Ole Miss’s fall continued Saturday night in Baton Rouge. The No. 23 Rebels woke up Sunday likely unranked and unimpressive after a 38-21 dismantling at the hands of No. 25 LSU.

Ole Miss was shut out in the second half, a bad combo considering the Rebels allowed Leonard Fournette to rush for 284 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries.

Ole Miss is now 3-4 on the season and 1-3 in the SEC, nowhere near the high expectations of 2016.

5 TAKEAWAYS

What was Chad Kelly thinking: Chad Kelly threw a pick in the first half. The pick near the goal line was badly underthrown. The only reason he didn’t throw another later in the half is because two defensive backs collided trying to make an overthrown pick. While Kelly is normally a gunslinger, these two plays were just plain irresponsible.

Fournette was angry: After missing two games, Fournette was possessed, stiff arming and bowling over Ole Miss tacklers. He had touchdown runs of 59, 76 and 78 yards and at one point had a stat line of seven carries, 249 yards and three touchdowns.

Leave and return: Defensive end Fadol Brown made his first appearance since the second game of the season, but it didn’t balance the loss of left tackle Rod Taylor and fellow offensive lineman Jordan Sims in the game. Ole Miss ran for 166 yards on 36 carries.

Freeze won’t blame youth: Ole Miss is young in key spots, especially the secondary. Freeze doesn’t want to hear it anymore. “Youth is no longer an answer at certain places or injuries,” he said. “It’s time for us to grow up and play a complete game in this difficult conference.”

Big bowl difference: Ole Miss will be favored in three more games and that doesn’t include Saturday against Auburn. If the Rebels win three more and play in the Texas Bowl, that would have satisfied fans five years ago. Now, not so much.

REPORT CARD

Offense: D – Blame the line. Blame LSU’s secondary. Blame whatever. Ole Miss entered the game with the best passing offense in the SEC at 320 yards per game. Scoreless in the second half, the Rebels threw for 209. Their bread and butter was toast.

Defense: F – Worst in the SEC and it showed. Leonard Fournette saw huge holes on the right side, got one good block on a linebacker and mack-trucked over defensive backs. LSU had 515 total yards, the most since Florida State in the opener. Ole Miss allowed a season-high 8.05 yards per play.

Special teams: A – Gary Wunderlich made both his attempts, one a 46-yarder. Carlos Davis had six kick returns for a career-high 124 yards.

Coaching: C – Ole Miss had a first-and-goal at the LSU 5 in the second quarter. Instead of going to one of the 6-foot-2 receivers, the Rebels ran with D’Vaughn Pennamon and threw one of two passes probably short of the goal line to Evan Engram. On the ensuing possession, they ran and end around. If they had gone for it on fourth down at midfield with 78 seconds left…too cute.

Overall: D – Ole Miss lead 10-0 in the first quarter. Then, Leonard Fournette. The defense is bad. The offense isn’t helping, and things are going backwards.

GAME PLAN

Score first, check. Limit Leonard Fournette, unchecked. The Rebels drove the field in six plays for 77 yards in 2 minutes, 12 seconds and took a 7-0 lead on Kelly’s touchdown pass to Van Jefferson. But a couple more drives stalled, one in the red zone and one near it, and the Rebels didn’t get nearly enough points to make up for a porous defense.

GAME BALLS

DB Derrick Jones: The senior receiver had his second interception of the season and has willingly made the transition to help with the depth in an inexperienced secondary.

WR Damore’ea Stringfellow: Four catches for 92 yards, a 23-yard average.

LB Detric Bing-Dukes: The linebacking corps isn’t performing but Bing-Dukes had a solid stat line with a team-high eight tackles, two for loss.