Louisiana State Tigers vs Mississippi Rebels Box Score on Oct 21, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Oct 21, 2017

LSU running back Derrius Guice helped make coach Ed Orgeron's return to Ole Miss a memorable one with 276 yards rushing in the No. 24 Tigers' 40-24 victory Saturday night in Oxford, Miss.

Guice compiled his yards on 22 carries, an average of 12.5 yards per carry. He holds the school record with 285 yards, achieved last year against Texas A&M. He is the first running back in SEC history to rush for more than 250 yards in at least three games.

Orgeron was the Rebels coach from 2005 to 2007, going 10-25 in those three seasons.

LSU (6-2, 3-1 SEC) has won three consecutive games since losing its homecoming contest to Troy on Sept. 30. The Tigers have a week off before playing at No. 1 Alabama on Nov. 4.

Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3 SEC) has lost four of its last five games. The Rebels host Arkansas next week.

The game lacked punch early with each of the placekickers making three field goals by early in the third quarter. LSU led 16-9 at that time before the teams traded touchdown drives.

Guice's 33-yard scamper helped set up a 5-yard touchdown run by LSU quarterback Danny Etling, giving LSU a 23-9 lead with 6:04 left in the third quarter.

The Rebels answered with a seven-play, 69-yard drive that culminated on Jordan Wilkins' 28-yard touchdown run with 4:11 left in the third quarter. Shea Patterson completed 3 of 6 passes in the drive for 28 yards. He left to the locker room during the first half because of a left knee injury but returned to start the second half.

Patterson completed only 10 of 23 pass attempts for 116 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

Guice's 31 yards rushing on two carries in LSU's next drive set up Etling's 11-yard touchdown pass to J.D. Moore with 2:31 left in the third quarter, increasing the lead to 30-16.

Etling, who completed 9 of 13 pass attempts for 200 yards, fooled the Ole Miss defense with a play-action pass that resulted in a 60-yard touchdown connection with Foster Moreau with 10:24 remaining.

Guice gained 126 yards on 11 carries by halftime.

After Ole Miss tied the game at 3 on a 31-yard field goal by Gary Wunderlich with 5:53 left in the first quarter, LSU went 75 yards for a score on three rushing plays by Guice. His 59-yard run was followed by a 7-yard touchdown, putting the Tigers ahead 10-3.

Connor Culp, who opened the scoring with a 35-yard field goal, increased LSU's lead to 13-3 with 1:17 remaining in the half on a 38-yarder.

Culp's second field goal occurred after Patterson was intercepted by safety Grant Delpit. Patterson hurt his left knee on the play. He left to the locker room with a noticeable limp and his left knee wrapped.

Patterson, who led the SEC and was third nationally with 357.2 passing yards a game, was replaced by junior college transfer Jordan Ta'amu, who had not thrown a pass at the Division I level.

Ta'amu drove the Rebels in position for a 26-yard field goal by Wunderlich as time expired in the half to cut LSU's lead to 13-6. Ta'amu completed 2 of 6 pass attempts for 23 yards and had a 15-yard run in the 66-yard drive.

NOTES: LSU's defense has limited opponents to only seven touchdowns in the first half of the last 13 games, going back to the start of the 2016 Alabama game. ... LSU QB Danny Etling needs 376 yards to enter LSU's top 10 career passing yards list. ... LSU RB Derrius Guice entered with 2,258 career rushing yards, ninth-best on the Tigers' list. ... Ole Miss senior DE Marquis Haynes tallied a career-high three sacks against Vanderbilt last week. He set a modern-era (since 1983) career sacks record of 29, passing Greg Hardy's mark of 26.5. ... Ole Miss is 2-8 in its last 10 versus ranked teams. The Rebels were 0-2 this season after going 2-5 in 2016 with wins over No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 12 Georgia.