Burrow, Chase lead LSU in record-breaking game over Ole Miss
Like so many times this season, No. 1 LSU (10-0) struck first Saturday night on the road and never took its foot off the pedal.
Quarterback Joe Burrow marched the Tigers up and down the field to jump out to a 28-0 lead and defeated Ole Miss, 58-37, in the 108th meeting between the two rival schools. LSU pushed its 2019 win total to 10 – the same number of wins Ed Orgeron had in three seasons as the head coach of Ole Miss from 2005-07.
Burrow finished 32-for-42 for 489 yards and five touchdowns and completed passes to seven different teammates in all.
The performance pushed his season totals to 38 passing touchdowns and 3,687 passing yards, breaking Rohan Davey's passing record of 3,347 from 2001. Burrow was so locked in at one point he completed 17 straight passes, another new LSU record. He did throw two second-half interceptions.
The senior quarterback tossed a 34-yard touchdown to Ja'Marr Chase, a 51-yard TD to Chase and a 12-yard TD to Justin Jefferson to go along with a 4-yard TD run from freshman running back Tyrion Davis-Price, all before halftime.
"I thought we started fast. I thought we came out in the first half, we were fired up and ready to go," Orgeron said during the ESPN postgame broadcast. "We knew they'd fight for 60 minutes. I'm glad for the win."
Orgeron added: "Got to get better on defense. Things we got to get better at, but overall great win for our team."
Ole Miss (4-7) finally got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter. The Rebels went 75 yards on six plays for a John Rhys Plumlee 5-yard rushing TD to make it 28-7 before the Tigers added on a field goal from Cade York, who missed a 48-yarder wide right early in the first quarter, to push the lead to 31-7 at halftime.
And the Rebels didn't go away quietly in the second half.
Ole Miss made it a two score game literally seconds into the third quarter. Two plays and 31 seconds into the third quarter Plumlee broke free into the LSU secondary for a 46-yard TD run. The score made it 31-15 after the 2-point conversion. York followed up with another LSU field goal, 34-15.
But again, it was Plumlee putting the Rebels on his back -- or more like legs.
The freshman quarterback used his legs again for a 60-yard TD followed by a 2-point conversion scamper to bring the score 34-23.
After back-to-back scores by Plumlee, it was back to work for Burrow and company. He found Jefferson for a 7-yard TD pass in the third quarter to make it 41-23.
Orgeron admitted at halftime during the ESPN broadcast that he wanted to pull Burrow if the game got out of hand to give Myles Brennan some playing time, but that never happened thanks to a monster game by Plumlee, who kept the Rebels in the game.
The Ole Miss rushing attacked gashed the LSU defense for 402 yards, but cornerback Kary Vincent Jr., who was questionable to play tonight and didn't start, came up with an interception and 40-yard return in the third to give the ball back to the offense. York added a 52-yard, 44-23.
After the LSU defense finally got a stop in the fourth quarter, Burrow uncharacteristically forced an interception and Ole Miss cashed in on yet again another Plumlee rushing score from 35 yards out to make it 44-30. Burrow found Chase again on a 61-yard TD late in the game, his 13th TD of the season, which is the most touchdown catches in a single LSU season.
With 3:19 to go in the game, Matt Corral threw a 55-yard score to Elijah Moore but LSU came right back with its own score: a 49-rushing TD by Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who had 172 rushing yards on 23 carries in the game.
Plumlee ended the game with 123 passing yards and 212 rushing yards, the most rushing yards by an Ole Miss quarterback ever. He was also the first quarterback to rush for more than 200 yards on LSU since Cam Newton in 2010.
Chase, the sophomore receiver, finished with 227 receiving yards and three touchdowns and Jefferson, the junior wideout, had 112 yards and two touchdowns. The duo both eclipsed the 1,000 receiving mark on the season against Ole Miss. The Rummel and Destrehan alums are the first Tigers to surpass that number since Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry each did it in 2013.
LSU's next two games -- Arkansas and Texas A&M -- are at home.