Are there any doubts now? LSU's comeback win over Ole Miss makes the Tigers a playoff contender

LSU has had to catch up since the loss in the season opener.

And the No. 13 Tigers showed how good they have become at catching up with a wild, potentially season-defining 29-26 overtime win over No. 9 Ole Miss at Tiger Stadium on Saturday.

LSU stumbled in a 27-20 loss to USC in its season opener Sept. 1 in Las Vegas, then managed wins over Nicholls, South Carolina, UCLA and South Alabama and remained barely relevant nationally.

But to become a viable playoff contender in the second half of the season, it had to put together its best performance of the season against the Rebels.

Saturday night's performance was flawed, but the result and the manner in which it happened – the Tigers (5-1) took their only lead of the night on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Nussmeier to Kyren Lacy on the second Overtime possession – left them in control of their SEC title and CFP destiny.

There's still a long way to go, but LSU has already come a long way from its trip to Vegas and 10-0 deficit to Ole Miss.

The Tigers are just 2-0 in the SEC, but only two other teams — No. 1 Texas (2-0) and No. 15 Texas A&M (3-0) — haven't lost a conference game. LSU can ensure that the Aggies suffer at least one league loss when they visit College Station in two weeks.

First they travel to Arkansas next week and later they play Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, with the game against the Gators being the only one of the final four games that will not be played at Tiger Stadium.

That's a long to-do list for Brian Kelly's team before any of the Tigers' loftier goals can be achieved, but the gutsy, character-building win made that list doable – and put the Rebels in the rearview mirror with their 2nd SEC loss.

It's not just the rankings, schedule and math that are promising for LSU, it's also Garrett Nussmeier's leadership, improving defense and ability to come out on top in a game where the opponent had an overall lead. to be ahead. In- and play-out competition that increases the Tigers' value.

Nussmeier, making just his second start in the SEC, barely completed 40% of his passes but threw three touchdowns, one of which came on fourth down, to force overtime at the end of the fourth quarter – a must-win A touchdown drive that started with another 4th down conversion. His next throw was another touchdown that ended the game.

Blake Baker's defense allowed Ulysses Bentley IV to get free on 4th-and-1 for a 50-yard touchdown, giving Ole Miss a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, but the defense made a series of big plays to give Nussmeier a chance against a team that scored 55 points and more than 700 yards in a win over LSU last season.

The Tigers' defense forced the Rebels into five field goals and they made four, but those three instead of seven made a big difference, especially when Ole Miss could have taken a 2-point lead late in the fourth quarter or put more pressure on Nussmeier by Overtime started with a touchdown – if the defense hadn't stiffened when the stakes were highest.

A 4th down stop near the goal line in the 1st quarter, 2 takeaways and 6 sacks from the slippery Jaxson Dart on 9 tackles for loss showed that after a shaky September, this defense is reaching the level of play necessary to be CFP relevant in December to stay .

Lacy, Aaron Anderson and freshman Trey'Dez Green each had a touchdown catch as the Tigers put together a good enough passing game with a depleted receiver corps and an unpredictable Nussmeier.

Ole Miss had more yards, ran the ball better, passed it more efficiently, ran more plays and owned the ball longer, but LSU made more winning plays than the visitors.

Nussmeier is still a work in progress, as is the defense, but progress is continually being made, and if that continues, LSU will be able to handle the second half of the season just as capably as it did the post-USC portion of the first half as well the uphill marathon on Saturday evening.