How Ole Miss football lost control at LSU in the final seconds

BATON ROUGE, La. — Answers come easier after blowout losses.

And Ole Miss football’s 29-26 overtime loss at LSU was anything but a blowout. The No. 8 Rebels (5-2, 1-2 SEC) did not trail in regulation against LSU (4-2, 1-1) but surrendered a game-tying touchdown pass with 27 seconds left when LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier hit sophomore Aaron Anderson in the end zone on fourth-and-5.

After Ole Miss had to settle for a long field goal to start overtime, LSU won the game in one play. Nussmeier lofted a pass down the right sideline to senior receiver Kyren Lacy. He elevated and caught it, sending the crowd of more than 100,000 into a frenzy that spilled on to the field.

“I’m really disappointed, obviously,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “We should’ve won that game. We kind of commanded the game for the majority of it. But credit to them for making plays late in the fourth quarter and overtime.”

The Rebels outgained LSU in total yards, 464 to 421. The disparity was especially apparent on the ground, where Ole Miss more than doubled LSU’s rushing output, 180 to 84. For most of the first half and even into the second, the Rebels had a noticeable, if unsteady, control of the game.

“I don’t understand how we lost,” Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart said. “They did a few game-plan things. I don’t understand how we lost.”

Perhaps the Rebels’ second offensive play was a harbinger of things to come. Receiver Tre Harris, who entered the game as the nation’s leading receiver, dropped a deep ball from Dart that looked like it would’ve been an 81-yard touchdown.

In the second quarter, Ole Miss got the ball on its 25-yard line with 26 seconds left. Dart completed a 5-yard pass to running back Henry Parrish, who had the ball torn from his hands. Instead of the clock running out and the Rebels running through the tunnel with a 17-10 lead, LSU got a free field goal.

Ole Miss also was stopped in a critical spot on a fourth-and-1 with 6:15 left in the first quarter. With the ball at the LSU 4-yard line, the Rebels snapped the ball directly to Parrish, who was dragged down for no gain.

“Those things catch up with you,” Kiffin said. “You miss a field goal. A fourth-and-1 where we don’t get it cut off so we get no points in the red zone. We hand them three points with the fumble at the end of the half. That’s why I felt like we were outplaying them, and we were the better team for the majority of the game. But you’ve got to close them out.”

Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_