LSU Fall 32–24 to Ole Miss Rebels in Lane Kiffin’s Return to Oxford

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The first meeting between Lane Kiffin and his former school went Oxford's way as the LSU Tigers fell 32-24 to the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday night. The Tigers dropped to 2-1 on the season, losing their SEC opener. LSU was able to have a chance to tie the game on the last drive, but turned the ball over on downs with the goal to go.

This game lived up to all expectations by the end of it. It was hard-fought (for two quarters). Pete Golding's squad was just more prepared at the end. Too much sloppy play at the beginning of the game made an impressive second half all for naught.

A week of emotion and stress culminated in an uneven performance that will have the coaching staff and players frustrated throughout the week as they watch film.

By halftime, many Tigers fans had felt like this game had zero chance of even becoming competitive again. Almost nothing went right for LSU over the first two quarters. Sam Leavitt was playing far too fast mentally, and the offensive line providing zero help made things even worse.

Because of how quick the offensive drives were, things snowballed on defense as well. The normally effective playmakers were clearly gassed. Combined with the incredible play of Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, it was a demoralizing half of football. Chambliss was 21-of-27 for 258 yards and two touchdowns when the teams headed to the locker rooms.

The second half began with LSU losing three yards and then punting, which is when people really started to give up. The defensive line responded immediately by finally putting pressure on Chambliss with a big hit that forced a duck, which Ja'Keem Jackson picked off. That was the momentum shift that everyone had been begging for.

To the offense's credit, they took advantage. Leavitt and Jones ran the ball down 33 yards for a touchdown. Then, Ole Miss' normally reliable Lucas Carneiro missed a field goal, which the Tigers turned into more points. By the end of the third quarter, it was just a three-point game.

Leavitt slowed the game down, gained confidence and ended up looking more like the player that the team wanted to see going into the night. Similar to last week against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

Blake Baker's defense is going to have a lot of film to look at this week. The zone coverage was consistently exploited. Part of that was just the amazing accuracy of Chambliss, but there was a mix of poor coaching and poor execution throughout the night. Luckily, it isn't a consistent issue, but something to watch throughout the year.

It was said all week that LSU couldn't afford to start slow against this team, and that was proven to be true by the end of the night. They have a ton to figure out across the offensive line and what the game plan will be to create explosive plays through the air if they want to be able to bounce back after this loss.

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