Behind the Box Score: Ole Miss

There is a bit of a delay in this week’s box score column because I’m trying to recover from being viciously blocked by Jamal Adams. Actually, it is because it took LSU’s website longer than normal to get the box score of up for some reason. But I’m sticking with my first story.

Let’s get into our dive of the box score, starting with the most obvious note.

284. New LSU record for most rushing yards in a game. If you’ll think back, Fournette has been knocking on this door for some time, but it seems like he keeps getting big runs wiped off the board (at Syracuse, especially). It seemed like the world was conspiring against Fournette breaking the record which should rightfully be his. Well, no runs got called back this weekend, and he broke the record with ease.

515. It’s not like the rest of the offense took the day off. Derrius Guice kicked in 57 yards rushing and Danny Etling threw for over 200 yards again, as LSU topped 500 yards of total offense again. Since taking over the job, Ensminger has guided LSU’s offense to 634, 459, and now 515 yards. It’s nice to have a productive offense again.

107. Ole Miss’ yards rushing. While Fournette was setting school records, Ole Miss could not get a thing going on the ground. The Rebels’ longest rush of the game went for all of 11 yards. This game was won on the ground on both sides of the ball. LSU ran at will, while Ole Miss couldn’t run the ball at all.

3-15. Over the past few years, tight ends have eviscerated the LSU defense fairly routinely. It even happened again this year against Wisconsin in the season opener. Quality tight ends give the LSU defense fits. Well, the top tight end in the country came in and barely made a dent on the scoreboard or over the game at all. Engram was almost a complete non-factor in the game.

12. Ole Miss’ longest drive in the second half until their very last drive, when the game was well in hand. Ole Miss came into the second half tied, and wet three and out on the first three drives of the half. Ole Miss then capped a 5-play, 12-yard drive with an interception, and then two more three and outs. The interception drive was Ole Miss’ only dirve in the second half until the game-ender that gained over 10 yards. The defense shut things down.

15. Duke Riley had himself a night. He had 15 tackles, 1.5 for a loss. He added a pick to the total on what was probably the best game of his career. However, to give Riley more credit, he has quietly been having a great month, amassing double digit tackles in three of his last four games.