LSU Tigers Defeat Ole Miss Rebels – Finish The Season 5 and 5

The LSU Tigers (4-5) faced the Ole Miss Rebels (4-4) on December 19, 2020, in the battle for the Magnolia Bowl Trophy at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA. The game ended in an LSU victory with a score of 53-48.

LSU went three and out on their first drive and punted to Ole Miss to start out the game.

Ole Miss took their first offensive drive 85 yards and capped it with a touchdown pass.

With ole Miss up 7-0, Max Johnson and the LSU offense got momentum with a first down completion to TE Kole Taylor. But that was short lived, as another punt put the football back in Rebels’ hands.

The LSU defense stood strong with a flipped field, as Ole Miss was forced to punt with the ball on their own two yard line.

The Tigers started in great field position on their third offensive drive, but settled for a 34 yard field goal from Cade York.

With a 7-3 lead and 5:35 left in the first quarter, Ole Miss got their next offensive drive taken away immediately by a first-down pick-6 courtesy of LSU’s Jay Ward.

With a 10-7 Tiger lead, the LSU defense found new life with their last takeaway and forced an Ole Miss punt on the next possession.

LSU started their next drive on the 25 yard line, but couldn’t get much going as the punting continued.

An LSU interception followed the punt, but a late hit on the Ole Miss quarterback on the play pushed the Tiger offense closer to their own goal line.

Johnson and the Tigers started at the 13 yard line and began the 2nd quarter with a big completion. A rush by Williams Jr. made it first and goal for LSU, which was followed by by a 1 yard QB sneak touchdown from Max Johnson. It was a hard fought 6 for the Tigers, as  Johnson crossed the goal line on 4th down.

LSU led Ole Miss 17-7 with 12:20 left in the first half, but a rebel kick return went for a 100 yard touchdown. #9 Jerrion Ealy took the football from almost 8 yards deep in the end zone and caught stride down the sideline for the highlight reel return.

Ole Miss kicked off to LSU, behind only 3 points with 12:03 left to play in the 2nd quarter as the Tigers would start from their own 14 yard line. They moved the ball across midfield, but were forced to punt back to the Rebels.

A good punt by Von Rosenburg pinned Ole Miss back to their own 5 yard line, giving the LSU defense another great opportunity to make a stop. But, Rebels' quarterback Matt Corral was able to scramble for a first down and get his offense out of a bind.

Corral continued to tote the rock as he pushed his team closer to mid-field. But, his finesse moving about the pocket got him trouble as Ali Gaye for the Tigers made a fantastic play that caused the ball to come out and fall into his arms for an LSU turnover.

The tiger offense took over with 6:10 left in the half after the forced fumble and recovery, starting only 40 yards out from the goal line. LSU made a gutsy call to go for it on 4th down and the call payed off as the pass to the true freshman, Keyshon Boutte, went for a touchdown.

Ole Miss was down 24-14 to LSU with 4:45 left in the 2nd quarter. The rebels didn’t have much trouble driving back down the field for a touchdown that was capped by a 1 yard carry from a true freshman, Henry Parish Jr.

The tigers came back on offense and found themselves with 1:10 left until halftime in a 3rd & 8 situation. A pass to Boutte left one yard to gain for the first down and LSU elected to go for it. Johnson took a shot downfield to a wide open Boutte for another touchdown.

With LSU up 31-21 and less than a minute left to go in the first half, it was clear that this was going to be a high scoring game. Neither team seemed like they were letting up any time soon.

The Tigers weren’t going into the locker room without making one last defensive play, as a pass was picked off by Jabril Cox. This was the fourth interception thrown by Corral in the first half.

With only 23 seconds left to play in the 2nd quarter, LSU got a field goal out of the turnover making it 34-21 going into halftime.

Ole Miss received the kick to begin the third quarter as the rain began to come down in Tiger Stadium. The rebels quickly fell to 3rd and 12, as Corrall threw a ball up that resulted in another LSU interception.

