BATON ROUGE — Led by an overpowering ground game that featured two 100-yard rushers, the 25th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels ran over LSU, 42-23, sending the Tigers to their sixth consecutive loss Saturday night at Tiger Stadium.
The Rebel tandem of Deuce McAllister and Joe Gunn torched the Tiger defense, as Ole Miss (6-2 overall, 3-2 in SEC play) amassed better than 300 yards on the ground on the night. McAllister finished the night with 140 yards rushing, while Gunn added 135 and each scored twice.
In the end the numbers were staggering ? Ole Miss rushed 49 times for 323 yards, while the Tigers managed just 15 yards on 25 carries.
?They just knocked us off the ball all night, that?s what they decided to do,? said LSU head coach Gerry DiNardo. ?I didn?t think that they would have as much success running the ball as they did.?
McAllister and Gunn broke open what had been a close game in the fourth quarter with a pair of late touchdowns to spoil a Tiger comeback.
After Tiger quarterback Josh Booty pulled the Tigers within five at 28-23 on his third touchdown pass of the night, McAllister responded with a six-yard touchdown with 7:56 to go, then Gunn closed it with a 32-yard scamper with just under two minutes remaining.
LSU (2-6 overall, 0-6 in SEC play) jumped out in front just 6:14 into the first quarter when Booty hooked up with younger brother Abram Booty for a 27-yard scoring strike in the right corner of the end zone. The touchdown was Abram?s first of the year and was the first touchdown connection by the brothers while at LSU.
Booty had his most confident outing at the Tigers? helm, completing 22-of-38 passes for 256 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
The scoring play wrapped up a six-play 59-yard drive that took just over three minutes. The drive was kept alive by a pass interference penalty on Ole Miss on an incomplete pass to Jerel Myers on third and two from the LSU 49.
It didn?t take Ole Miss long to respond at even the game at seven. The Rebels moved 80 yards in eight plays in just 2:14 to tie the game when Romaro Miller hit Cory Peterson with a four-yard touchdown pass. Toward Sanford set up the touchdown with a 33-yard scamper deep into LSU territory.
The momentum swung in the Tigers? favor on the next Ole Miss possession when McAllister fumbled the ball and Muskingum Barnes quickly pounced on it at the Rebel 34.
Faced with a fourth-and-two at the 26-yard line, the Tigers gambled and sent Domanick Davis up the middle and the freshman delivered with a two-yard gain on the final play of the opening quarter.
On the very next play Booty opened the second quarter with his second touchdown pass of the evening, back-peddling and throwing off his back foot and finding Myers in the middle of the end zone for a 24-yard score and a 14-7 lead. Myers finished with another tremendous effort, as the true freshman hauled in nine balls for 124 yards.
Once again, Ole Miss had an answer, however. Following a kick return by McAllister to the Rebels? 41-yard line, Ole Miss methodically marched down the field on an 11-play, 59-yard drive covering nearly five minutes. Gunn pounded the ball in from the two to knot the match at 14 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half.
The Rebels appeared to be poised to take the lead on their ensuing possession. Ole Miss pounded it out on the ground behind runs of 26 yards by McAllister and 12 yards by Gunn all the way to the LSU four yard line. On first and goal from the four, however, Miller made a poor choice and tried to throw across the field where Norman LeJeune was waiting stepped in front and intercepted the pass and returned it 37 yards to the LSU 40.
Ole Miss grabbed the lead just before the end of the first half, as McAllister scored on a one-yard run with 34 second remaining in the first half to break a 14-14 tie. The touchdown was set up by a special teams miscue by the Tigers, as a bad snap on a punt resulted in an Ole Miss first down at the LSU 16-yard line with just over two minutes left in the half.
?The bad snap killed us because it basically gave them seven points and the lead heading into the locker room,? added DiNardo.
LSU received the kick to start the second half, but most a costly mistake right off the bat. On 2nd and 10 from the LSU 21, Booty dropped back and was hit while throwing. The ball wound up in the hands of Ole Miss strong safety Ronnie Heard who returned the interception 28 yards on just the second play of the second half.
LSU cut the lead to 28-17 with just under seven minutes left in the third quarter when John Corbello drilled a 43-yard field goal. The field goal was set up by a pair of Booty passes. Booty connected with Myers for a 36-yard gain to the Ole Miss 45 on third and 21. Booty then connected with brother Abram on a 12-yard hook up before the drive stalled at the Rebel 25.
Ole Miss tried to put the game away, but the Tigers got back into the game as a result of a defensive stand. Barnes came up with his second significant contribution of the evening, stuffing gun on a fourth and one at the LSU 28 yard line late in the third quarter.
The Tigers responded with a five-play 72-yard drive in just two minutes, culminating with another 27-yard strike from Josh to Abram Booty. A failed two-point conversion kept the Ole Miss lead at five, 28-23, heading into the fourth quarter.
LSU would get no closer.
The road ahead gets no easier for the Tigers. LSU travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., next weekend for a showdown with 14th-ranked Alabama, the Tigers? third consecutive game against a ranked opponent. The Tigers will have a week to bolster its run defense, as Shaun Alexander, Alabama?s Heisman Trophy candidate running back is up next.