Rebs lost a lot more than just a game to LSU

By By Stan Torgerson / sports columnist
Nov. 24, 2003
Think of the price Ole Miss paid for losing to LSU.
They lost the opportunity to win an undisputed Western Division championship, the first football championship of any kind since 1963. With a win over Mississippi State on Thursday, they'll still get a piece of the title but it's not the same. To win it all they have to rely on Arkansas upsetiing LSU possible, but not probable.
Eli Manning probably eliminated himself as a Heisman Trophy candidate. He'll still get a lot of backing in the Southern District, but to win it he needed nationwide support. A 16-of-36 afternoon with only 200 yards passing and one touchdown won't gain it, particularly when your team loses the game. Not when your chief competitor, Oklahoma's Jason White, throws for 394 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-25 victory over respected Texas Tech the same afternoon.
Then there's placekicker Jonathan Nichols. A week ago he was named as one of only three finalists for a national honor awarded to the kicker of the year. He was 23-of-24 at that time, had won games for the Rebels with his foot and was being touted as possibly the best at his position Ole Miss had ever had. Then he missed two against LSU, the last one a 36-yarder that all season had been a chip shot for him.
Three prizes to win. Three empty shelves.
It is an accepted fact that most games are won or lost in the trenches where the offensive line and the defensive line duke it out. This one was no exception. That's where this one was won and that's where this one was lost.
The Rebel defensive line played as well as they've played all year. The secondary turned in one of their better games. But the offensive line was dominated all afternoon and the stats show it.
I can't remember one major hole opened up against the Tiger defensive front. After one half the Rebs had only three first downs. After three quarters they had four. In other words in the third period Ole Miss earned exactly one first down.
By the end of that period the Rebs had run the ball 11 times for a net gain of three yards. LSU at that point had 17 first downs and 128 yards rushing not great, but far superior to the Ole Miss effort.
Meanwhile, Manning was running for his life. The Tigers are quick and they showed it. Even when Eli did have more than a split second to get rid of the ball he was having an off-day. He would throw over the receiver's head one play, then out of reach to the side on the next.
When people asked me for an opinion before the game I would tell them and meant it there were still some questions about the ability of the defense to control the Tigers but Ole Miss could win because they could score. I predicted a shootout. As the game progressed it was obvious I had had it backward. The defense was stout and kept the Rebs in the game. The offense was helpless in the face of the LSU offensive line.
So Thursday, the Rebels play downtrodden Mississippi State. A win means a 7-1 conference record and a tie for the top with LSU. It could also mean an undisputed title if Arkansas can slip up on the Tigers next Saturday. There would be no blemish on the championship if it turns out that way. LSU would be 6-2 and would have lost to two teams Ole Miss had defeated, Florida and Arkansas. Ole Miss would finish 7-1, losing only to that bunch from Baton Rouge. In this wild 2004 season that would make the title pure.
Ole Miss fans can only hope the Rebels will go to Starkville not licking their wounds, replaying the LSU game, but with blood in their eyes and the realization that a Mississippi State win in Jackie Sherrill's last game, unexpected as it might be, would salvage a lot of pain in Starkville.
Look at what parity has done this year. Three Eastern Division co-champions, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida. Two Western Division champions, Ole Miss and LSU.
There's also a market for championship rings in Hattiesburg. I expect USM to finish off the job of winning the Conference USA title in their next game.
Two Mississippi teams and two championships. That thought helps ease the pain from Saturday.