Max Johnson got the ball back in his hands and began to go to work, but the drive fizzled out and LSU settled for three to extend the lead.

Ole Miss was down 37-21 and people began to wonder if a QB change was coming for the Rebels as Corral had already thrown his 5th interception of the game.

Lane Kiffin kept with Corral, even though the Rebels desperately needed a score if they wanted to keep the ball game competitive. The quarterback wasn’t giving up, as he continued to create positive yardage with his legs and also got it going through the air.

The drive ended with a touchdown rush from Parish jr. as the Rebels closed the deficit. The score was 37-27 with 8:11 left in the 3rd quarter, as LSU held the lead.

The Tigers got the ball, but had to punt once again giving Ole Miss another opportunity to keep the game close. The Rebels took advantage of the chance and drove down for 6 more points.

With the Tigers lead dwindling, the score was 37-34 with just under 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The momentum had swung in the Rebels’ direction, but LSU found another big play via Kayshon Boutte and got into enemy territory. Unfortunately, the Tigers couldn’t score a touchdown and they settled for a Cade York 50-yard field goal.

Just down one score, the Rebels of Ole Miss got the ball back with about 2 minutes left until the 4th quarter. The Tiger defense needed to hold up, as LSU led 40-34.

A 4th and 1 conversion by Corral extended the drive and kept the LSU defense sweating. One play later, the 3rd quarter ended with a big pass completion which put Ole Miss in prime position to score as the 4th quarter began.

And boy did the Rebels capitalize, as the first play of the quarter went for a touchdown pass to #13 sanders. The extra point made the score 41-40 Ole Miss, which was their first lead since the beginning of the game.

The Tigers got the ball back and were behind by 1, but Johnson remembered his main guy in Boutte as they connected once again on a downfield pass. The momentum was mounting, but a pass into the end zone by Johnson was picked off by Ole Miss.

The Rebels kept their foot on the gas and moved well down the field. The drive was capped off by a Corral rushing touchdown on 4th & goal. The bootleg play had an additional result of the sideline judge taking a pretty tough shot from the unknowing Corral. Thankfully, he walked off of the field on his own power. The score was 48-40 with Ole Miss in the lead as 8:43 was left in the game.

Ole Miss trailed by 16 points earlier in the game, but had what felt like a commanding eight point lead as the Tigers got the ball back.

Max Johnson went to work, continuing to rely on Boutte for big downfield completions. Johnson found #1 to take the Tigers all the way down to the 1 yard line, although Boutte did limp off of the field after being tackled.

Johnson took the ball into the end zone on a QB sneak to narrow the deficit to 2 points as Coach Ed Orgeron elected to go for two in an attempt to tie the ball game.

That attempt failed and Ole Miss kept the lead at 48-46 with 5:31 to play in the game.

The Rebels got the ball back and hoped to bleed some clock to extinguish the Tigers’ chance at coming back, but quickly found themselves in a 3rd & long situation. Attempts at heroics from Corral ended with an LSU sack, as the Rebels were forced to punt from deep inside of their own territory.

LSU received the punt with 2:48 left in the 4th quarter and started at their own 44 yard line. They were looking to get into field goal range for York, as the rain and wind began to worsen in Death Valley.

Johnston dropped back to pass with just under two minutes to go and delivered another great ball to Boutte. Boutte did his thing by shedding a tackle, finding the sideline, and getting upfield to find the end zone to give LSU a 53-48 lead with only 1:34 left in the ball game. Keyshon Boutte ended the game with a stat line of 14 catches, 308 yards, and three touchdowns.

The LSU defense needed one more stop, as Corral and the Rebels hoped to move the ball once more. Ole Miss kept their eyes open in hopes of scoring again, but an LSU defender forced and recovered a fumble to take any hopes of victory away from Ole Miss.

LSU took over with :40 left in the game as they defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 53-48. That ends the LSU Tiger season with two big wins over Florida and Ole Miss.

The LSU Tigers' final record on the season is (5-5).