Ole Miss vs. LSU football 2017 final score: LSU puts it on ‘em for 40 damn points

Ole Miss lost hard to LSU on Saturday night, 40-24. It was ugly, it was dirty, and it was totally expected.

Things went quite bad right from the start, with LSU throwing together a short drive that eventually fizzled out in the red zone and ended with a field goal. Ole Miss answered with a field goal of their own, then LSU picked up a touchdown on the ensuing drive. Ineptitude in the Rebs’ run defense allowed some pretty sizable breaks for the Tigers’ backfield, and that really was the story of the night.

Further, and far more concerning, Shea Patterson left the game late in the second quarter after apparently tweaking his knee on a long downfield pass that was intercepted. He later returned in the second half, but for about 30 minutes Ole Miss fans were quietly muttering in anxiety about the possibility that he may be done for the year.

Ole Miss came out to notch an early field goal in the third quarter, then gave up a touchdown to LSU, then Jordan Wilkins scampered into the end zone from the LSU 28 to give Ole Miss their first touchdown of the night. LSU answered with a touchdown on the next possession, which lasted approximately one minute.

The dream more or less died late in the third quarter, though, after Patterson threw his second pick of the night on a tip play that resulted in LSU taking over possession at their own 20. Shea had targeted AJ Brown on the attempt, but Brown’s game was off all night and he just couldn’t haul in shit. That sucks.

Anyway, we won’t speak about the second half in detail, because Ole Miss completely fell about therein, to the point that Matt Luke straight-up pulled Shea because he couldn’t walk or throw or perform basic football functions. That’s probably for the best and we’ll keep an eye on Shea’s health as the week progresses.

At any rate, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s nothing burger in Oxford.

The run defense remains a liability.

LSU racked up 385 yards of rushing yards on the night, including two rushing touchdowns. Ole Miss just can’t defend the run game this year, and their front four — which are pretty good! — were annihilated on play after play. TACKLE SOMEONE, Y’ALL.

Ole Miss’ run game on offense has perked up, however.

On the other hand, there were a few moments of clarity and happiness regarding Ole Miss’ rushing attack, which really showed out Saturday. In all, the Rebs gained 153 yards for two touchdowns themselves, one of their better performances on the year. They should build on that, because we’re the premiere Ole Miss run game blog on the web.

The powder blue helmets with numbers should become the norm.

These helmets are glorious, and they should become Ole Miss’ standard game day helmets. Full stop. Good thing they wore them for such a spectacular and shitty loss.