OXFORD, Miss. — It came down to one second of one drive.Down by two points, sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson and the LSU offense stood at the Ole Miss 32-yard line Saturday, in prime position to win the game after a lifeless performance from the offense.The turn of events that led to the game’s final outcome left the team and fans in sheer disbelief.On second down, Jefferson took a sack — his fourth of the day — for a loss of 9 yards that knocked LSU (8-3, 4-3) out of field goal range with 32 seconds to play.LSU was driven back again on the next play, a swing pass to sophomore running back Stevan Ridley that lost 7 yards.Rather than call the team’s final timeout immediately after the play was finished, the clock dwindled to nine seconds, leaving LSU with only one option for victory — a Hail Mary pass to the end zone — which junior wide receiver Terrance Toliver caught 6 yards short of the goal line.The game clock read one second.The field goal unit remained on the sideline, and time expired with the score staring LSU in the face — Ole Miss 25, LSU 23.The loss dropped LSU seven spots from No. 10 to No. 17 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls and from No. 8 to No. 15 in the BCS standings. Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3) jumped back in the rankings, garnering a No. 20 ranking by the AP and a No. 25 ranking in the coaches poll.Miles was asked after the game why the coaches called passing plays instead of running plays when the team was in field goal range. Senior running back Keiland Williams was out of the game with an apparent broken bone in his ankle.”We suggested a run, but [offensive coordinator] Gary [Crowton] had a good thought that the ball would be incomplete at worst,” Miles said. “We didn’t want to turn it over, and we lost a runner and were down to Ridley, who in my opinion would have done a great job right there.”Ridley said he thought LSU would call a timeout sooner after his catch on a screen pass lost 7 yards.”I was expecting a timeout, but it didn’t happen,” Ridley said. “We were unprepared for the situation that came up … If we would have done things differently, maybe we would have had a different outcome.”Miles said there was confusion with trying to call a timeout sooner, which caused 17 precious seconds to evaporate from the game clock.”I heard timeouts being called verbally,” Miles said. “I’m repeating, but I’m not getting it to the official apparently. Those seconds that ticked off before would have certainly made a difference because if we [spike] the ball, we then have the opportunity to kick the field goal to win.”With one second to play, Jefferson said the “signal-caller” told him to spike the ball.Miles said there was no chance to spike the ball, and he took responsibility for the fiasco that led to LSU’s third loss of the season.”The blame without question is when my quarterback needs to throw it away, and we’re calling a timeout to save as much clock time as we can, but then we’re late to the field,” Miles said. “That was my mistake. It’s my fault we didn’t finish first in that game.”LSU had an opportunity to tie the game after freshman wide receiver Rueben Randle’s second touchdown of the game put LSU just two points behind Ole Miss with 1:17 to play.A fade route pass from Jefferson to Toliver failed on the Tigers’ first chance at a two-point conversion, but an Ole Miss pass interference penalty gave LSU another chance, and the offense ran the same futile play.The final stroke of good fortune came LSU’s way when junior kicker Josh Jasper executed a successful onside kick to senior wide receiver Brandon LaFell, giving LSU the chance to score the winning points.”It’s almost amazing that we had as many big breaks as we did and not come out with the win,” Ridley said. “From the onside kick to the ball we threw down there to Terrance, to being on the goal line. As a team you have to learn and move on.”LSU punted six times in the second half and finished with 290 yards of total offense — just 40 on the ground — compared to Ole Miss’ 426 yards.The winning points for Ole Miss came on a halfback pass from senior running back Dexter McCluster to senior wide receiver Shay Hodge, McCluster’s first career completion, with 13:33 left in the game.McCluster gashed LSU’s defense throughout the day and had 24 carries for 148 yards. —-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]