Enough Blame to Go Around in Ole Miss’ Loss to LSU

Figuring out exactly who’s responsible for Ole Miss’ 29-26 loss to LSU on Saturday night is going to be difficult. It’s a team loss, but everybody will have things they’d like a do-over about.

For whatever reason, the Rebels just seem to have this over-riding desire to shoot themselves in the foot on key plays early. To prove they’ve mastered it, they repeat throughout the game.

How else can you explain 12 penalties for 110 yards as a gift to the Tigers?

Somehow, it’s hard to fathom Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is coaching them all week to do that. He has talked about that repeatedly all season long, but he can’t simply sit everybody on the bench.

You can legitimately blame an entire offensive line continuing to under-achieve. They couldn’t get a yard for a first down on the Tigers’ 4 and quarterback Jaxson Dart was under pressure seemingly all night.

Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) is sacked by LSU Tigers safety Major Burns (8) during the second half at Tiger Stadium. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Dart, on the other hand, missed several chances to run for first downs and tried for the big play. With leading receiver Tre Harris out with an injury, the others made some nice plays, but so did LSU. The Rebels couldn’t make THE big play when it was needed most.

The defense actually played well enough to win. Oh, there were breakdowns, but that happens every game. The Tigers have highly-ranked players on scholarship, too. They simply couldn’t get off the field when they needed to in the second half.

Folks can also blame the College Football Playoff committee, too. Expanding to 12 teams this year is looking more and more like we may see multiple teams with two losses there.

Don’t say it couldn’t happen. Not this year.

If nothing else, this game proved the SEC is becoming more like the junior varsity for the NFL than ever before. The overwhelming majority of pro games and now Power 4 games comes down to the last possession in the final minute.

It happened to Ole Miss at Tiger Stadium. Blame whoever you want and there’s probably a reason to justify it.

But none of that really matters now. If this was a stay-alive game for the playoffs (it probably wasn’t), the rest of the season is going to revert back to normal. None of that has been seem much this season.

Looking at the Rebels’ schedule, you can see a clear path to a 10-win year. That would now include a win over Georgia, but they aren’t exactly dominating folks this year. That winnable schedule the rest of the way could create a strength of schedule argument at the end of the year.

That won’t bode well for the Rebels.

LSU Tigers cornerback Ashton Stamps (1) blocks a pass intended for Ole Miss Rebels wide receiver Tre Harris (9) during the second half at Tiger Stadium. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

It also gives you someone else to blame. Whoever put together the schedule this year won’t win any prizes because things haven’t been the same for Ole Miss fans since they got to SEC games.

The best advice is just let things play out. This is a bad year to start going into a panic now.