Ole Miss Rebels Lead LSU Tigers After a Wild First Half in Baton Rouge

The Ole Miss Rebels and LSU Tigers have a had a crazy first half in Death Valley, but the Rebels go into the break on top.

Oct 12, 2024; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; Mississippi Rebels defensive tackle Jamarious Brown (96) reacts after intercepting a pass against the LSU Tigers during the first half at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The Ole Miss Rebels have had an eventful 30 minutes of football in Baton Rouge against the LSU Tigers.

Ole Miss holds a 17-13 advantage over the Tigers at the intermission, despite some missed opportunities on offense. The Rebels had a chance to open the scoring quick, but following a Tre Harris drop and a Caden Davis missed field goal, the Rebels went scoreless after one quarter of play.

The lack of offense was a problem on both sides as LSU failed to reach the Ole Miss side of the field until the second quarter. One of the Tigers' possessions ended because of a wild interception that was batted around and ended up in Rebels defensive lineman Jamarious Brown's hands.

The scoring picked up in the second quarter, starting with a Davis field goal from 49 yards out.

The Rebels defense, who has been stellar, quickly gained another stop, giving running back Ulysses Bentley his time to shine. Bentley is getting the RB2 reps with Matt Jones being out this week and is making the most of it with a 50-yard touchdown that gave Ole Miss a 10-0 lead with 8:39 left in the half.

This was soon followed by LSU's first score of the game where Garret Nussmeier found Trey'Dez Green on a 12-yard touchdown pass as the climbed back to 10-7 with 3:06 remaining.

That three minutes was too much time as the Rebels marched down the field and punched in a touchdown with a possible catch of the year candidate as Harris delivered this time around with a great catch over the LSU defensive back, extending the lead back to 10 points with 1:42 left.

This made it possible for LSU to drive into field goal range, and the Tigers delivered with a field goal after a touchdown was overturned, once again cutting the lead down to seven with just over 30 seconds remaining.

The Rebels tried to put together a drive, but Henry Parish fumbled the ball in Ole Miss territory, and the Tigers recovered at the 30-yard line.

While the Tigers did not score a touchdown, they converted yet another field goal, cutting the lead to 17-13 with just five seconds in the half.

The Ole Miss secondary has been under a lot of criticism over the last couple of weeks, but so far in this game, they have been rather solid. The Ole Miss passing game has also seemed to return to form as Dart has made some very nice throws so far, going 13-for-17 with 155 yards and a touchdown.

The LSU offensive line has also been as advertised, giving Nussmeier a ton of time in the pocket to let plays develop. The Tigers defensive line has also been very good, putting a lot of pressure on Dart and recording two sacks along with five tackles for loss.