Ole Miss fell to 5-2 with a hard-fought, bitter loss to rival LSU 29-26 in OT in front of a sold-out crowd of 102,212 at Tiger Stadium. I have deviated from my normal routine of watching the tape and making notes about what to say in this piece. I will be completely honest here, I may need to check myself a little. It is just a college football game where I know 1 player (somewhat) personally. That said, this loss has affected me personally more than any loss since the 2022 MSU game. I could not sleep last night. I have not watched the tape due to the emotional pain I know will accompany it. Instead, I am going to speak straight from the cuff here. As I did last week, I have not viewed any of the postgame pieces by Neal or Chase and I have not viewed or read this board at all since yesterday before the game. I wanted my post to be my own uninfluenced thoughts and reactions.
1. Bottom line up front: We were the better team, and it wasn't that close. I still think we are. And we lost the game. That is what makes this game so disconcerting. We had the edge throughout the game, but just could not completely separate from them, and they made us pay for it at the end. The margin for error in the SEC has always been small. The Portal and NIL has, as many including myself have said, narrowed that margin of error as it is more difficult for teams to stockpile talent. We may be witnessing something as simple as karma or the odds evening out. Last year we won several close games, including 2 (LSU and Texas A&M) on the final play. This year, it seems like the other team is making those plays at the end. We have to keep fighting. Now is the time to double down, not quit.
2. Our Effort: I thought our guys played with a lot of effort and determination last night. We fought as hard as a banged-up football team could. I have nothing but praise for our guys on how hard we played. On offense, we had 181 yards rushing on 41 attempts, counting 6 sacks. I thought anything over 100 yards was a positive. We held them to 84 yards on only 24 attempts, counting 0... ZERO... sacks. I thought if we could make them one-dimensional, which we did, we would win. I thought making them one-dimensional would lead to us getting to the QB. We didn't. Bottom line, a huge stat in the game.
3. Huge events that won't show up in the stat line:
A. The dropped TD pass by Tre Harris in our 1st possession. A bomb there would have set the tone and quieted the crowd.
B. The missed FG by Caden Davis. I said earlier in the week that we needed to make all expected kicks. That miss kept the game scoreless early.
C. The missed block by Jordan Watkins on 4th and 1 inside the 15. I thought we should take the points there, but I was not totally against going for it either. I have never been a fan of the hurry-up and run so we can catch them off-guard stuff. Bottom line, 17 points left on the field in the 1st quarter. A 17-0 lead there basically ends the game before it gets started, much like what we witnessed at USCe last week.
4. Offensively: We had 464 yards and ran 82 plays. That should have been enough to win the game convincingly. UBIV had a great first game (for him) with over 100 yards on 11 carries and a TD. I am not going to go down that road. Repeat (to myself): I am not going to go down that road. (count to 10). The loss of Tre Harris in the 2nd half was huge. We were 11-22 on 3rd down, but that means that we GOT to 3rd down 22 times, meaning we lost on 1st and 2nd down a lot. We converted 2-3 on 4th down, but not the one in the 1st quarter in the red zone when we should have been creating separation between us and them. We gave up 6 QB sacks, most of them in critical times. We really need Warren and James back. They started more than 3 dozen games in a row apiece for a reason. The bottom line, we didn't make plays, convert plays, run when we needed to run, in the big, game-changing moments.
5. Defensively: We held LSU to 84 yards rushing, and their QB only completed 43% of his passes (22-51). Further, LSU was only 6-16 on 3rd down and 2-3 on 4th down. If you tell me those stats before the game, I will tell you that we beat LSU handily. Bottom line, we never got after the QB, recording 0 sacks, and allowed LSU to complete both of their 4th down conversions in the final drive of the game, including the game-tying TD on 4th and 5. They made the plays, we didn't. It is that simple.
