Ole Miss at LSU Recap: What Happened Last Night?

Another epic border battle occurred here in Tiger Stadium between the Ole Miss Rebels and the LSU Tigers.  A real heavyweight battle that was a big boy’s dream (those big boys on the line of scrimmage).  Ole Miss got a early touchdown from WR Cody Core and LSU finally got on the board with a field goal just before halftime, but the second half was all haymakers.

Each team’s defensive line took over the game and made life very tough on the quarterbacks.

LSU’s Anthony Jennings completed 8 of 16 passes for 142 yards and two interceptions.  Ole Miss’ Bo Wallace was 14 of 33 for 176 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

If you are a fan of NFL defense’s you were watching a special game last night, one that came down to running back depth when 235 pound Kenny Hillard came into the game fresh off the bench against a tired Ole Miss defensive line and forced his team down the field giving this team a late score with four minutes to go in a score that would hold up 10-7.

The last minutes of the game will be endlessly debated, but in my opinion Ole Miss’ best chance to win this game was in regulation.

The relationship between Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze and QB Bo Wallace was perfectly captured by ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi in the pre-game piece.

The two have had a pretty volatile relationship at times and haven’t always seen eye to eye.

Bo Wallace has the “it” factor that all top QB’s have. The ability to flush the last negative play and step up and throw a touchdown pass the next play. He has supreme confidence in his decision making and rightly so, the guy has been right a lot more than wrong.

He was the QB of the junior college national champion team at East Mississippi and he led Ole Miss to bowl games in ’12 and ’13 solely on the strength of his arm and legs.  This year he is the QB of the #3 team in all of college football.  Ole Miss hasn’t been #3 since the mid 1960’s.

The last play of the LSU game was set up. Nine seconds left at the LSU 25 yard line. It was Bo Wallace that got the team down the field on a night when LSU’s defense was wrapped tightly around his wide receivers. He moved the team from his own 25 to LSU’s 25 in one minute of play.

Bo Wallace began to take his homerun shots.

Incomplete to Vince Sanders. Pass broken up to Evan Engram. Pass interference called against Treadwell.  Tipped away pass to Markell Pack. Finally on 3rd down at LSU’s 25, faced with a freshman kicker attempting a 47 yards field goal, Hugh Freeze called one last play, a short pass out in the flat or throw it out of bounds and stop the clock.

LSU lined up in a prevent defense and had one on one coverage on his sure handed possession receiver Cody Core.  The same wide out that scored the only Ole Miss touchdown.

Bo could have and maybe should have thrown the ball away and hope for overtime or he could have tried to win it before overtime.  Over time on the road is never easy.  Wallace choose the later, for better or for worse.  The prevent safety over the top was able to get to the ball just before his receiver did, game over.

Wallace was devastated obviously but he did what he always does and that is give his team the best chance to win.

In post-game Wallace was still hurting, “I’m not going to talk about it.  The receiver was one-on-one, I threw it up.  Done.”

Freeze explained his play call, “I thought we were pretty clear we were either going to take the flat throw or throw it out of bounds and try the field goal.  He must have felt like he had a shot at the touchdown play there.  I wish we had that one over, for sure.”

Ole Miss left Tiger stadium on the losing end of a big game, again.

The largest crowd to ever watch a game in Death Valley of over 102,000 saw another chapter in one of the best rivalries in college football.  Even in the loss, Ole Miss is now the team that brings the sell out crowds.  Ole Miss is the team that is near the top of the SEC and a win over the Rebels is shocking and worth storming the field for.

Ole Miss football is back.  A loss to LSU does not change anything.  Ole Miss still has to beat Auburn and MS State in Oxford in the next few weeks.

As fans, lets all turn the page to Auburn and hope the team will learn and get better because of the loss.  Support your boys today just like you did yesterday.