The atmosphere of Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night is unlike any other and on the night when the 1958 National Championship team was being honored, LSU (5-0, 2-0 SEC) had some of that magic en route to a 45-16 win over Ole Miss (3-2, 0-2 SEC).
On the second play from scrimmage, Grant Delpit came up huge with his second interception of the season to get LSU the football at their own 47-yard line. Joe Burrow marched the Tigers offense down the field, but stalled at the Ole Miss 34-yard line and Cole Tracy wound up hitting the crossbar on a 53-yard field goal.
That gave the Rebels new life and they took advantage of it, getting down to the LSU 13-yard line but had to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Luke Logan to give them an early lead. It didn’t last long though as LSU marched down the field with a six-play drive that ended with Ja’Marr Chase getting into the endzone for the touchdown from 21-yards out.
After forcing Ole Miss to go three-and-out, LSU found paydirt once again, this time courtesy of the run game with Nick Brossette capping off a nine-play drive with a quick jaunt into the endzone. Things continued to go LSU’s way thanks in large part to Delpit’s performance on the following drive highlighted by a sack on Jordan Ta’amu on third down. That helped LSU make it 21-3 with Clyde Edwards-Helaire pushing it into the endzone from three-yards out.
Things really started to get out of hand though when Burrow connected with Justin Jefferson from 65-yards out to make it 28-3. Just before halftime, it felt like the Rebels were going to make a dent in the scoreboard, but wound up settling for a chip-shot field goal after Ta’amu threw an incompletion in the endzone to Octavious Cooley on third down from the one-yard line.
It was another slow start in the second half with Ole Miss scoring late in the third quarter off of a one-yard run by Scottie Phillips to make it 28-13. LSU immediately responded after that with a quick march down the field that resulted in another touchdown pass to Jefferson to make it 35-13.
After field goals made by both teams, the Tigers put the ballgame on ice late in the fourth quarter when Joe Burrow took in himself from 35 yards out.
LSU will make a road trip to Gainesville next Saturday with kickoff set for 2:30 pm.
-Clint Domingue