With victories by Auburn and Arkansas earlier in the day, the LSU football team knew it had to win the next two games to defend its Southeastern Conference championship against Georgia. The Tigers (8-3, 5-2 SEC) stepped up to the challenge and defeated Ole Miss (5-6, 2-5) Saturday with a solid defensive effort and two brilliant offensive drives.
Destiny still remains in the hands of the Tigers as the winner of Friday’s match against Arkansas determines who will represent the SEC Western Division in Atlanta.
“We’ve been saying it’s a one-game season for a long, long time, and now everybody knows it is,” said LSU head coach Nick Saban. “I’m happy that our players have put themselves in a position to have an opportunity to do this, and I told them before the game that everybody is always judged on how they take advantage of their opportunities. And we certainly will be in this one.”
Senior linebacker Bradie James, after his final home game as a Tiger, said the team has one more to go and he’s not stopping now.
“It’s at hand, and all I’ve got to do is just go get it and get everybody on the same page,” he said. “We’ve got a chance to become champions again. It’s what we set out to do at the beginning of the season.”
After losing two of its previous three games with a despondent effort, LSU bounced back with a strong showing on both sides of the ball. The defense held the high-scoring Ole Miss attack to 279 total yards and 13 points. The offense ran for 134 yards and passed for 188 yards.
The quarterback controversy coming into the game ended abruptly as redshirt freshman Rick Clausen fumbled twice, threw an interception and missed most of his marks in the first quarter, finishing 2-of-6 for nine yards.
Sophomore Marcus Randall entered the game in the second quarter and opened with a nine-play, 45-yard drive that ended with a LaBrandon Toefield fumble. Toefield fumbled twice on the night, and Domanick Davis fumbled once — each critical to the game.
“We made a lot of mistakes in the game, there’s no doubt,” Saban said. “We fumbled the ball five times, lost three. They all hurt us. We had one other interception. We got three interceptions on defense, but probably had our hands on a few more balls.”
Down 10-0 with 56 seconds left before halftime, the Tigers went to the no-huddle offense. Randall had been successful in no-huddle situations in previous games, such as right before the half at Kentucky, and this time was no different. He marched LSU 76 yards downfield on seven passing plays for the touchdown — the kind of drive not seen from this year’s Tigers.
Devery Henderson caught the 19-yard touchdown reception, but broke his arm in the process, and he will miss the remainder of the season. The loss of Henderson will be felt in more than one way by the team.
“Not only was Devery coming into his own as a receiver and making big plays,” Saban said. “But the guy’s probably on every special teams and has done an outstanding job on the special teams.”
After Ole Miss added another field goal to increase its lead to 13-7, Saban decided to put Randall in the no-huddle offense again in the fourth quarter. The move paid off for the Tigers as Randall ran and passed his way to the score to give LSU the 14-13 lead and the win.
“I think he sees things better [in the no-huddle], and maybe it settles the other team down a little bit in terms of what they do,” Saban said. “Marcus played extremely well in this game, and I’m very pleased and happy with him.”
Randall said he enjoys the fast pace of the no-huddle offense. He finished the game 13-of-20 passing for 179 yards and two touchdowns.
“Between the plays you don’t have such a big break,” he said. “You’re steady moving, steady calling plays and steady being just more active during the plays and during the game. That keeps me more focused and ready to play each play.”
Saban said he thought starting Clausen also contributed to Randall’s success in the game. When Randall entered the game, Saban told Randall all he needed him to do was to play average.
“I really think that it took the edge off of Marcus that he didn’t have to start the game,” he said. “That’s the best he’s played since the South Carolina game.”
Randall said he doesn’t think sitting out the first quarter put him more at ease, but he was able to get a good look at the defense.
“I knew I was going to get my chance,” he said. “And when I did, I knew I had to take advantage of it.”