The cracks in the foundation were there for LSU throughout the early season slate, and Ole Miss made them fissures Saturday afternoon in Oxford. It’s back to the drawing board for Brian Kelly following his fourth-ranked Tigers’ 24-19 loss to the Rebels, who have situated themselves in the top-tier of the SEC nearing midseason.
It’s College Football Playoff or bust this season for Kelly, and he knows it, especially after his program pushed all of its resources toward the center of the table this offseason and equipped him with one of the most talented rosters in the country through the transfer portal.
A Week 5 conference loss on the road is an eye-opener for a team that has largely struggled offensively, from protecting its franchise quarterback in Garrett Nussmeier behind a banged up offensive line to finding any semblance of a rushing attack.
This is when the pressure really mounts for Kelly, whose team still has to play four nationally ranked SEC opponents over their final seven games of the season. Projected as a playoff entry coming into the weekend, LSU now must take advantage of remaining opportunities with few slip-ups over the next two months to try and finish with double-digit wins.
The opening victory at Clemson no longer holds much significance in the nonconference, and the Tigers’ first SEC victory over Florida earlier this month came against a team in the middle of a spiral.
LSU has now lost three straight to Ole Miss away from Tiger Stadium, its last win coming during the 2019 national championship season. That’s where the program’s decision-makers and mega boosters expect to ascend under Kelly, but he’s now lost eight times over his first 26 SEC games and, in another spotlight opportunity, got out-coached head to head.
How it happened … and how will LSU respond?
Ole Miss went gap to gap throughout and beat the Tigers at the point of attack, pounding one of the country’s best defenses and staying one step ahead on third down.
Kelly knows the margin for error was always small with this team. He showed as much a few weeks ago after going nuclear on a reporter following LSU’s win over Florida after his offense failed to show. The Tigers made enough plays to win, piggy-backing off five interceptions from DJ Lagway to prevail.
There were no gifts to be had this time around against a quality conference opponent, besides a fumble from Ole Miss wideout Cayden Lee into the end zone in the first half. Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss kept the chains moving several times with his legs and executed the 2-minute flawlessly at the end of the first half with a fourth-down conversion following by a play-action touchdown pass to Lee with 13 seconds to play in the second quarter.
Ole Miss led 17-7 at the break despite 10 penalties, another point of frustration for Kelly and a staff that simply had no answers for what Lane Kiffin, Charlie Weis Jr. and this team was hurling at them. Chambliss’s fourth-and-3 connection to Dae’Quan Wright to ice it was icing on the cake, sending Kiffin into jubilation on the sideline.
While the Rebels’ playoff path is now crystal clear with one of the SEC’s most favorable schedules left, LSU will likely have to finish 6-1 the rest of the way to ensure an at-large spot in the 12-team bracket.
The Tigers have to play Vanderbilt, Alabama and Oklahoma away from home and host unbeaten Texas A&M in a few weeks. It’s a brutal stretch for a team that assumed it would be entering October without a loss.
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