Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Ole Miss had an explosive second half scoring on the No. 1 LSU Tigers with a total of 614 yards of offense Saturday night but fell 58-37 in the Vaught.
“Give LSU credit they are very very good,” head coach Matt Luke said. “We struggled to get off the field. In the first half, we did not play our best football. In the second half, we got the running game going competed and got some turnovers.”
Ole Miss (4-7, 2-5 SEC) put up 30 points on the scoreboard in the second half behind a strong running game as freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee rushed for 212 yards on 21 attempts against the Tigers defense with four touchdowns. The Hattiesburg native passed for 123 yards with one interception.
Freshman running back Jerrion Ealy carried the ball 13 times for 141 yards from scrimmage. His longest burst went for 49 yards.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Corral connected with Elijah Moore at the 3:19 mark of the fourth quarter with a 55-yard strike to find pay dirt. Corral finished going 6-of-9 for 89 yards in the air.
Moore was targeted nine times for 143 yards as he averaged 15.9 yards per catch.
LSU’s (10-0, 6-0 SEC) single caller Joe Burrow threw for 489 yards with five touchdowns. He finished the night completing 32-of-42 attempts with time in the first half as he hit 16 receivers in a row.
“(Burrow) is a very good player and very accurate and made some plays with his feet,” Luke said. “Big balls done the field in the first half is what I thought was the difference.”
Burrow found two different targets in Justin Jefferson (2) and Ja’marr Chase (3) for touchdowns.
“Joe (Burrow) does a great job of getting the ball to his receivers as Tua does,” defensive coordinator Mike McIntyre said. “They are a really good football team.”
The land shark defense gave Burrow trouble at times during the game as they forced two interceptions and sacked him three times.
The Tigers gained 225 yards on the ground with running back Clyde Ewards-Helaire 172 yards and a touchdown.
Ole Miss will return to the gridiron on Thanksgiving night against in-state rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl game. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.
