Gamer: Ole Miss falls on the road to LSU in OT, 29-26
BATON ROUGE –Ole Miss lost a gut-wrenching game to LSU Saturday night, 29-26, in over time in Baton Rouge.
“We didn’t make plays in the end, but give them credit, too,” head coach Lane Kiffin said after the game.
“Up until that last drive in regulation, we led the whole game, until the last 30 seconds. They made really good plays, like the scramble play, fourth down conversions. We should’ve finished it when we had the ball. We had a chance to go up two scores, like the Kentucky game. Much harder situations. Just really disappointed, obviously. We should’ve won that game. We had command of the game for the majority of it.“
Lane Kiffin on the loss
Kiffin knew his team had every chance to win the game.
“(Missed opportunities) catch up when you miss field goals, a 4th-and-1 when we get cut off. Getting stops and getting no points in the red zone. We handed them some points with a fumble and field goal to end the half. That’s why I felt like we were out-playing (them). We were the better team for the majority of the game, but you have to close them out. We left points out there,” he noted.
The Rebels now enter a much-needed bye week, sitting at 5-2 overall and 1-2 SEC. LSU moves to 5-1 and 2-0 in league play.
Ole Miss finished with 464 yards of total offense (284 passing, 180 rushing), but the Rebels were doomed in part by 12 penalties for 110 yards and six sacks on Jaxson Dart that resulted in 33 yards lost.
Here’s what happened in the game.
First-half
LSU won the toss, and Tigers’ head coach Brian Kelly elected to take the ball. The Ole Miss defense proved to be stiff and forced to three and out
Ole Miss’ first drive could have begun with a touchdown; however, it stalled out after a long pass to Tre Harris went in and out of the star receiver’s hands. The Rebel defense then stepped up and forced an LSU punt. Ole Miss marched right back down the field, but Caden Davis missed a 32-yard field goal.
The Ole Miss defense stepped up again. On a quirky play, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier’s pass was tipped by Christopher ‘Pooh’ Paul, Jr. and Rebel lineman Jamarious Brown intercepted the ball deep in Tiger territory. The offense would stall out inside the 5-yard line and Ole Miss turned the ball over on downs.
Yet again, the Ole Miss defense proved stingy, forcing LSU to punt after the Tigers had notched a couple of first downs.
On the ensuing drive, Jaxson Dart hit Tre Harris for a 47-yard pass and the Rebs were back in business. But the drive stalled at the Tigers’ 32-yard line and Caden Davis hit a 49-yarder that gave the visitors from Oxford a 3-0 lead.
LSU marched to the Rebels’ 38 before Suntarine Perkins sniffed out the 4th-down run as the Tigers turned the ball over on downs.
Ole Miss soon found itself in a fourth-and-one situation from midfield. Ulysses Bentley IV, who had been used sparingly all season, found an opening and went 50 yards to score the first touchdown in the game. Ole Miss tacked on the extra point to make it 10-0 Rebels with 8:39 left in the second quarter.
Bentley finished the game as the Rebels’ leading rusher, finishing with 107 yards on 11 attempts, a 9.7-yards-per carry average. Henry Parrish, Jr. tallied 42 yards on 14 carries.
The Tigers bounced right back, going 75 yards as Nussmeier hit Green for a 12-yard touchdown that cut the score to 10-7 in favor of Ole Miss with 5:33 before halftime.
Ole Miss promptly marched 75 yards down the field in 4 minutes and 11 seconds. The drive was capped off by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dart to Harris as the receiver made an incredible, acrobatic catch over the LSU defender in the end zone. Ole Miss went up 17-7 with 1:42 before halftime.
The Tigers refused to go away; however, as they marched right back down the field to the Ole Miss 16 and hit a 33-yard field goal that cut the Rebels’ lead to 17-10.
On the ensuing drive, running back Henry Parrish, Jr. fumbled the ball and LSU took over at the Rebels’ 28-yard line with 26 seconds before intermission.
