Published Nov 17, 2012
LSU-Ole Miss pregame notebook
Bryan Lazare
TigerBait.com Senior Writer
LSU will celebrate Senior Day against Ole Miss on Saturday. Thirteen seniors will be recognized, including eight scholarship players. The scholarship players are Chancey Aghayere, Drew Alleman, Chase Clement, Josh Downs, Josh Dworaczyk, Lavar Edwards, P.J. Lonergan and Russell Shepard.
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The walk-ons are Cleveland Davis, Ben Domingue, Edwin Johnson, Jason Slaydon and Nick Rice. The Rebels have been the Tigers' Senior Day opponent on the last five even-numbered years. LSU has won four of those five games with its only defeat occurring in 2008.
Since becoming Tigers coach, Les Miles has a 10-4 record in day games in Tiger Stadium. The game against Ole Miss is the first home game played in the afternoon this season.
LSU and Boise State are the only FBS schools who have won at least eight games for the past 13 seasons. That streak is the longest in the nation. Since the start of the 2009 season, the Tigers are 37-2 when scoring at least 20 points. One of the losses came against Ole Miss in 2009 (25-23).
With LSU's victory against Mississippi State, Miles tied Bernie Moore for second place in victories among its coaches. Both Miles and Moore have 83 victories as Tigers coach. Charles McClendon is No. 1 on the list with 137 victories.
LSU has a 57-39-4 record against the Rebels. The Tigers have won eight of the last ten meetings. This year's LSU-Ole Miss game will be the fifth in which the winning team gets the Magnolia Bowl trophy. The teams have split the last four games with each winning once on the road.
LSU leads the SEC in pass defense (165.7 yards per game). Ole Miss has been penalized the fewest amount of yards among SEC team (345 yards). By comparison, the Tigers are 12th with 590 penalty yards.
Zach Mettenberger will reach the 2,000-yard mark in passing with ten yards against the Rebels. It has been three seasons since LSU had a quarterback who threw for at least 2,000 yards in a season. Jordan Jefferson finished the 2009 campaign with 2,166 yards.
Jeremy Hill's 477 rushing yards are the tenth most by a LSU freshman. Hill is the only freshman on the top-ten list whose freshman year came after 2003. Justin Vincent ran for 1,001 yards as a freshman that season.
Drew Alleman needs one field goal to tie Mike Conway and Pedro Suarez for seventh place on the school's all-time list. Alleman has 32 field goals after making three against Mississippi State. Alleman has also made 98 consecutive extra points. The school record is 109 in a row by David Browndyke.
Sam Montgomery needs two tackles-for-loss to tie Chad Lavalais for eighth place on LSU's career rankings. Montgomery has 30½ tackles-for-loss.
Montgomery also needs two sacks to move into eighth place on the school career list. He has 17 sacks - the same as Anthony McFarland and one fewer than James Gilyard and Michael Brooks.
Craig Loston's 100-yard pass interception return for a touchdown against Mississippi State was the 12th defensive touchdown for the Tigers since John Chavis became coordinator in 2009. LSU has two other defensive touchdowns this year - interception returns by Ronald Martin and Edwards against Idaho.
Ole Miss is 0-3 against ranked opponents this season with losses to Texas, Alabama and Georgia. The Rebels have not defeated a ranked team since beating Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl three seasons ago. All-time, Ole Miss has a 58-140-2 record against ranked teams.
The Rebels need one more victory to become bowl eligible in coach Hugh Freeze's first season as coach. Ole Miss has not been to a postseason game the past two years. After winning just one league game in 2010-11, the Rebels have defeated Auburn and Arkansas this season.
Interceptions by Bo Wallace have been a deciding factor in Ole Miss' games this season. In the five victories, Wallace has thrown two interceptions while completing 72 percent of his passes. In the five losses, Wallace has thrown eight interceptions while completing 60 percent of his passes.
No team in the SEC has been better in the red zone than the Rebels. Ole Miss has scored by field goal or touchdown on 33 of its 35 red-zone opportunities (94.3 percent). The Rebels are a perfect 22-of-22 in the red zone against SEC opponents.
