It’s easy to nitpick missed opportunities after a close loss.

There were plenty of those in LSU’s 55-49 loss to Ole Miss. In a game decided by a razor-thin margin, an extra contribution on either side of the ball could’ve turned the tide.

The LSU offense, for example, fumbled within opponent territory, failed to convert an end-of-half drive into points, couldn’t hold onto the ball for a closeout drive at the end of the fourth quarter and still had a chance to win the game from the opponent’s 16-yard-line.

In his post-game press conference, though, head coach Brian Kelly was quick to clarify who deserved the brunt of the blame.

“We didn’t make the plays that we needed to make [on defense],” Kelly said. “You could put it all on the offense and say, if we convert a couple drives there in the second half, we win the game. It’d be easy to say that and let our defense, you know, they did what they did.”

At the end of the day, Kelly noted, the offense played well enough to win, and the defense didn’t.

It wasn’t a hard distinction to make. The 55 points and 706 yards Ole Miss piled up served as a daunting indicator that the LSU defense, to put it generously, wasn’t up to snuff.

The bar for the Tiger offense shouldn’t have to be perfection. Seven touchdowns on 12 drives is the type of offensive output that usually wins games.

Unfortunately, LSU’s defensive performance completely erased the offense’s margin for error. The Tiger defense struggled in all aspects of the game, so much so that it’s hard to break down what specifically went wrong without simply concluding that it all did.

With that said, here are three things that particularly hampered the LSU defense during its 55-49 loss to Ole Miss.

Blown coverages and missed tackles from shuffling secondary

LSU’s defense got off to a rough start before the game began when cornerback Duce Chestnut was announced unavailable for the game. On the game’s first defensive series, starting cornerback Zy Alexander went down with an injury that took him out of the game for the rest of the half.

That left true freshman Ashton Stamps, sophomore Laterrance Welch and sophomore Denver Harris as the only options for LSU at corner. Though Alexander would eventually return and perform admirably, the Rebels picked on LSU’s weakness on the boundaries and took advantage of the missing players.

Though it’s up for debate how much better a fully healthy secondary would’ve done against an Ole Miss offense that ranks among the best in the country at generating big plays, the shuffling was certainly a detriment. LSU’s lack of depth at the position was put on full display.

“That’s who we have. There’s nobody else walking through the door,” Kelly said. “We have to keep rolling them out there, and they got to get thick-skinned.”

On a few occasions, Ole Miss challenged LSU’s cornerbacks in one-on-one coverage, including a 24-yard completion caught by Tre Harris over Welch that put the Rebels in range to take the lead on their last drive and signaled the beginning of the end for LSU.

However, for the most part, that wasn’t necessary. Receivers popped open for Ole Miss all night.

LSU’s secondary had severe issues with communication, with Ole Miss’ first touchdown coming on a play in which no one covered running back Quinshon Judkins in the flat.

The third touchdown came when Jordan Watkins found a hole behind the linebackers and in between the two high safeties, with no one seeming to want to claim the receiver.

Misunderstandings of responsibilities such as these were frequent and demonstrated the lack of synergy from an inexperienced LSU defensive backfield.

Ole Miss finished the game with 389 passing yards (234 coming after the catch) on an astronomical 15 yards per completion.

Failure to get pressure on Jaxson Dart

As poorly as the secondary played, the defensive backs should never have been in the position they were in. They got almost no support from the pass-rush and, instead, all the pressure was on LSU’s pass coverage to hold up.

LSU finished with only four pressures and no sacks, just a week after Ole Miss gave up five sacks in a 24-10 loss to Alabama. The Rebels’ offensive line looked overpowered against Alabama, and LSU was figured to have the athletes to push around the struggling linemen in this game.

That advantage didn’t materialize. Quarterback Jaxson Dart was kept clean, and, unlike KJ Jefferson the week before, he didn’t need to work very hard to evade pressure.

Dart wasn’t under duress and didn’t have to scramble often, barely using his rushing ability that had him ranked as the Southeastern Conference’s 10th-leading rusher coming into the game. Dart was able to be comfortable in the pocket and make quick decisions to pick apart the exposed LSU secondary.

Part of that was due to a well-schemed game by Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss staff. The team kept up tempo and Dart got the ball out quickly.

“You’re gonna be out there. We train all year for this,” defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo said. “I think they did a great job of really going up tempo and really getting the d-line running, a lot of outside passes.”

Part of it came from issues with the utilization of Harold Perkins Jr., who again wasn’t consistently allowed to do what he does best in getting after the quarterback and was inexplicably missing from the field on some key downs.

Ultimately, LSU’s best players couldn’t get the job done. The front seven has been considered the strength of the defense all season, but LSU’s stalwarts were non-factors. Against a struggling Ole Miss offensive line, that’s concerning.

Inability to get off the field on crucial downs

When it came to third downs and red zone downs, the LSU defense struggled despite it being one of the Rebels’ most noteworthy weaknesses. Ole Miss came into the game converting just 35.4% of its third downs into a first and 57.9% of its red zone possessions into touchdowns.

That deficiency would seem to have given LSU an easier time, but the Ole Miss offense looked calm and collected on the game’s most important plays. Despite an average distance of 7.7 yards, the Rebels converted nine of their 16 third downs, including a four for seven mark on tries with greater than nine yards to gain.

In the red zone, Ole Miss converted five of its six tries into touchdowns. Though LSU hasn’t been an elite red zone defense this year, the limited space of the red zone has at times allowed LSU’s superior athleticism, strength and closing speed to shine.

Instead, Ole Miss routinely pushed around the LSU defense in the close quarters and found wide open receivers on busted coverages.

Ole Miss looked confident and dominated in aspects of the game that it previously struggled in coming off a loss that threatened its identity. Now, LSU is faced with a similar situation going forward. How it responds will define its season.