6. Coaching: Man, I don't know. I could go a lot of ways here. LSU dialed up some good calls in key situations, both offensively and defensively, while we seemed to be discombobulated at times, especially on offense. I didn't get why we tried to move the ball with less than 30 seconds left in the half. I know we didn't expect a turnover, but that play ended up being huge. I don't understand at all how we can't seem to get the ball to Prieskorn, Watkins, or Wells. When Tre Harris went out, it seemed like we were Hansel and Gretel, just wandering in the wilderness, searching for the way to go with a bewildered look on our faces. JD particularly had a bewildered look much of the 2nd half. Did the crowd get to us? Perhaps, I don't know.
LSU also did a good job of creating mismatches on the final drive and on the OT TD. They found our weak link and pounced on it, and we did not adjust. I am not calling names, but we all know. I am a simple-minded guy who coached simple methods at the HS level, so I may not know all the intricacies of cover 1, 2, 4, etc. That said, I do know that I would have done things differently in the secondary, particularly in OT after seeing how they attacked us on their last drive. Great job by their coaches. #hattip. I stated in my preview that proper alignment/assignment in the secondary was a MUST DO, and we obviously failed in that aspect of the game.
7. Special Teams: The early miss by Davis was much bigger than the 3 points we would have recorded. It was a psychological trend that encompassed the entire beginning of the game, leading to the psyche of both teams trending the way they trended for the remainder of the game. To his credit, he nailed the long bomb in OT to give us the lead, but that just set up LSU's approach to their possession that resulted in the TD.
8. Officiating: I have watched Ole Miss football for the majority of my life, and it always has seemed to me that we get the short end of the officiating. Further, it has always seemed that, in big games, we always got the one officiating crew that, in my, and lots of other Ole Miss people not named Neal (or Chase) minds, seemed to "have it out" for Ole Miss. That list included Penn Wagers, Tom Ritter, Steve Shaw, Matt Austin, and now Ken Williamson. I have thought about this since the game ended last night, and I still draw a blank. I can't think of a single game of significance (Not a game like Furman or MTSU) where we won a big SEC game officiated by Ken Williamson's crew. Last night was no exception. We had 12 penalties for 110 yards. At least 5 were holding calls. LSU had 6 penalties for 45 yards. A couple of points:
A. Were we guilty of all of these penalties: Most of them, Yes. I only saw one call, the hold on McIntyre in OT, that was completely ticky-tack. Was that a big call? Absolutely!
B. LSU threw the ball 51 times. Their offensive line did such a good job against one of the nation's best front 7s that they only held ONE TIME?
C. Was the number of NON-CALLS on LSU a factor? One example: Juice Wells being TACKLED by a defender instead of playing the ball, and there is NO PI CALL?
D. Was Weeks hit on JD a textbook case for targeting? JD was giving up, sliding. Weeks hit JD, a defenseless player, helmet to helmet, nearly knocking JD's helmet off? Did Weeks mean to do it? (Probably not, but is the assumption of intent applied in other cases) I have never seen such a textbook case of targeting reversed because of what the official interpreted as the intent of both players. Who made that call? Ken Williamson? Birmingham? BOTH! Final question: Was Weeks' presence on the field for the remainder of the game a factor? ABSOLUTELY!
9. What is next? Well, according to guys on this site, whose opinion I respect very much, this is likely a death knell to our season. I want to present another opinion. We have an open date. We need to use it to get some guys back, recharge the batteries, and prepare for the stretch run. We likely have to go 5-0 the rest of the way to make the CFP. We can't go 5-0 until we go 1-0 against Oklahoma on October 26. There is a lot of football left to be played. We have daunting road trips to Arkansas and Florida, both of which we haven't won since 2008 (like LSU). We have the Georgia Bulldogs coming in on Nov, 9th. We have a vastly improving MSU team to close the season. Bottom Line: The SEC is a BEAR. NIL has blurred the lines of competitiveness to make it much more akin to the NFL. We have to take it one week at a time. 1-0 against Oklahoma is all we need to focus on at this point.