The Ole Miss defense has registered 77 tackles-for-loss - the second-highest total among SEC teams. Linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche has 11½ tackles for loss - the most for any freshman on a SEC team.
Randall Mackey, who completed his high school career at Bastrop, is the only Louisiana native who is a contributor for Ole Miss. Mackey, who was moved from quarterback to running back by Freeze, has rushed for 229 yards on 56 carries. He has caught 20 passes for another 274 yards.
The CBS broadcast crew for Saturday's game consists of Verne Lundquist (play-by-play), Gary Danielson (analyst) and Tracy Wolfson (sideline reporter).
TEAM STATISTICS
LSU rushing yards per game: 192.5
Ole Miss opponents rushing yards per game: 143.7
LSU passing yards per game: 198.8
Ole Miss opponents passing yards per game: 242.3
LSU completion percentage: 58.6
Ole Miss opponents completion percentage: 65.6
LSU points per game: 30.2
Ole Miss opponents points per game: 27.7
LSU third-down conversion percentage: 41.6
Ole Miss opponents third-down conversion percentage: 41.8
LSU fourth-down conversion percentage: 60.0
Ole Miss opponents fourth-down conversion percentage: 35.7
LSU sacks allowed: 22
Ole Miss opponents sacks allowed: 29
LSU turnovers: 13
Ole Miss opponents turnovers: 21
LSU opponents rushing yards per game: 97.2
Ole Miss rushing yards per game: 165.6
LSU opponents passing yards per game: 165.7
Ole Miss passing yards per game: 247.6
LSU opponents completion percentage: 53.9
Ole Miss completion percentage: 65.4
LSU opponents points per game: 15.5
Ole Miss points per game: 29.5
LSU opponents third-down conversion percentage: 29.4
Ole Miss third-down conversion percentage: 44.6
LSU opponents fourth-down conversion percentage: 50.0
Ole Miss fourth-down conversion percentage: 58.3
LSU opponents sacks allowed: 26
Ole Miss sacks allowed: 29
LSU opponents turnovers: 25
Ole Miss turnovers: 20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
LSU top rusher: Jeremy Hill - 92 carries, 477 yards, 6 touchdowns
Ole Miss top rusher: Jeff Scott - 150 carries, 680 yards, 6 touchdowns
LSU top passer: Zach Mettenberger - 263 attempts, 155 completions, 1,990 yards, 10 touchdowns, 4 interceptions
Ole Miss top passer: Bo Wallace - 279 attempts, 183 completions, 2,239 yards, 12 touchdowns, 10 interceptions
LSU top receiver: Jarvis Landry - 40 catches, 401 yards, 3 touchdowns
Ole Miss top receiver: Donte Moncrief - 47 catches, 614 yards, 5 touchdowns
LSU top kick returner: Michael Ford - 12 kickoff returns, 306 yards
Ole Miss top kick returner: Jaylen Walton - 15 kickoff returns, 403 yards, 1 touchdown
LSU top kick-scorer: Drew Alleman - 16-of-23 on field goals; 36-of-36 on extra points
Ole Miss top kick-scorer: Bryson Rose - 15-of-21 on field goals; 34-of-34 on extra points
LSU top punter: Brad Wing - 48 punts, 44.4-yard average
Ole Miss top punter: Jim Broadway - 45 punts, 42.0-yard average
LSU tackles leader: Kevin Minter - 90 tackles
Ole Miss tackles leader: Cody Prewitt - 67 tackles
LSU interceptions leader: Craig Loston - 2 interceptions; Ronald Martin - 2 interceptions; Jalen Mills - 2 interceptions; Eric Reid - 2 interceptions; Tharold Simon - 2 interceptions
Ole Miss interceptions leader: Dehendret Collins - 2 interceptions; Denzel Nkemdiche - 2 interceptions; Cody Prewitt - 2 interceptions
LSU sacks leader: Sam Montgomery - 6 sacks
Ole Miss sacks leader: C.J. Johnson - 4½ sacks