COLUMN: Ole Miss Hit Hard in First Loss of Season
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BATON ROUGE, La., -- The Ole Miss Rebels were demolished on the road 45-20 by the LSU Tigers in Week 8, and the excitement that surrounded their previously undefeated season has all but left the building.
The Rebels kept it close in the first half, leading 20-17, but a different team came out of the tunnel after halftime, and they did not score a single point the rest of the game.
Ole Miss lost its legs and seemingly rolled over as the LSU offense piled on the points.
The offensive game plan took a sharp turn when Ole Miss running back Zach Evans was declared limited with a knee injury during pregame warmups. A stagnant run game, penalties and poor pass protection made it difficult for Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart to find his rhythm in enemy territory.
The defense looked arguably worse than the offense on Saturday as the unit failed to contain LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels who scored five total touchdowns on Saturday.
Daniels threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns but looked unstoppable with the ball in his hands, as he gashed the porous Ole Miss defense for 121 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Tackling has been an issue for Ole Miss all season, and they will need to clean up the miscues if they want to have a chance against the remainder of their schedule.
The one bright spot for the Rebels in all of this is they are still in the tight race for first place in the SEC West.
Ole Miss will have a lot to work on in practice before traveling to College Station, Tex., next week to take on the Texas A&M Aggies.
You can follow Ben King on Twitter at @BKing_2023.
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