Tiger Stadium rattled and shook as Leonard Fournette issued a stiff arm to Deontay Anderson and eluded the Ole Miss defense. Down the sideline he went for 78 yards and his third score of the game, giving LSU a 28-21 lead that it wouldn’t relinquish as it downed Ole Miss 38-21.
“It’s very frustrating. You go out there and practice hard every day and try to do the things and we make little mistakes that turn into big mistakes playing against teams of this caliber,” Defensive Coordinator Dave Wommack said. “That’s what you play against every week. There comes a time where you have to execute with 11 guys doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Head coach Hugh Freeze walks off the field after Ole Miss’ loss to SEC rival LSU. Ole Miss has yet to win a game this season against a SEC West team but hopes to change that this weekend against Auburn. (Photo by Cameron Brooks)
The Rebels looked overwhelmed. They were outmanned and overpowered by Fournette and the LSU ground attack that racked up 311 yards, Fournette claimed 284 of those yards on 16 carries. At one point the junior running back hard 249 yards on just seven carries. He broke runs of 59, 76 and 78 all of which culminated in the end zone. Ole Miss simply had no answer.
“You’ve got to give them credit, sometimes they block you,” Head Coach Hugh Freeze said. “But it shouldn’t be 70-yard runs. They are very good at what they do.”
Early on though, all signs pointed to another hotly contested SEC West game as a young team jumped out to another early lead. Ole Miss scored on its first possession of the game when Chad Kelly found Van Jefferson from 15 yards out. A Gary Wunderlich field goal a few minutes after gave the Rebels a 10-0 lead. Kelly was 19-32 for 201 yards with the lone touchdown and two interceptions.
Fournette then initiated LSU’s first punch with a 59-yard touchdown rush.
“If he gets creases like he did tonight, I think he is probably the best in the nation,” Freeze said.
A busted coverage four minutes into the second quarter gave Danny Elting his first touchdown pass and LSU its first lead by way of a 40-yard strike to D.J. Chark. Etling was 19-28 for 204 yards and a score. Aside from one blemish coming in the form of a third-quarter interception, Etling was efficient and controlled the LSU offense, allowing Fournette to impose his will.
“I take responsibility,” Wommack said. “It’s my defense. We have got to have some changes.”
It was deadlocked at 21 at halftime after the Ole Miss defense forced a fumble just inside the LSU 10-yard line leading to an Akeem Judd touchdown run three plays later.
But it was in the second half that the wheels came off for Ole Miss, and sped up for LSU. Fournette added another 113 yards to his first half total while the Tiger defense thwarted Kelly and the the Rebels’ offense. Ole Miss didn’t score in the final 30 minutes. Kelly was often flushed out of the pocket attempting to flee one of the fiercest pass rushes in college football.
“We’ve just got to get better,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to get the young guys to pick it up and the older guys to set the standard. They are going to look at us for help and we have to show them that we are here.”
Perhaps, that is where the entire team will look as Ole Miss now faces the reality of the fragile state that it is in. Sitting at 3-4 and befuddled on the road, the Rebels have lost two in a row after whiffing on back-to-back tests away from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The road won’t get any easier for a team that’s struggled to stop the run. It hosts an Auburn team that ambushed Arkansas for 544 yards on the ground on Saturday.
“We’ve got to really look at ourselves hard as coaches and players and figure out why we are not putting together complete games,” Freeze said. “Youth is no longer an answer at certain places and injuries. It’s time to grow up and be able to play a complete game in this difficult conference.”
