Breaking a school record with 250 rushing yards against Ole Miss (3-7, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) Saturday night in Tiger Stadium, LSU tailback Alley Broussard also broke the Rebels’ hearts with a seven-yard touchdown run to propel the Tigers to a 27-24 win.
“I had a big smile on my face like I do right now,” Broussard said about his reaction to breaking the single-game rushing record. “That’s a great achievement. I’ve got to give it to my [offensive] line.”
Broussard also had a pair of one-yard rushing touchdowns in the first quarter to give LSU (8-2, 5-2) an early 14-3 lead. He averaged 9.6 yards per carry in the game, including four rushes for more than 20 yards. His longest run for the evening was 58 yards.
Broussard said he did not mind the heavy workload.
“I felt like I could have carried it more, but I’m a team player,” Broussard said. “I was in the zone … I got my mind right and felt confident before the game. I felt like I was going to have a great game tonight.”
LSU offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said creating holes for Broussard to run through was easy.
“He hits it hard, he hits it full speed, and he’s not scared to hit anyone,” Whitworth said. “He’s not going to let up, and you’re either going to get out of the way or you’re going to stand in the way and get run over.”
When Broussard was not carrying the load, Joseph Addai chipped in for 7.6 yards per carry with 107 yards in the game. It was the first time two LSU rushers eclipsed the 100-yard mark in a game since 1999.
The Tigers gained 360 yards on the ground while passing for only 81 yards.
“That was the difference in the game — our ability to control the line of scrimmage,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “[But] we have to figure out a way we can pass the ball more effectively and create more balance on our offense.”
Bad decisions from both passers and receivers made it difficult for the Tigers to move the ball early in the game, Saban said.
“We basically let them stay in the game, and they thought they could win the game,” Saban said. “That’s our fault for not doing it and not making the plays we needed to make when we had a chance to get ahead of them early in the game.”
Redshirt freshman JaMarcus Russell was the guilty party in the third quarter when he threw an interception that resulted in a 48-yard touchdown return by Rebels cornerback Trumaine McBride.
Rebels quarterback Robert Lane ran into the end zone for the two-point conversion, giving Ole Miss its only lead of the game, 24-17.
Giving up big plays on defense and special teams also made the game tighter than it should have been, Saban said. The Rebels’ last two drives before halftime shifted the momentum in their favor, he said.
It appeared LSU had forced Ole Miss to punt late in the second quarter when punter Cody Ridgeway pulled the ball down and ran for a 22-yard gain on fourth-and-three to keep the drive going.
Lane completed the nine play, 88-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run, and Ole Miss trailed 14-13.
The Tigers answered back with a 51-yard field goal from Chris Jackson, who also made a 42-yarder and missed from 47, to extend the lead to 17-13.
But a questionable call giving Ole Miss two extra seconds to snap the ball before the half gave Rebels place kicker Jonathan Nichols enough time to tag on a 22-yard field goal. He had kicks of 27 and 49 yards earlier in the half.
The Tigers held a 17-16 advantage at the break.
“[The referee] basically gave them three points,” Saban said about the call.
Saban said there were other blown calls in the game but pointed the finger at his team for putting itself in such compromising situations.
“There’s a thousand things we can correct from this game,” Saban said. “We gave them some field position in the kicking game that kept drives alive for them and kept us backed up in a hole.”