Ole Miss Postgame Wrap

Les Miles in rare form following Tiger victory

By CODY WORSHAM and RICHARD FISCHER
Tiger Rag Editor and Associate Editor

Like LSU’s 41-35 win over Ole Miss on Saturday evening, in his postgame presser, Les Miles was dramatic.

Clearly, Miles was fired up about a variety of factors: the nature of LSU’s win, which came on a Jeremy Hill one-yard touchdown with seconds left on the clock; the conclusion of several of his players’ careers in Tiger Stadium; the continuation toward a possible berth in the BCS bowl.

More than anything, though, Miles was fired up about victory.

“When you find a team that fights, and it’s never their night, somehow, someway, they win — that’s special,” he said. “There ain’t no doubt about it.”

Miles couldn’t be more right about it not being LSU’s night, scoreboard excluded. The Tigers gave up 463 yards of offense to a middling Rebel attack, including 316 through the air. They couldn’t stop Ole Miss WR Donte Moncrief, who finished with six catches for 161 yards and two scores. They turned the ball over twice on interceptions by Zach Mettenberger and once on a Jarvis Landry fumble. They committed six painful penalties.

But the Tigers forced four Rebel turnovers and got an 89-yard punt return from Odell Beckham, Jr. to overcome all of that. Somehow, some way, the Tigers finished in first tonight.

“If there was one game ball to be given tonight, it’s given to Odell Beckham,” Miles said. “That was the biggest momentum changer in a game that I saw.”

Miles went on to liken the return to Billy Cannon’s famous run against Ole Miss in 1959 — of equal yardage and ending in nearly the same spot of the north end zone.

“Wasn’t that 89 yards, the Billy Cannon route?” Miles asked reporters. “It was really the same route, honest to Pete. Was it the same night? Is it Halloween?”

After some laughter, Miles went from jovial to almost angry, proudly preaching about the dedication of all the seniors who played in their final home game.

“There’s not a guy in that list of men who hadn’t had a great career, who hadn’t given tremendous effort to his football team,” Miles said. “Whether he’s a scout team player, or a guy who plays sparingly, or a guy who was highly-recruited.”

The Tigers were led by three touchdowns on the ground from Jeremy Hill, who pounded the ball 20 times for 77 yards.

POST GAME FEEL

There are no words to accurately describe Miles’ post game press conference. I’ll just say this: watch the video. He was wildly ranging in emotion, from furiously borderline profane to happy-go-lucky.

The players were more stable but no less excited. Everyone had smiles on, and everyone was pleased with victory. Mettenberger was his standard steady self, but most everyone else was in high spirits.

POST GAME QUOTES

“There is no such thing as a flop that takes the field for our football team.”
- LSU head coach Les Miles responding to an article about Russell Shepard being a flop

“Just so you know, I’m proud of those men. How easy it could have been to say it was [Ole Miss's] night. Spectacular group of men. You go find them, throw your arms around them, and you give them a big kiss on the mouth…if you’re a girl.”
- Les Miles on…something.

“I couldn’t get to the bottom of the pile fast enough. He’s really a kid that gets it. He understands the legacy of great LSU backs and that he has a chance to be the next great.”
- Josh Dworaczyk on Jeremy Hill

”

“Real proud of our kids. I love being in that locker room with them, but I hate like heck that they’re hurting and don’t have the sixth or seventh win at this point in the season with the opportunities that we’ve had because of the way that they played. Our team has gotten better, played again one of the top 10 teams in the country toe to toe tonight. It’s just unfortunate they can’t celebrate. But [I'm] very proud of the effort.”
-Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze on tonight’s performance “He turned the ball over some and that hurt us. Gave them short fields. He was late on a couple throws on the turnovers, and he doesn’t have quite the zip on his passes as he did at the beginning of the year. But he’s a trooper and he’s been resilient and he’ll go back and get treatment and get ready to play the best he can next Saturday but I think he had some good throws for sure.”
-Freeze on QB Bo Wallace’s performance “They were playing kinda aggressive so I used my size, my strength and my speed. So once I used that and got away from them I made a play.”
-Ole Miss WR Donte Moncrief on his big game today “We came a long way. We’re more in shape, faster, stronger. No matter who you are, we’ll give you a full 60 minutes of a fight You gotta come play just like we’ll come to play.”
-Moncrief on how far team has come since last year’s drubbing in Oxford