It was unfamiliar territory to say the least.
The Tigers’ secondary, which had only allowed an average of 166 passing yards per game this season, allowed 316 passing yards in Saturday’s 41-35 win against Ole Miss.
Saturday’s total is the most passing yards No. 8 LSU (9-2) has given up this season and the most since giving up 463 to West Virginia last season.
Drive after drive, play after play, Ole Miss (5-6) sophomore quarterback Bo Wallace found gaping holes in the Tigers’ secondary.
The Rebels averaged 19.8 yards per completion, with half of their 18 completions gaining 20 yards or more.
Acclaimed LSU defenders like junior safeties Eric Reid and Craig Loston, and junior cornerback Tharold Simon struggled to cover the Rebels’ receivers.
The group gave up 161 yards and two touchdowns to Ole Miss wide receiver Donte Moncrief — the most passing yards for a single opposing wide receiver since West Virginia receiver Tavon Austin had 187 against the Tigers last season.
“I made mistakes. Craig made mistakes. We all made mistakes,” Reid said. “It’s just something we need to clean up. It shouldn’t be happening this late in the season, but sometimes we have a bad day.”
LSU coach Les Miles said Ole Miss exploited a weakness the Tigers didn’t know they had.
But Ole Miss’ success will help the Tigers because it gave the defense the opportunity to learn from its mistakes and fix its weaknesses, Miles said.
Despite LSU’s poor performance in pass coverage, the defense produced opportune plays that carried it to victory.
The defense intercepted three passes, which spurred the Tigers’ offense and kept them in the game, that had become an offensive shootout in the second half.
“As a defensive back, you have to have amnesia,” Reid said. “If somebody makes a big play, you have to forget it and line up and play it again. We gave up some big plays that we didn’t want to, but at the end of the day, we lined up and came up clutch when we needed to.”
Junior defensive end Barkevious Mingo said the defensive line made its mission at halftime to put more pressure on Wallace, forcing him to make bad throws to help their struggling secondary, and it did just that.
Late in the fourth quarter with Ole Miss driving in LSU territory, sophomore defensive tackle Anthony Johnson and senior defensive end Lavar Edwards forced consecutive second and third down sacks in what might have been the biggest defensive series of the game.
The net loss of 18 yards on the sacks forced Ole Miss out of comfortable field goal range. The Rebels ultimately attempted a long 53-yard field goal to take the lead, which Ole Miss kicker Bryson Rose missed.
Miles said big plays like the interceptions, those two sacks and sophomore wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s 89-yard punt return to tie the game early in the fourth quarter are what saved the Tigers’ victory.
“It was [Ole Miss’] night,” Miles said. “…But when you find a team that fights beyond that, when it’s never their night, but somehow, someway, they’re going to win—man, that’s special.”
