At halftime, the LSU Tigers (6-2, 3-1 SEC) offense didn’t look pretty, but at the end of the night Derrius Guice was able to lead this team to a big 40-24 win over the Ole Miss Rebels (3-4, 1-3 SEC) in Oxford.
Darrel Williams set the tone early in the ballgame with 63 yards off a swing pass to get LSU into enemy territory. The offense stalled out and had to settle for a 35-yard field goal to take an early lead. However, Gary Wunderlich tied things up on the very next drive with a 31-yarder.
Derrius Guice began his historic night late in the first quarter with three rushes for a total of 75 yards and a touchdown to make it 10-3.
LSU’s defense came up big late in the second quarter with freshman Grant Delpit picking off Shea Patterson, setting up a lengthy 10-play drive, capped off by another field goal from Connor Culp. After the interception, Patterson came off the field with a limp and was replaced for Jordan Ta’amu who led the Rebels down the field, but had to settle for a field goal at the end of the half to cut the lead to seven points.
Derrius Guice started off the second half off right where he left off with a big run on the opening drive to the Ole Miss 23 before having to settle for another field goal from Culp. However, the Rebels were able to respond after a big kickoff return from Jalen Jones gave them solid field position and got it back within a touchdown after another field goal from Wunderlich.
Etling helped the Tigers begin to pull away about halfway through the third quarter with a five-yard run into the endzone to make it 23-9. Ole Miss was in do or die mode on the next drive and wound up getting right back in it after a 4th down conversion led to a 28-yard TD from Jordan Wilkins.
Guice responds in quick fashion with another big run to set up a shovel pass to JD Moore to make it a two-touchdown game yet again. Etling put the final nail in the coffin early in the fourth quarter with Etling connecting with a wide-open Foster Moreau on a 60-yard touchdown pass.
LSU will have next week off before taking on the Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) with kickoff currently to be determined. However, during the SEC on CBS broadcast Gary Danielson slipped up and mentioned that it would be a primetime ballgame.
-Clint Domingue