The Tigers took three shots into the end zone but had to ultimately settle for a 45-yard field goal.
Halftime score: Ole Miss 17, LSU 13
Second Half
Coming out of halftime, Ole Miss received the kickoff. Facing a 4th and 1 from the Ole Miss 46, Coach Kiffin rolled the dice as the Rebels went for it — and converted, thanks to defensive lineman JJ Pegues who trucked the defender in the hole and rumbled for five yards and an Ole Miss first down. On first down from the LSU 38, Dart was sacked for a loss of 7 on the play and an unsportsmanlike conduct call was called on Gerquan Scott that further pushed the Rebs back 15 yards. A false start penalty would push Ole Miss back farther and lead to a punt.
LSU began work and picked up a big first down on a 46-yard pass from Nussmeier to Aaron Anderson. The Ole Miss defense tightened up and forced the Tigers to attempt the 46-yard field goal. Damien Ramos’ kick was wide right and Ole Miss would take over on the Rebels’ 28.
Dart would lead the red and blue on a nine-play drive down to the LSU 18 where Caden Davis would hit his second field goal of the night that would give the Rebels a 20-13 lead with 4:41 left in the third quarter.
LSU responded with a 10-play drive that ultimately stalled at the Ole Miss 24 with an incomplete pass from Nussmeier to Zavion Thomas. Ramos hit the 45-yard field goal to cut the score to 20-16, Ole Miss.
The two teams then exchanged interceptions. First, after driving to the LSU 30, Dart’s pass intended for Cayden Lee was intercepted in the end zone by Zy Alexander with 11:02 to go in the game. Then, Nussmeier’s pass deep to the left that was intended for Kyren Lacy was intercepted by Trey Amos at the Ole Miss 39.
The Rebels were not able to take advantage and were forced to punt. Likewise, the Tigers were also forced to punt and Ole Miss took over on its own 27 with 6:21 to go in the game, up 20-16.
Dart moved his team into field goal range, and Davis hit his second of the game, a 27-yarder that put Ole Miss up 23-16 with 3:14 left in the game.
Unfortunately, some of that Death Valley magic took effect as Nussmeier’s pass to Mason Taylor for 14 yards converted an LSU 4th down and 6 from the Tigers’ 29 to keep the drive alive. After moving down the field, the LSU QB hit Aaron Anderson on a 25-yard TD pass that tied the game at 23-23 with 27 seconds left in regulation and the teams were headed to OT.
The Rebels possessed the ball first in overtime, and the Tiger defense stiffened, forcing Ole Miss backwards to the LSU 40. On 4th down, Caden Davis hit a career-long, 56-yard field goal to put the Rebels up 26-23.
In a death blow to the Rebels, Nussmeyer connected with Lacy on a 25-yard touchdown on the Tigers’ first play from scrimmage in OT, and LSU secured the 29-26 win over Ole Miss.
“This sucks…I feel for (the team),” Kiffin said afterward.
“This is a hard one because you have a bye and don’t play again (for two weeks). It’s easier to get beat by a couple scores, but this was our game where we had the game, and we let it slip away. It’s tough because we handed two games away. Both games, we had the ball ahead in both losses and founded a way to lose.“
Lane Kiffin
Dart finished the game 24-42 for 284 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for 27 yards on 15 carries.
Nussmeier went 22-51 for 337 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Next Up:
The Rebels have two weeks to regroup with a bye week, followed by Oklahoma coming to town on October 26th.
(Feature image credit: Karis Chambliss, The Rebel Walk)
Dan Anderson
Dan Anderson is a photographer and writer for The Rebel Walk. In addition to his work covering Ole Miss football and baseball for The Rebel Walk, Dan has written for a number of newspapers and has experience as a public address announcer, handling both play-by-play and color commentary. Dan has been involved with athletics as a player, coach or parent for 40 years, and brings this unique perspective to his coverage, whether through his lens or with his pen.
