the initial drive, highlighted by a 37-yard connection between Jaxson Dart and Jonathan Mingo to set the Rebels up at the LSU 1.
After a penalty, Quinshon Judkins sprinted up the middle for the six-yard touchdown. Jonathan Cruz nailed the conversion and Ole Miss led 7-0 with barely a minute and a half melting off the clock.
LSU’s first drive was equally impressive, but more methodical than the Rebels’ first possession. The Tigers drove down the field deep into Ole Miss territory, but after a 12-play, 69-yard march, had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Damian Ramos to cut the lead to 7-3.
The Rebels drove 75 yards on the next possession for another touchdown aided by a pair of LSU pass interference penalties. Judkins again had the honors, this time scoring from the three and after Cruz nailed the kick, Ole Miss led 14-3.
LSU drove down the field on the ensuing possession, but on this trip into Rebels’ territory, Ramos missed a 42-yard field goal attempt to the right to preserve the score.
On the next possession, Ole Miss was having the same success it had earlier, but the drive bogged down. On the first play of the second quarter, Cruz nailed a 32-yard field goal to increase the lead to 17-3.
The Tigers got into the end zone on their next possession. LSU was able to drive 75 yards in just five plays to a 34-yard scoring strike from Jayden Daniels to Jaray Jenkins. Ramos’ kick closed the gap to 17-10.
Trouble began brewing on the next Ole Miss drive. After Dart missed a wide-open Mingo behind the Tigers’ defense, he scrambled up the middle on a third-and-long not only to be stopped short, but to appear to hurt himself on the play, but not seriously.
Ole Miss punted on the next play.
Seven plays later, Daniels sprinted into the end zone and Ramos nailed the kick and the game was tied midway through the second quarter.
Kiffin was asked about the cause of the Rebels’ defensive woes.
“Lot of things, missed tackles, we got pushed around, had some injuries out there during the game….we didn’t do a lot right defensively…”
Coach Kiffin on the Ole Miss defense against LSU
Ole Miss had a drive going after the kickoff, but a costly penalty and a sack forced the Rebels to settle for a Cruz 48-yard field goal to regain the lead, 20-17 with just over four minutes left in the first half.
That score held at the half and from there the game belonged to the Tigers.
Second-half action
On its second possession of the third quarter, LSU took the lead. After taking the ball at midfield after a short punt, the Tigers moved the ball to the two after a pass interference call against Miles Battle. Three plays later, Mason Taylor caught a one-yard pass and after the kick, the Tigers led 24-20.
Ole Miss was primed to counter on the next drive, but deep in Tiger Territory, Dart was pressured into a bad pass that Joe Foucha intercepted in the end zone to kill the threat.
LSU scored on the ensuing drive to take a double-digit lead, 31-20, and essentially put the game on ice.
Daniels added another touchdown – his third of the day – to put LSU ahead 38-20 lead halfway through the fourth quarter. To put the final nail in the coffin, the Tigers scored a touchdown with less than three minutes left to provide the final margin.
Ole Miss allowed an even 500 yards in the game, with Daniels accounting for 248 through the air and another 121 on the ground. The Rebels amassed 404 total yards.
Dart finished 19-of-34 for 284 yards with no touchdowns and a costly interception.
Judkins ran for 111 yards and a pair of scores.
Ole Miss looks to rebound next week as the Rebels travel to Texas A&M.
“It’s one loss,” Kiffin commented after the game.
“Even though the score was lopsided at the end, it’s still one loss. They don’t give two losses in a game. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Go back and get to 1-0 next week.“
Coach Kiffin
(Feature image credit: Ole Miss Football)
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
