First Impressions: LSU 58, Ole Miss 37

The Tigers scored the first 28 points of the game, staking out a 31-3 halftime lead, and then spent the next two hours eroding any and all goodwill from its fast start.

This game should have been a blowout. Hell, it WAS a blowout, LSU was up four touchdowns early, and the party was on. We were all thinking of the proper beer to pair with an LSU curb stomping of Ole Miss (I felt it was a full bodied amber, but Posette sided with a more fruity hefeweizen).

Look, let’s not ignore that the LSU offense is still setting records. Joe Burrow set the LSU single season passing record while Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson became just the third pair in SEC history with 1000 yards receiving, and they still have two regular season games to go.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire was his usual awesome self, rushing for 172 yards on 23 carries, while Team Hyphen added touchdowns when Ty Davis-Price crossed the goalline early and CEH did it last. So plenty of great things happened, but…

WTF, guys?

LSU turned a 28 point lead into a narrow 14-point game in the fourth quarter and Ole Miss had the ball in LSU territory. The defense finally got a stop on fourth down, but not until they allowed three touchdowns in the second half on the ground to John Rys Plumlee. LSU came into the game allowing a hair over 100 yards rushing per game. Plumlee took the ball for 212 yards on 21 carries for 4 touchdowns. I mean… come on, y’all.

Look, I get losing a little focus when up big, but Plumlee tore a hole in the LSU defense and then kept running through it over and over again. Ole Miss had two separate 2-play, 75-yard drives in the third quarter, turning a laugher into a game LSU had to sweat out. It’s one thing to give up a bunch of points in the second half, but at least make them run a few plays before scoring.

It was an absolutely pathetic defensive performance. Ole Miss gained 614 yards on the game, 405 in the second half. The defense turned a blowout win into a nearly tense game down the stretch.

And don’t think it was just the defense. Joe Burrow threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter, on consecutive drives. Really, all the LSU offense had to do was not turn the ball over, and they couldn’t do that, letting Ole Miss back in the game and keeping the defense on the field. The defense was worse, but the offense wasn’t helping.

Ja’Marr Chase finally broke the thing open with yet another touchdown reception. He had 8 catches for 227 yards and 3 TD, so at least somebody showed up tonight, but even then… LSU still allowed a 55 yard touchdown pass after Chase seemingly put the game away.

This was a garbage effort against a garbage team. LSU had this game won early, and then let

Ole Miss up off the mat, and turned this into a close game late. This game should have been more fun than it was.

We’ll spot you one breather after a tough win over Bama, but break time is over. Stop screwing around.