OXFORD, Miss. — There’s something about crimson and Yale blue that brings out the worst in LSU senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
Heading into Saturday’s contest against unranked Ole Miss, Mettenberger had only one game in his LSU career where he tossed multiple interceptions. A season ago, the Tiger quarterback threw two consecutive third-quarter interceptions in a shootout victory against the Rebels.
Mettenberger continued his poor history against Ole Miss on Saturday with his worst statistical game of the season. This time, though, his performance dampened his squad’s hopes of a potential Southeastern Conference Championship Game appearance.
“I felt like I was really prepared for this game,” Mettenberger said. “I feel like I did some good things tonight, but overall I played pretty crappy.”
Mettenberger finished the night 19-of-33 for 274 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, the most picks he has ever thrown in a game.
All three interceptions were on throws targeting junior wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. down the field.
Stretching the field hasn’t been an issue for Mettenberger in 2013, as he has completed 11 passes of 30 yards or more and five that eclipsed the 40-yard mark.
That being said, the Watkinsville, Ga., native simply underthrew his intended target downfield on each of his interceptions as he and his receivers struggled to mesh throughout the evening.
“I don’t think it was a disconnect with the wide receivers,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “I felt like there were some balls that could have been caught. I think we needed to push to the big play. Again, that’s on me. I could have easily said, ‘Let’s [throw] an intermediate throw’ — my fault.”
Miles took the blame for the loss in its entirety, sternly claiming in the minutes after the loss he did a “piss-poor job” of preparing his team to play in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
In turn, Mettenberger’s receivers weren’t ready to throw their passer under the bus following Saturday’s loss.
It was a rough night for the offense as a whole, as the LSU run game only totaled 114 yards against the No. 12 rush defense in the conference. Playing from behind also forced LSU offensive coordinator Cam Cameron to abandon the ground game late, putting more pressure on Mettenberger to execute.
When the night was over, it was Ole Miss’ fifth-best SEC pass defense that executed effectively.
“It’s on the offense,” said junior wide receiver Jarvis Landry. “It’s not mainly on one particular guy. It’s everybody who could’ve done a little bit better job, and I think that we just put ourselves in an unfortunate hole that we couldn’t climb out of.”
Ole Miss defensive coordinator Dave Wommack designed a game plan to shut down the LSU deep ball, and it worked to perfection against one of the better wide receiver tandems in the nation.
On numerous occasions, the Rebels dropped safeties deep into coverage, flying around center field and waiting for Mettenberger to launch a pass.
Mettenberger tried to connect with Beckham deep three times, and three times an extra Ole Miss defender was waiting for the football to finish its looping arc back to earth.
“I am real pleased with the defensive plan and the turnovers they created,” said Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze. “We knew it would be a handful. These guys hadn’t played any and they had to go out and guard Odell Beckham Jr. It makes our joy that much greater.”

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Lauren Duhon

LSU senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger (8) sets up to pass the ball Saturday, October 19, 2013 during the Tigers' 27-24 loss against Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.