Whit Weeks helped LSU's defense get revenge on Ole Miss | LSU

They alluded to how they felt. At some point before LSU's 29-26 overtime win over Ole Miss, senior defensive end Sai'vion Jones dropped the word “revenge.” But the defensive players never fully expressed how much they wanted to beat the Rebels and refrained from saying too much, which could backfire.

Those comments have lingered in the locker room over the past two weeks as No. 13 LSU prepared for one of the most explosive offenses in the country. The players recalled allowing 55 points and a school record 706 yards in a loss last season. They wanted to make sure something like this didn't happen again.

“We didn't say anything about last year, but that was in the back of our minds as a defense,” second-year linebacker Whit Weeks said. “We knew we had to come out here and play a lot better football and we did that.”

LSU won in large part because of its defense. The Tigers struggled offensively for a long time Saturday night, scoring just one touchdown until the final minute of the fourth quarter. But the defense kept the score close enough for quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to throw touchdowns that forced overtime and won the game.

“I can’t say enough about the defensive performance tonight,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “Sacks, harassing the quarterback, making the big plays when necessary. We’ve talked about that, to get better every week on both sides.”

Several players performed. Weeks led the team with 18 tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup in overtime. Senior defensive end Bradyn Swinson had two sacks. Senior defensive lineman Major Burns added 1½ sacks, 2½ tackles for loss, a rush and a forced fumble. Sophomore cornerback Ashton Stamps had three pass breakups and senior cornerback Zy Alexander received the game ball.

Ole Miss came into Saturday night's game averaging 8.1 yards per play, ranking second in the country through six games. LSU limited this offense to 5.5 yards per play. Ole Miss did not score a touchdown on seven possessions in the second half or overtime, although it reached LSU territory on four of them.

“They did it on the positive side of the field I don’t know how many times,” Weeks said. “Bend doesn’t break mentality and we were able to get the job done. This defense today, I'm so proud of us. In the two years I've been here, we've never been so close on defense. There was never any doubt in our minds that we wouldn’t win this ballgame.”

Last year against Ole Miss, LSU had difficulty getting off the field on third down, tackle or coverage. Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns while the Rebels managed 317 yards. It was the nadir of one of the worst defensive seasons in school history, and Kelly fired the defensive staff at the end of the year.

LSU appeared to have improved in the first month of the season, but still struggled. Kelly said coaches need to work on the players' mindset. They had to learn to control their thinking, which Kelly said was “a really big task for this group.” He wanted them to focus on positive results and take one play at a time instead of getting distracted.

“How can you perform at the highest level when needed?” Kelly said. “To do that, you have to be able to capture one play after another. We weren’t particularly good at the beginning, but we’re getting better.”

It wasn't pristine. LSU got lucky when star wide receiver Tre Harris, who later left the game, dropped a touchdown on Ole Miss' first possession and Caden Davis missed a 32-yard field goal. The Tigers also gave up a 50-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1. But after scoring two straight drives in the second quarter to take a 17-7 lead, the Rebels never got back into the end zone.

Over the last two weeks, Weeks said, first-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker emphasized that Ole Miss would play with pace. The Rebels like to rush to the line of scrimmage after a positive play to keep the defense on its toes, so he focused on making sure his players reset quickly.

“Coach Baker has been telling us the whole two weeks that we have to put our cleats in the ground and play,” Weeks said. “You can’t hang around after a play. You can’t make a big play and start celebrating because then they’ll throw the ball away.”

A few days before the game, Kelly said that success on first down would have a big impact on the outcome. LSU had to keep the Rebels behind the chains and prevent them from gaining speed or suffering manageable third downs. Ole Miss averaged 9.7 yards on third down and had to attempt 22 conversions.

Ole Miss got half of those third downs. They also went 2 of 3 on fourth down, extending drives into LSU territory. But the Tigers did their best there.

In the first quarter, freshman defensive end Gabriel Reliford incurred a holding penalty on third down before Davis missed the field goal. And after Nussmeier threw an interception on the ensuing drive, LSU made another stop in the red zone. On fourth-and-1 from the 4-yard line, Swinson made a tackle for no gain.

“From that moment on we knew we were never going to be out of this game,” Weeks said. “We knew we had to keep fighting and fighting for everything we could get.”

The week was dynamic. After cutting the lead to 17-10 late in the first half, LSU forced a fumble that was recovered by freshman defensive tackle Dominick McKinley and led to a field goal. Weeks also sacked Dart at the end of regulation time, a move he said was made possible by Swinson. In overtime, Weeks broke up a deep ball, setting up a long third period.

LSU recorded six sacks and five runs. It also covered better downfield. The Tigers had 11 pass breakups, five more than last year against Ole Miss, and Dart completed 44% (11 of 25) of his throws in the second half.

Alexander intercepted a deep ball that he threw into the end zone early in the fourth quarter. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin believed defensive holding interfered with the game.

“Zy Alexander was outstanding tonight,” Kelly said. “He won the matchups. He tackled space. We were able to stay in a position where they didn't have a lot of second and shorts. Because we brought them behind the scenes, we were able to set coverages. We were able to do a few things and change the look quite a bit. They had to take a few timeouts because they didn’t like the look we had changed to, and that had a lot to do with the curve.”

Ole Miss settled for a field goal the next time it reached LSU territory, and it lost 15 yards in overtime. After a shaky start to the season, LSU has allowed 17.6 points per game over the last three games.

During the postgame celebration, Weeks walked from one side of the field to the other as fans swarmed him. He believed the scene was similar to LSU's last overtime win of 2022 against Alabama, a game he attended as a recruit.

“I was screaming from that goal line to that goal line,” Weeks said, “I was just excited and enjoying the moment because moments like that don’t come along often in life.”