The LSU Tigers throttled the Ole Miss Rebels 38-21 to remain in the SEC West championship picture.
The victory also keeps them alive in the College Football Playoff race.
Make no mistake about it: LSU proved on Saturday evening that it’s a very dangerous team under the leadership of Ed Orgeron. Sure, we’ve already seen the Tigers rack up a pair of convincing victories since he took over for Les Miles. But, this was the first serious challenge that LSU has faced under Orgeron’s watch. How would the Bayou Bengals respond if their opponent came out and punched them in the mouth?
Judging by their performance against Ole Miss, the answer is very clearly, “with the poise of a champion.” The Rebels came out on fire in this contest, grabbing a quick 10-0 lead after the first two series. However, LSU rallied back to take a 21-13 lead with just six minutes remaining before the half. While Ole Miss would tie the game just before intermission on a costly fumble, the Tigers dominated the second half to cruise to a decisive victory.
The win over the Rebels speaks volumes about how good this team is now that Steve Ensminger is calling the plays. Under his offensive philosophy, the Bayou Bengals are taking more deep shots down the field and using the pass to set up the run. As a result of this new scheme, Ole Miss had to respect the pass, which meant it couldn’t load the box to stop the run. Without an extra defender in run support, Leonard Fournette had a huge night, running 16 times for 284 yards and three touchdowns, while catching three passes for 25 yards (highlighted by the bone-crushing hit below).
Although the offense deserves the credit for the win, the LSU defense certainly deserves a shout out for its performance as well. Yes, it gave up some yardage in the first thirty minutes. But, the Tiger D dominated the second half of this contest, allowing only 85 yards during that span. Thanks to this stellar showing, LSU held Ole Miss to a season-low 325 yards of total offense. That’s nearly 197 less than Alabama gave up against the Rebels in the third week of the season.
As the last few paragraphs demonstrate, LSU is a much better team under Orgeron’s leadership than it was under Les Miles. Although they’ve already suffered a loss in conference play, the Tigers are very much in control of their own destiny in the SEC West race. If – and it’s a big if – the Bayou Bengals can go undefeated through a brutal stretch of November games that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas A&M, they will probably win the SEC West and play for the conference title. Provided they win the SEC Championship game, LSU could end up in the College Football Playoff, because it played such a tough schedule.
Yes, that last sentence might seem like a bit of a stretch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens. The Tigers have improved more than any other team in college football over the last few weeks, and will be tough for anyone – even Alabama – to beat over the final month and a half of the season.
