The Rebels had a tough task ahead of them Saturday. They had to find some way to run the ball against an impressive LSU defense without leading rusher Jeff Scott, who has 434 yards rushing on the season while averaging 8.2 yards per carry and adding two touchdowns as well. That answer came in the form of sophomore Jaylen Walton.
“Playing behind Jeff, I learned a lot,” Walton said. “We’re pretty much the same size and have the same mentality for running the football. He gets the job done, so I figured it was my time to step up and get the job done.”
Prior to the LSU game, Walton had 129 yards on the ground, averaging about 3.8 yards per carry on the season. Against the Tigers, Walton broke out, picking up 106 yards with a 5.6 yard average as well as adding two pivotal third-quarter touchdowns. Walton also had three receptions for 24 yards on the day.
“It felt really good,” Walton said of his performance. “After all the hard work I’d put in, a lot of blood, sweat and tears, so I kind of expected to have a good game.”
Walton gave much of the credit for the Rebels’ strong run game to the offensive line.
“I think this is probably their best game, and this is the big stage against No. 6 LSU, who’s known for a great defense,” Walton said. “As a running back, you want a crease, you can’t ask for too much, but after you pass the first level, it’s really up to you to make the second-level defender miss, and that’s what we did.”
Defense steps up
Ole Miss went into Saturday limping. Several players, mostly starters, were out and facing an LSU offense that was putting up points on virtually everyone it’s played this season seemed like an improbable task. But the Rebel defense didn’t falter.
The Ole Miss defense played admirably all game, shutting out the Tigers in the first half for the first time all season and forcing quarterback Zach Mettenberger to throw three costly interceptions, when he had previously only thrown two the entire season.
“They came in critical points in the game, in the red zone, when you’re going four deep going for the end zone,” said junior safety Cody Prewitt, who came down with one of these interceptions. “Those were huge, huge, plays. It turned into big plays for us as opposed to for them.”
The Rebels have come up short to big upsets several times in Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze’s short tenure at Ole Miss, but with the running of Walton and the gritty performance of a hobbled defense, they were able to do the unthinkable and knock off LSU.
“Personally, I’ve been waiting two years to beat LSU,” Prewitt said. “To finally have that happen and to beat a top-10 team like that, I was absolutely ecstatic.”
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