10. Hot Take: At least one team from either the Big 10 or the SEC (or maybe both) will get in the 12-team CFP with a 9-3 record as a 10 or 11 seed. Mark it down. Last year, the number 11 team in the final regular season poll was... Ole Miss at 10-2 You only had to go down to #13 to find a 9-3 team (LSU). Unlike last year, several of the teams in the top 11 last year played in different conferences where they didn't have as many difficult conference games. 12 of the top 13 from last year are now in the SEC or Big 10. My point is, there will be more mayhem this year. They will play and beat each other this year. This season is not over. The road is more difficult than it had to be, but it isn't over.
1. Bottom line up front: We were the better team, and it wasn't that close. I still think we are. And we lost the game. That is what makes this game so disconcerting. We had the edge throughout the game, but just could not completely separate from them, and they made us pay for it at the end. The margin for error in the SEC has always been small. The Portal and NIL has, as many including myself have said, narrowed that margin of error as it is more difficult for teams to stockpile talent. We may be witnessing something as simple as karma or the odds evening out. Last year we won several close games, including 2 (LSU and Texas A&M) on the final play. This year, it seems like the other team is making those plays at the end. We have to keep fighting. Now is the time to double down, not quit.
2. Our Effort: I thought our guys played with a lot of effort and determination last night. We fought as hard as a banged-up football team could. I have nothing but praise for our guys on how hard we played. On offense, we had 181 yards rushing on 41 attempts, counting 6 sacks. I thought anything over 100 yards was a positive. We held them to 84 yards on only 24 attempts, counting 0... ZERO... sacks. I thought if we could make them one-dimensional, which we did, we would win. I thought making them one-dimensional would lead to us getting to the QB. We didn't. Bottom line, a huge stat in the game.
3. Huge events that won't show up in the stat line:
A. The dropped TD pass by Tre Harris in our 1st possession. A bomb there would have set the tone and quieted the crowd.
B. The missed FG by Caden Davis. I said earlier in the week that we needed to make all expected kicks. That miss kept the game scoreless early.
C. The missed block by Jordan Watkins on 4th and 1 inside the 15. I thought we should take the points there, but I was not totally against going for it either. I have never been a fan of the hurry-up and run so we can catch them off-guard stuff. Bottom line, 17 points left on the field in the 1st quarter. A 17-0 lead there basically ends the game before it gets started, much like what we witnessed at USCe last week.
4. Offensively: We had 464 yards and ran 82 plays. That should have been enough to win the game convincingly. UBIV had a great first game (for him) with over 100 yards on 11 carries and a TD. I am not going to go down that road. Repeat (to myself): I am not going to go down that road. (count to 10). The loss of Tre Harris in the 2nd half was huge. We were 11-22 on 3rd down, but that means that we GOT to 3rd down 22 times, meaning we lost on 1st and 2nd down a lot. We converted 2-3 on 4th down, but not the one in the 1st quarter in the red zone when we should have been creating separation between us and them. We gave up 6 QB sacks, most of them in critical times. We really need Warren and James back. They started more than 3 dozen games in a row apiece for a reason. The bottom line, we didn't make plays, convert plays, run when we needed to run, in the big, game-changing moments.
5. Defensively: We held LSU to 84 yards rushing, and their QB only completed 43% of his passes (22-51). Further, LSU was only 6-16 on 3rd down and 2-3 on 4th down. If you tell me those stats before the game, I will tell you that we beat LSU handily. Bottom line, we never got after the QB, recording 0 sacks, and allowed LSU to complete both of their 4th down conversions in the final drive of the game, including the game-tying TD on 4th and 5. They made the plays, we didn't. It is that simple.
6. Coaching: Man, I don't know. I could go a lot of ways here. LSU dialed up some good calls in key situations, both offensively and defensively, while we seemed to be discombobulated at times, especially on offense. I didn't get why we tried to move the ball with less than 30 seconds left in the half. I know we didn't expect a turnover, but that play ended up being huge. I don't understand at all how we can't seem to get the ball to Prieskorn, Watkins, or Wells. When Tre Harris went out, it seemed like we were Hansel and Gretel, just wandering in the wilderness, searching for the way to go with a bewildered look on our faces. JD particularly had a bewildered look much of the 2nd half. Did the crowd get to us? Perhaps, I don't know.
