Rapid Reaction: LSU takes over in 2nd half to topple No. 7 Ole Miss
This time, LSU was ready for its ranked opponent.
It didn’t look that way early on, but it was clear by the end of Saturday’s game.
Two weeks after being dominated by then-No. 8 Tennessee, 40-13, at Tiger Stadium, the host Tigers roared back from a 14-point, 2nd-quarter deficit to hand No. 7 Ole Miss its 1st loss of the season, 45-20.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels threw 2 touchdown passes and ran for 3 more scores a week after passing for 3 and rushing for 3 in a 45-35 victory at Florida.
LSU (6-2, 4-1 SEC) tied the Rebels (7-1, 3-1) in the loss column atop the SEC West standings entering the Tigers’ bye week.
Of course, the victory also helped LSU’s SEC championship odds.
LSU fell behind for the 5th time in as many SEC games and trailed 17-3 in the 2nd quarter before its offense came to life.
The Tigers took the lead for the 1st time when Daniels threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mason Taylor for a 24-20 edge midway through the 3rd quarter.
The Rebels responded on the ensuing possession by driving to the LSU 9, but Joe Foucha made a 1-handed interception of a Jaxson Dart pass in the end zone.
That left the Tigers with their 4-point lead entering the 4th quarter.
It didn’t take them long to increase the margin as Daniels’ 11-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 31-20 with 14:18 remaining.
Ole Miss entered the game with the No. 1 rushing offense in the SEC (271.4 yards per game) and had 448 rushing yards a week earlier against Auburn.
But Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin set the tone with the passing game against LSU. Dart had completions of 9, 24 and 37 yards to set up Quinshon Judkins’ 6-yard touchdown run on the game’s 1st possession.
The Tigers responded with a drive that reached the Rebels’ 6 before Damian Ramos kicked a 23-yard field goal.
The next possession started with Dart’s 28-yard completion to Malik Heath and featured 3 defensive pass-interference calls, 1 of which negated an interception and another that wiped out an incompletion on 4th down.
Judkins’ 3-yard run pushed the lead to 14-3, and that’s what the score remained at the end of the 1st quarter after Ramos missed a 42-yard field goal.
On the 1st play of the 2nd quarter Jonathan Cruz kicked a 32-yard field goal to increase the lead to 17-3.
LSU came back with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to Jaray Jenkins before forcing an Ole Miss punt for the 1st time in 4 possessions.
Daniels ran 3 yards for a touchdown that pulled the Tigers even midway through the 2nd quarter.
Cruz broke the tie with a 48-yard field goal that gave the Rebels a 20-17 halftime lead.