LSU’s final game of the season served up a little bit of everything Saturday night. The Tigers offense put up nearly 600 yards, the defense gave up nearly 600 yards and it was a back & forth affair in the pouring rain against the Ole Miss Rebels.
Despite a depleted roster due to injuries and players leaving early, LSU was able to overcome the odds and a late rally by the Rebels offense. In only his second start LSU QB Max Johnson threw for 435 yards and three touchdown. The main beneficiary was WR Kayshon Boutte, who broke an LSU receiving record with 308 yards.
This win not only guaranteed LSU a non-losing season, but gave Coach O and his staff some confidence going into next season with the young talent on the roster.
Good:
We’ll start off with the record breaking performance on the night and that’s Boutte’s 308 yards receiving. That number overtakes Josh Reed’s 293 yard record vs Alabama in 2001. The Tigers had no JaMar Chase and no Terrace Marshall tonight, but may have found the next day UCF great LSU playmaker with Boutte’s performance vs Ole Miss. In the last three games Boutte amassed 527 receiving yards against Ole Miss, Florida and Alabama.
Another Tiger, who came up big for the second straight week, was sophomore kicker Cade York. York’s four field goals proved to be a big factor as the Tigers were able to get points on the scoreboard six of seven times in the red zone. York will look to improve on his sophomore numbers as he finished the year 21 of 27.
The final spotlight has to go to LSU’s ability to create turnovers on defense. The defense wasn’t pretty, but LSU forced Ole Miss QB Matt Corrall to throw five interceptions and a key fumble that ended the ball game. CB Jay Ward returned an interception for a touchdown and had another in the 3rd quarter. Ali Gay and Jabril Cox were two players who stood out on defense all season and were rewarded with Corrall turnovers. Bo Pelini’s defense played exceptional for the first half of the game.
Bad:
Now it wasn’t all praise for the Tiger defense. LSU went back to their old ways in the 2nd half allowing the Rebels to retake the lead in the 4th quarter. Ole Miss rushed for 130 yards in the 3rd quarter alone and 200 total in the 2nd half.
Bo Pelini’s job could be in jeopardy this off-season, but his players came through when it counted and got him out of a jam on the Rebel’s final possession. The Tigers biggest issue, giving up the big play to the opposing team, wasn’t fixed this season, and continued setback LSU in this game. The Rebels offense had six plays of 20 yards or more through the air and six additional on the ground.
We also saw a bunch of new faces on defense in this Ole Miss matchup, which included CBs Dwight McGlothern and Maurice Hampton Jr playing key roles late in the ballgame. With Derek Stingley Jr out and Eli Ricks banged up, the LSU secondary had Tiger fans searching through the roster sheet to see who the new faces were on the field.
Ugly:
The ugliest performance of the night has to go to Ole Miss QB Matt Corrall for his play in the 1st half. The Rebel QB threw four interceptions in the first half and then went on to fumble the ball with the game on the line at the LSU 27 yard line.
The Tigers won this game because of the turnover battle where they finished +5 on the night. Corrall was responsible for all six of those turnovers and kept giving the LSU offense life when they couldn’t get drives going early in the game. Surprisingly, we didn’t get to see backup QB John Rhys Plumlee enter the game. If you remember, Plumlee’s performance in Oxford last season gave the Tiger defense fits throughout the game.
Overall, the Tigers will now enter the offseason because of their bowl ban for the 2020 season. Coach Ed Orgeron will have a lot of questions to answer when it comes to his coaching staff and players opting for the NFL Draft. We also could have a QB battle on our hands because of the way Max Johnson finished the year under center.
With a season filled with uncertainty because of Covid-19, LSU took their lumps early in the year, but finished with pride. Those Tigers who were on the field tonight should be proud of themselves. LSU didn’t quit when adversity challenged them all season.
