No. 20 Ole Miss Host No. 13 LSU in the Magnolia Bowl Rivalry

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels returns home this weekend to tangle with the No. 13 LSU Tigers in a SEC West showdown on Saturday night. Kickoff of the Magnolia Bowl is set for 5 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN.

Ole Miss (3-1, 0-1) is coming off of its first loss of the season to then No. 13 Alabama 24-10 in Bryant-Deny Stadium.

Against Alabama wide out Zakhari Franklin made his Ole Miss debut. He recorded one reception for 16 yards. Prior to stepping on to campus Franklin played four-years at UTSA as a starter. Franklin is the FBS active career leader in receptions (263) and ranks second in receiving yards (3,364).

The Rebels are led by quarterback Jaxson Dart has thrown for 1,096 yards with seven touchdowns and just two interceptions through four games.

Ole Miss’ offense is averaging 22.4 seconds per play this season which has them No. 5 in the FBS.

This season, the defense is under the direction of new defensive coordinator Pete Golding who has the defense swarming to the ball. The Rebels’ defense has at least 6.0 TFL (tackles for loss). Ole Miss ranks 11^th in the FBS in both sacks and TFL.

LSU enters the week 3-1 overall and 2-0 in SEC play, and is coming off an exciting 34-31 back-and-forth victory against Arkansas on Sept. 23. The Tigers are ranked No. 12 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 13 in the AP rankings. Their lone loss of the year came in their season-opener against No. 8 Florida State, a 45-24 loss at the Camping World Kickoff game.

LSU is led by dual-threat quarterback Jayden Daniels, who leads the SEC in passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing efficiency, yards per completion and total offense, highlighting the SEC’s top-ranked offense in scoring (42.8 ppg) and total offense (530.0 ypg). Daniels has two dynamic options in the passing game in national top-15 receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., who both average more than 100 yards per game receiving.

 Helping supplement that offense is extreme discipline on both sides of the ball, as LSU is the SEC’s least-penalized team with just 15 flags this season.

Saturday marks the latest chapter in the rivalry that goes back 111 meetings between the Rebels and the Tigers. LSU holds a 65-41-4 advantage in the series. The Magnolia Bowl trophy was introduced in 2008.