#13 Tigers Rip Off #9 Rebels in Crazy OT Finish
This past Saturday had no shortage of crazy finishes. There were two in the SEC as the LSU Tigers fought off and capitalized on Ole Miss’ special teams mistakes to grind out a 29-26 overtime win in Death Valley, moving to 5-1 and hopefully making their case for a big jump in next week’s AP Top 25 poll.
After the Tigers knotted things with at 23 apiece just under 30 seconds to go thanks to a game-tying TD strike from the Tigers’ Garrett Nussmeier, capping a 13-play, 75-yard drive that took just under three minutes, Ole Miss had to settle for a rather impressive 57 yard FG by Caden Davis, who redeemed his earlier miss from the Rebels’ second drive of the game. However, that meant all that LSU had to do was punch it in for 6 to win, and they did exactly that on their first play in overtime, a 26-yard strike from Nussmeier to WR Kyren Lacy for the game-winner. Ole Miss did lead the entire first half, at least, however.
The first two game scores came by Ole Miss, a 49-yard boot by Caden Davis with five ticks left in Q2 after both teams went scoreless through Q1. The Rebels made it 10-0 over the Tigers after a 50-yard scramble score from RB Ulysses Bentley IV. LSU’s first TD of the game was a 12-yard pass to Trey’Dez Green before Ole Miss extended their lead to 17-7 with a short-range TD pass of their own. However, LSU managed a lightning-quick pair of field goals before the end of Q1, making it 17-13 at the half.
The two teams exchanged FGs to kick off the second half as well: Caden Davis from 35 to make it 20-13 Ole Miss, followed by Damion Ramos from 41 to make it 20-16. The fourth quarter was similarly quiet. Davis hit another FG from 37 before the inevitable tying touchdown from the Tigers, a 23-yard slot pass to Aaron Anderson. Anderson himself had that touchdown off an already decent 81-yard performance with three catches, while Lacy managed 111 yards on five catches and a TD of his own, that game tier with under 30 seconds left.
LSU quarterback Nussmeier finished with 337 yards and three touchdowns, plus two interceptions while completing 22 of 51 passes, an sloppy performance for a team that won in overtime. Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart finished with 24 of 42 completed passes while racking up 284 yards and 1 TD, plus a pick. LSU improves to 2–0 in the SEC — one of three undefeated teams in the conference with Texas A&M (3–0) and Texas (2–0) — and 5–1 overall. Ole Miss drops to 5–2 and 1–2 in conference play.
On the running side, LSU’s Caden Durham had 12 carries for 37 yards as the Tigers’ leading rusher, while the Rebels’ Bentley IV commanded the Ole Miss ground game with 107 yards on 11 carries. LSU’s Kyren Lacy led the charge in the air, while Ole Miss’ main wingman was Cayden Lee, who made nine catches for 132 yards. Tre Harris also added to the mix with seven catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.
Moving on to total team stats, both sides had 22 first downs apiece, a rare statistic even in a conference game. Ole Miss was a bit better on 3rd down, converting 11 of 22 situations, while LSU converted on 6 of 16. The Rebels also had a bit more total offensive yards, 465 compared to the Tigers’ 421, though LSU did greatly outnumber the Rebels in the passing yards game, 337-284. Ole Miss had 181 total rushing yards, almost 100 more than the Tigers’ 84 ground pickups.
Ole Miss was also a flag magnet, racking up 12 calls for 110 yards ,while LSU only had 6 for 45. Both sides had two turnovers each, and the Rebels had the ball for just over half the game at 31:50 compared to LSU’s 28:10 possession time.
The Tigers’ next contest sees them visit Fayetteville to face Arkansas, who recently knocked off then-fourth-ranked Tennesee at home. Meanwhile, Ole Miss clashes with (at the moment) 18th-ranked Oklahoma, who are looking to get back in the win column after being stomped by archrivals #1 Texas in yesterday’s Red River Rivalry.
See also: LSU QB is an Underrated NFL Prospect Despite Lower than Ideal Stats.