OXFORD — No. 7 Ole Miss has played well on the road so far in 2022. But the next two Saturdays will be a completely different beast.
The Rebels (7-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU (5-2, 3-1 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the first of tough back-to-back games against SEC competition in hostile territory. Ole Miss faces Texas A&M (3-3, 1-2 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 29.
Ole Miss is 24-42-1 all time in Baton Rouge. LSU has won four of the last five meetings against the Rebels overall. Ole Miss hasn’t won at LSU since 2008.
The Rebels have won their two 2022 road games — against Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt — by a combined score of 94-28. But Bobby Dodd Stadium and FirstBank Stadium, which had 40,293 and 31,567 fans in attendance for games against the Rebels, respectively, don’t compare to what awaits at Tiger Stadium. At its last home game on Oct. 8, LSU tallied 102,321 spectators.
“We’ve played really well on the road. Obviously, this is a different animal from the first two places that we played. So, no disrespect to those places, but this will be a real atmosphere with crowd noise for our guys to go into,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. “Presents a lot of challenges of just staying focused, doing things really well, and it’ll be very challenging.”
After a season-opening loss against Florida State, LSU has won five of six overall under first-year head coach Brian Kelly, the lone loss coming to Tennessee. The Tigers defeated Florida 45-35 in Gainesville last weekend.
LSU features a dual-threat quarterback in Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels. Daniels has thrown for 1,564 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception. He also leads the Tigers with 403 yards and six rushing touchdowns.
The Rebels have struggled this season at times against mobile quarterbacks and defending the runs against those teams. Tulsa’s Braylon Braxton proved difficult for Ole Miss defenders to bring down — it was the Rebels’ only game without a sack this season — and Auburn’s Robby Ashford kept plays alive last weekend and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns.
Ole Miss’ worst rush defense performances this season came against Tulsa and Auburn, surrendering 262 and 301 yards, respectively.
“I thought (Daniels) played great the other night, running and throwing,” Kiffin said. “ … Very explosive player, and they seem to have got the receivers going, and really were great on third down and great in general whenever they throw the ball.”
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