LSU at Ole Miss prediction: 'Masked' issues show up for Tigers as Rebels prevail

A battle between SEC unbeatens is set to take place Saturday in Oxford as No. 13 Ole Miss hosts No. 4 LSU. It’s a huge early season matchup that could catapult the winner into the national championship conversation.

Last year’s game between these two schools was a nailbiter, with the Tigers winning 29-26 in overtime. Fans are hopeful to get a similarly competitive matchup this season between two of the conference’s premier teams.

College football analyst Josh Pate broke down his view of the game during Tuesday’s episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show. He pointed to questions surrounding LSU’s offense, in particular the run game, as being a key factor in determining the outcome here.

“I regret to inform you the thing is happening again for LSU,” he said. “31st in passing yards per game, 112th in rushing yards per game. So once again, we’re gonna do this, huh? The difference is they’ve got a really good defense they can lean on so it hasn’t cost them a game yet. Garrett Nussmeier’s been less than 100% and they’re still throwing the ball much better than their running the ball. I don’t get it. There shouldn’t be an issue there, but it is and the big issue this weekend is that is absolutely how you attack Ole Miss.

“Ole Miss has the 122nd run defense in the country and it may not even matter because LSU hasn’t been able to run the ball. So LSU needs to run the ball here. Please, if ever it shows up, make it show up this week. …What are you asking Garrett Nussmeier to do? Last year, I thought they asked him to do an unfair amount of things. Hopefully he’s not asked to shoulder an unfair amount of the load again Saturday.”

On the other side, Pate wants to know how Ole Miss will attack the LSU defense. There’s still some uncertainly on whom the Rebels will staert at quarterback after Trinidad Chambliss has started the past two weeks for an injured Austin Simmons.

Chambliss has looked the part in those two contests with 660 yards passing, 174 yard rushing and five total touchdowns with no interceptions. His rushing ability could once again be something the Rebels look to utilize against this Tigers defense.

“Lane Kiffin, what does he see in this matchup against this LSU secondary?” Pate asked. “They had 15 designed QB runs last week with Trinidad Chambliss playing. I expect that to be baked into the game plan again here. LSU, 43rd pass D, 10th rushing D. You would think in the preseason looking at the fact they had to face Cade Klubnik, they gotta face DJ Lagway a few weeks later, you would think by the time they play Ole Miss, they will have faced two really good passing attacks. Nope.

“Now, could be that LSU’s the common denominator there. LSU just makes you look foolish. If that’s the case, we need it again here. I need full American hero Blake Baker mode from the defense.”

In the end, the questions surrounding LSU’s offense nudged Pate in the direction of Ole Miss for this game. He thinks there still could be a door open for the Tigers if their defense is as good as it has looked early on, but isn’t counting on that to be the case.

“Give me Ole Miss to win, give me Ole Miss to cover,” he said. “There’s still some issues with this LSU team. They’ve been masked a little bit because they’ve won games, which is very good. I also fully believe in the theory that it’s possible for a team to have issues early in the year and get them worked out as the season goes on.

“Sometimes that happens like with Florida last year, but it was too late because they had already lost a bunch of games by the time they figured it out. If you can play defense like LSU has so far, maybe you don’t have to lose. Maybe you keep playing ugly and then you just end up winning.”