OXFORD – No. 4 LSU’s defensive improvement hasn’t come by accident, according to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
The No. 13 Rebels host the Tigers this weekend at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The teams have played thrillers in recent years, including last season’s 29-26 LSU win in Baton Rouge where Ole Miss didn’t trail until the final play in overtime. The Rebels (4-0, 2-0 SEC) won the last matchup in Oxford, a 55-49 game where receiver Tre Harris caught the go-ahead touchdown with 39 seconds remaining. Ole Miss and LSU (4-0, 1-0 SEC) have split their last four meetings, with the home team winning each.
While much of the offseason conversation regarding LSU revolved around returning star quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, the Tigers’ defense has stolen the show for the first third of the regular season. Under second-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker, LSU’s defense has yet to allow more than 10 points in a game this season. The Tigers brought in 247Sports’ top-ranked transfer portal class — which included four four-star defensive linemen and four four-star defensive backs.
In a college football landscape where NIL can often be the reason a player commits or transfers, LSU more than did its part this offseason to acquire the players it needed to make a jump defensively.
“I think second year in a system defensively helps a lot of times, and they’ve improved their personnel also. … Three of the four starting D-linemen are portal guys, three of the four secondary … are portal guys. They’ve done a great job with that,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. “They’ve heavily, financially invested in the portal and made that decision and – that’s no secret, coach (Brian) Kelly’s talked about that, how much money they’ve spent. And it shows. … Probably the three most expensive portal DBs in the market, and they got them all. So, they did a great job with that and now they’re coaching them really well and they’re playing great.”
Which quarterback takes the field for Ole Miss against the vaunted Tigers defense is still unsettled. Senior Trinidad Chambliss has started the last two games for the Rebels in place of redshirt sophomore Austin Simmons and has thrived, throwing for 660 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for another 174 yards and two touchdowns.
Simmons injured his ankle against Kentucky but has been available each of the last two games, according to Kiffin. Simmons threw a touchdown pass against Arkansas but reaggravated his injury.
Kiffin was asked Monday what would go into this weekend’s starting quarterback decision.
“Health, for sure, to see if Austin’s at 100%. These guys are really good,” Kiffin said. “They’re loaded on defense, and they’re the best they’ve been on defense since we’ve played them. Obviously, with the acquisitions we talked about and really shutting down the run. So, we’ll have to evaluate his health and then make a decision. Today was just a walkthrough so, not enough to evaluate. But at 100%, he’s our starting quarterback. But we don’t know what percentage he’ll be.”
Jaden Yates earns SEC honor
Ole Miss junior linebacker Jaden Yates was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week following his 11-tackle performance against Tulane. The Marshall transfer leads the Rebels with 29 tackles.
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