BATON ROUGE, La. — Following a hard-fought battle, Ole Miss football faced a heartbreaking 29-26 overtime defeat against LSU. The No. 8 Rebels (5-2, 1-2 SEC) maintained their lead throughout regulation against the Tigers (4-2, 1-1), but allowed a game-tying touchdown with just 27 seconds remaining when LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier connected with sophomore Aaron Anderson on a fourth-and-5 play.
In overtime, Ole Miss began with a long field goal attempt but was unable to secure a touchdown. LSU quickly ended the contest on their first play when Nussmeier threw a deep pass to senior receiver Kyren Lacy, who made the catch, igniting the enthusiasm of the crowd of over 100,000.
“I’m really disappointed, obviously,” said Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. “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.”
Despite the loss, Ole Miss outperformed LSU in total yardage, amassing 464 yards compared to LSU’s 421. The Rebels particularly dominated on the ground, racking up 180 rushing yards against LSU’s 84. For much of the game, Ole Miss held a steady, though sometimes shaky, control.
“I don’t understand how we lost,” Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart expressed. “They did a few game-plan things. I don’t understand how we lost.”
The game took an early turn when receiver Tre Harris, the nation’s leading receiver at the time, dropped a deep throw from Dart that would have resulted in an 81-yard touchdown.
In a critical second-quarter moment, the Rebels found themselves on their own 25-yard line with only 26 seconds left. Dart completed a 5-yard pass to running back Henry Parrish, who then fumbled the ball, allowing LSU to capitalize and score a free field goal, leaving the Rebels with a 17-10 lead instead of a chance to run out the clock.
Additionally, Ole Miss struggled on a pivotal fourth-and-1 play with 6:15 remaining in the first quarter at the LSU 4-yard line, failing to gain any yardage when they snapped the ball directly to Parrish.
“Those things catch up with you,” Kiffin noted. “You miss a field goal. A fourth-and-1 where we don’t get it, 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.”