Led by a powerful running game and an inspired second-half performance from the much-maligned defense, Ole Miss snapped a three-game losing streak with a 43-21 victory over Louisiana on Saturday night.
“I got on them a little bit at half time and asked them to really step and finish,” Coach Houston Nutt said. “Wins are hard to come by, they are precious. It feels good to win.”
After suffering a minor concussion on his six-yard touchdown run, starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli made way for back-up quarterback Nathan Stanley. In his first action since the Tulane game, Stanley completed 6 of 14 passes for 108 yards, but leaned on running backs Brandon Bolden and Enrique Davis to do most of the work.
“On offense, I think that our backs ran really hard for the most part and I think Nathan Stanley did a good job handling the ball and the clock,” Nutt said. “I was proud of Nathan. He did great for not having played all year.”
For the first time since 1999, Ole Miss had two runners rush for 100 yards in the same game. Bolden accounted for a career-high three touchdowns and 216 total yards, while Davis rushed for a career-high 116 yards against Louisiana.
“It’s good to see Enrique Davis back,” Nutt said. “He is just now getting back to speed. He ran hard and fast tonight. Brandon Bolden is very valuable because he does so many things for us. I am very proud of both of them. They really took the load for us and relieved pressure off of Nathan.”
Despite nearly 300 yards on the ground, the Ole Miss offense converted only four of their 10 red zone chances into touchdowns. Five opportunities ended in field goals by Bryson Rose, whose 19 points were the second most for a kicker in school history. And the last opportunity turned into a 93-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown right before halftime.
“We’re disappointed in the red-zone stuff—getting stopped down there a couple of times,” co-offensive coordinator Mike Markuson said. “Of course, you can’t have a turnover down there. We have to look at that hard.”
After Louisiana opened with a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, Ole Miss forced three straight turnovers, with interceptions by cornerbacks Charles Sawyer and Jeremy McGee and a fumble recovery by defensive tackle Lawon Scott, which the Rebels would turn into 17 points.
“The biggest thing, in the first half, we created some turnovers and gave us some momentum and better field position,” defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix said. “We still have to be more consistent. We know we can play better. We’re going to have to play better in order to win some SEC games.”
After a shaky first half, the Ole Miss defense settled in and, for the first time this season, shut out its opponent in the second half and held Louisiana to just 49 total yards. Filling in for an injured Jonathan Cornell, linebacker Mike Marry led the Rebels with 11 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack in his first career start.
“You have to finish,” cornerback Charles Sawyer said. “You can’t do what we did against Jacksonville State. You can’t let go of the rope, so we had to finish. We came back and fought together as a unit.”
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