Ole Miss Rebels lead LSU Tigers after wild first half in Baton Rouge

The Ole Miss Rebels had an eventful 30 minutes of football against the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge.

Ole Miss held a 17-13 lead over the Tigers at halftime, despite a few missed opportunities on offense. The Rebels had a chance to take a quick lead, but after a drop by Tre Harris and a missed field goal by Caden Davis, the Rebels remained scoreless after a quarter of play.

The lack of offense was a problem on both sides, as LSU was only able to get to the Ole Miss side of the field in the second quarter. One of the Tigers' possessions ended due to a wild interception that was passed over and ended up in the hands of the Rebels' defensive lineman Jamarious Brown.

The scoring increased in the second quarter, starting with a Davis field goal from 49 yards out.

The Rebels' outstanding defense quickly created another stop, giving running back Ulysses Bentley the time to shine. Bentley gets the RB2 reps with Matt Jones out this week and makes the most of it with a 50-yard touchdown that gives Ole Miss a 10-0 lead with 8:39 left in the half.

LSU's first score of the game soon followed when Garret Nussmeier hit Trey'Dez Green with a 12-yard touchdown pass to put the team back up 10-7 with 3:06 left.

Those three minutes were too much time as the Rebels marched down the field and scored a touchdown on a possible Catch of the Year candidate, this time Harris delivered with a great catch over the LSU defensive back and the lead extended it back to 10 points with 1:42 left.

This allowed LSU to drive within field goal range, and the Tigers delivered with a field goal after a touchdown was overturned, cutting the lead once again to seven with just over 30 seconds left.

The Rebels attempted to mount a drive, but Henry Parish fumbled the ball in Ole Miss territory and the Tigers recovered at the 30-yard line.

Although the Tigers didn't score a touchdown, they converted another field goal, cutting the lead to 17-13 with just five seconds left in the half.

Ole Miss' secondary has been under a lot of criticism over the last few weeks, but they've been pretty solid so far in this game. Ole Miss' passing game also seemed to be getting back into shape as Dart has made some very good throws so far, going 13 of 17 for 155 yards and a touchdown.

LSU's offensive line was also as advertised, which gave Nussmeier plenty of time to develop his plays. The Tigers' defensive line was also very good, putting a lot of pressure on Dart and recording two sacks and five tackles for loss.