After a lackluster first half, a second-half LSU rally fell short as the No. 4-ranked Tigers suffered their first loss of the season to the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels 24-19 Saturday afternoon in Oxford, Miss.
LSU dropped to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the SEC. Ole Miss improved to 5-0 and 3-0.
LSU scored first and led 7-0. But Ole Miss closed the first half with 17 unanswered points.
The Tigers got within four in the third quarter thanks to Damian Ramos field goals of 33 and 48 yards.
The Rebels opened up a 24-13 lead on an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Logan Diggs’ 6-yard run with 11:08 to play in the game.
LSU then had its best drive of the game. The Tigers went 80 yards in 15 plays. Harlem Berry scored from 6 yards out to cut the lead to five. LSU went for two but the Rebels easily stopped a run.
Ole Miss then picked up three first downs and ran out the clock. The last one was a 20-yard pass from Trinidad Chambliss to Dae’Quan Wright on fourth-and-3 from the LSU 35.
In his postgame press conference, LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly emphasized the Tigers’ inability to play complementary football.
“I think you start with the first half where our inability to sustain anything on the offensive side of the ball put our defense on the field over 50 plays,” he said.
“We didn’t play complementary football which you have to do in this league. You have to be able to complement your offense and defense and we were out of sync with that. You know when our offense started to move the ball a little our defense couldn’t make a stop.
“We just couldn’t just get this whole group playing together with the same effectiveness that you need to win games like this.
So this is not about, they didn’t play hard. They’ve got to play fast and free and physical but they’ve got to know they have to complement each other. They can’t play this game of, well, we’re going to play this game of well, we’re going to play well defensively for a bit, then we’re going to play OK on offense for a bit and then go back and forth. This team has to click on all cylinders and we’re not clicking on all cylinders right now.”
Ole Miss dominated statistically. The Rebels had 480 yards to the Tigers’ 254.
Chambliss completed 23-of-39 passes for 314 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also had 71 of the Rebels’ 166 yards rushing.
Nine Rebels had catches. Cayden Lee had four for 70 yards and a touchdown. Wright had four for 66. Deuce Alexander had three for 64.
Kewan Lacy led the Rebels with 87 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown.
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier completed 21-of-34 passes for 197 yards and one touchdown with one interception which ended a promising drive in the first half.
While it was a subpar performance, Kelly said you can’t pin the blame for the loss on Nussmeier or any one player.
“Garrett Nussmeier’s got to play better,” he said. “Every player on offense has got to play better. And then we have to be more consistent on defense.
“There’s not one guy you can put out and go, well, that’s the reason why we lost. There’s many, many players that have to play their best when their best is needed.”
Nine Tigers had catches. Zavion Thomas had three for 63 yards, including a 50-yard catch on the first touchdown drive.
Barion Brown had five for 40. Nic Anderson caught the 21-yard TD pass after it was tipped by two defenders.
Playing without injured starter Caden Durham, the Tigers had just 57 yards rushing. Harlem Berry had 22 on seven carries.
LSU’s next game isn’t until Oct. 11 when the Tigers host South Carolina.
“It’s a long season,” Kelly said. “It’s a disappointing loss. I felt like we had the personnel to come in here and win this football game and we didn’t play up to the level we’re capable of.
“So I have to look at what’s our preparation like. Our players feel the preparation was excellent. They’ve got to perform at a higher level and we’ve got to put them in good positions to perform at that level.”