GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
A writer asked Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin Saturday night what he thought of the “environment” during the 100th birthday party at Tiger Stadium after his No. 9 Rebels lost to No. 13 LSU, 29-26, in overtime in front of 102,212.
“I don’t know,” he said. “No disrespect. We commanded the game – the majority of it. So, my opinion – electric atmosphere, great crowd. But they don’t block. They don’t tackle. They don’t drop the ball. They don’t miss kicks. So, we’ve got to make the plays. I’ve got to coach better. We should’ve won that game. They’re a good team. We’re a good team. We should’ve won that game.”
Moments later, that environment still lurked at Ole Miss’ heels as it seeped into the press conference in the bowels of Tiger Stadium.
“LSU … LSU … LSU … LSU … Go to Hell, Ole Miss,” could be heard from just outside the cave-like tight quarters, where Kiffin was speaking outside the Rebels’ locker room.
It was Kiffin’s third straight loss in Tiger Stadium as Ole Miss’ head coach and LSU’s eight straight win over the Rebels in Tiger Stadium. But this one will live in infamy for the 49-year-old Kiffin, who brought one of the best Ole Miss teams to Baton Rouge since coach Johnny Vaught’s prime in the 1950s and ’60s. It was the highest ranked Ole Miss team to lose to LSU since the 7-0 and No. 3 Rebels of coach Hugh Freeze fell to the No. 24 Tigers, 10-7, in 2014, in Tiger Stadium.
Ole Miss Appeared On Verge Of Blowing Out LSU
Kiffin’s team appeared ready to blow LSU out in the second quarter as it took a 10-0 lead on a 50-yard touchdown run by Ulysses Bentley IV, shredding the Tigers’ defense. At the time, the Rebels had outgained the Tigers, 198 yards to 76, and could have been up 23-0 or 27-0.
But in a scoreless first quarter dominated by Ole Miss, the Rebels were 0-for-2 from inside the Tigers’ 15-yard line with a missed 32-yard field goal and no points after a first down on LSU’s ’13 following an interception by LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. The Tigers stuffed Kiffin’s 4th-and-1 attempt from the LSU 4-yard line when defensive end Bradyn Swinson nailed Ole Miss back Henry Parish Jr. for a 1-yard loss.
Ole Miss wide receiver Tre Harris also dropped a sure touchdown pass after Jaxson Dart hit him in stride at the LSU 40 and several yards behind the LSU defense.
Instead, LSU cut it to 10-7 with 5:33 left before halftime on a 12-yard TD pass from Nussmeier to tight end Trey’Dez Green, and it was anybody’s game the rest of the way. An Ole Miss fumble with 26 seconds to go in the first half also gave the Tigers a field goal to cut the Rebels’ lead to 17-13 at half. Ole Miss then had three opportunities in the second half to go up by two scores, but failed to do so.
“This is like our game,” Kiffin obsessed onward. “We have the game. And we let it slip away.”
LSU Rises In A.P. Poll, Replaces Ole Miss
The Rebels (5-2, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) lost to Kentucky two weeks ago in similar fashion and now finds themselves all the way down to No. 18 in the Associated Press poll while LSU (5-1, 2-0 SEC) rose to No. 8. Ole Miss now must live with the loss for two weeks as it is open this weekend before hosting Oklahoma on Oct. 26.
“To go into the bye 6-1 and in really good shape and get healthy,” Kiffin said. “These are hard. This one will be around forever.”
Ole Miss’ great season with the best NCAA Transfer Portal roster in America, a preseason ranking of No. 6 that moved into the top five, and a likely entry into the new 12-team format of the College Football Playoff, is suddenly in dire straits.
“Yeah, those things catch up with you,” Kiffin said of the lost points in the first half. “Missing a field goal. Have a 4th-and-1. No points in the red zone. We hand ’em three points with the fumble at the end of the half. That’s why I felt we were really outplaying them.”
That’s how it looked to virtually everyone watching.
And Kiffin fell to 0-5 on the road against ranked teams as Ole Miss’ coach. The tweet master’s “can’t-win-the-big-one” tag remains. He also fell to 7-9 against ranked opponents overall as Ole Miss’ coach.
Meanwhile, LSU coach Brian Kelly, often the subject of Kiffin’s cuteness on Twitter (or X), improved to 3-4 against top 10 opponents as LSU’s coach.
“Give them credit, too. That last drive in regulation,” Kiffin said of the Tigers going 75 yards in 13 plays to tie it 23-23 with 27 seconds to play after trailing the whole game. Nussmeier converted a 4th-and-6 from his 29 with a mad scramble and across-his-body 14-yard completion to tight end Mason Taylor and a 4th-and-5 from the Ole Miss 23 with a TD pass to wide receiver Aaron Anderson.
Then after Ole Miss went up 26-23 in overtime, Nussmeier found Kyren Lacy for a 25-yard touchdown pass and the 29-26 lead on the first play of LSU’s overtime possession. And it was over.
“I mean, we lead the whole game,” Kiffin continued. “Quarterback made a great scramble play, couple of fourth-down conversions to put it into overtime and in overtime. Should have never got there. We should’ve finished it when we had the ball and a chance to make it a two-score lead. We should’ve won that game. Kind of commanded the game for the majority of it, but credit it to them.”
Kiffin just wanted to leave Tiger Stadium badly.
“I just said, ‘This sucks, guys. I feel for you,'” when asked what he told his team. “I don’t really got a lot of positives for you. It’s easier if you get beat by a couple scores.”
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