Three up
O’Brother, there art thou: Sophomore tight end Travis Dickson led the Tigers in receiving yards this Saturday. If the name sounds familiar, it should. He’s the younger brother of former LSU all-Southeastern Conference tight end Richard Dickson, and he provided the first pass receiving threat the Tigers have seen in a while. Dickson hauled in a 30-yard pass and could prove to be a force in LSU’s future offensive attack.
Picks and Fumbles, that’s what LSU does: While it was letting the Rebels’ wide receivers run free for much of the game, the LSU defense did manage to keep the Tigers in the game by forcing four turnovers in the contest. Junior cornerback Tharold Simon even got into the mix after he was burned several times in the first half. The defense has forced turnovers at a prolific rate this season with 17 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries
OBJ to the house: In a back-and-forth game, Odell Beckham Jr.’s 89-yard punt return for a touchdown was the clear-cut game changer. It may not go down in LSU lore like a certain other punt return against Ole Miss, but it was incredibly important for the Tigers on Saturday. Beckham only contributed two catches on the day, but his punt return was more than enough to make up for a quiet offensive showing.
Three Down
Swing and a Miss: The normally sure-tackling LSU defense had a poor showing at times against Ole Miss, especially on quarterback Bo Wallace’s 58-yard touchdown run. After most of the defense bit on the fake handoff, Wallace wheeled around the corner and made both Eric Reid and Craig Loston whiff. He then outran LSU’s leading tackler to paydirt. This shouldn’t be a problem moving forward, but you can bet defensive coordinator John Chavis will have some fun tackling drills in store for his defense this week.
Pass defense: It’s rare that a secondary can pick off three passes and still end up with a bad game overall, but LSU accomplished that feat Saturday. Junior cornerback Tharold Simon got absolutely torched by Ole Miss sophomore wide receiver Donte Moncrief for a 56 yard touchdown in the first quarter, setting the tone for the game. Moncrief added a 30 yard reception in the third quarter to finish with two touchdowns and 161 yards on only six catches. The three interceptions bailed out the secondary, but don’t expect that to happen again.
Three is the unlucky number: The Tigers’ three turnovers kept the game closer than it should have been. LSU was just eight yards away from scoring a touchdown when Mettenberger threw his first interception of the game, which he followed with another pick on LSU’s next drive. Jarvis Landry’s fourth quarter fumble gave Ole Miss an opportunity to pull ahead, but luckily for LSU, the Tigers’ defense showed up when it had to with two momentous sacks.