LSU also did a good job of creating mismatches on the final drive and on the OT TD. They found our weak link and pounced on it, and we did not adjust. I am not calling names, but we all know. I am a simple-minded guy who coached simple methods at the HS level, so I may not know all the intricacies of cover 1, 2, 4, etc. That said, I do know that I would have done things differently in the secondary, particularly in OT after seeing how they attacked us on their last drive. Great job by their coaches. #hattip. I stated in my preview that proper alignment/assignment in the secondary was a MUST DO, and we obviously failed in that aspect of the game.
7. Special Teams: The early miss by Davis was much bigger than the 3 points we would have recorded. It was a psychological trend that encompassed the entire beginning of the game, leading to the psyche of both teams trending the way they trended for the remainder of the game. To his credit, he nailed the long bomb in OT to give us the lead, but that just set up LSU's approach to their possession that resulted in the TD.
8. Officiating: I have watched Ole Miss football for the majority of my life, and it always has seemed to me that we get the short end of the officiating. Further, it has always seemed that, in big games, we always got the one officiating crew that, in my, and lots of other Ole Miss people not named Neal (or Chase) minds, seemed to "have it out" for Ole Miss. That list included Penn Wagers, Tom Ritter, Steve Shaw, Matt Austin, and now Ken Williamson. I have thought about this since the game ended last night, and I still draw a blank. I can't think of a single game of significance (Not a game like Furman or MTSU) where we won a big SEC game officiated by Ken Williamson's crew. Last night was no exception. We had 12 penalties for 110 yards. At least 5 were holding calls. LSU had 6 penalties for 45 yards. A couple of points:
A. Were we guilty of all of these penalties: Most of them, Yes. I only saw one call, the hold on McIntyre in OT, that was completely ticky-tack. Was that a big call? Absolutely!
B. LSU threw the ball 51 times. Their offensive line did such a good job against one of the nation's best front 7s that they only held ONE TIME?
C. Was the number of NON-CALLS on LSU a factor? One example: Juice Wells being TACKLED by a defender instead of playing the ball, and there is NO PI CALL?
D. Was Weeks hit on JD a textbook case for targeting? JD was giving up, sliding. Weeks hit JD, a defenseless player, helmet to helmet, nearly knocking JD's helmet off? Did Weeks mean to do it? (Probably not, but is the assumption of intent applied in other cases) I have never seen such a textbook case of targeting reversed because of what the official interpreted as the intent of both players. Who made that call? Ken Williamson? Birmingham? BOTH! Final question: Was Weeks' presence on the field for the remainder of the game a factor? ABSOLUTELY!
9. What is next? Well, according to guys on this site, whose opinion I respect very much, this is likely a death knell to our season. I want to present another opinion. We have an open date. We need to use it to get some guys back, recharge the batteries, and prepare for the stretch run. We likely have to go 5-0 the rest of the way to make the CFP. We can't go 5-0 until we go 1-0 against Oklahoma on October 26. There is a lot of football left to be played. We have daunting road trips to Arkansas and Florida, both of which we haven't won since 2008 (like LSU). We have the Georgia Bulldogs coming in on Nov, 9th. We have a vastly improving MSU team to close the season. Bottom Line: The SEC is a BEAR. NIL has blurred the lines of competitiveness to make it much more akin to the NFL. We have to take it one week at a time. 1-0 against Oklahoma is all we need to focus on at this point.
10. Hot Take: At least one team from either the Big 10 or the SEC (or maybe both) will get in the 12-team CFP with a 9-3 record as a 10 or 11 seed. Mark it down. Last year, the number 11 team in the final regular season poll was... Ole Miss at 10-2 You only had to go down to #13 to find a 9-3 team (LSU). Unlike last year, several of the teams in the top 11 last year played in different conferences where they didn't have as many difficult conference games. 12 of the top 13 from last year are now in the SEC or Big 10. My point is, there will be more mayhem this year. They will play and beat each other this year. This season is not over. The road is more difficult than it had to be, but it isn't over.
